Special Dates To Celebrate
Spring is a time to create a ceremony or two with your friends and family. Acknowledge that you made it through another winter, a symbolic passage through the darkness to the light. Honor old traditions and create new ones with rituals, delicious food, and colorful decorations. Here are some of the holidays to mark on your calendar:
April 1st – April Fool’s Day
Here in our Enchanted World, honors the Enchanted Tarot whose first card is The Fool, symbol of innocence, adventure, and new beginnings. Do something that brings you child-like joy!
Sunset of April 6 through nightfall of April 14 – Passover
Passover is all about giving thanks for being free from bondage. Be thankful for all of your freedoms, both those protected by your government and those that you have earned, whether by giving up a bad habit, getting out of a bad relationship, or helping another person to free themselves. It is a time of charity and sharing.
April 8th – Easter
Formerly known as Eoster, the name of the Goddess of The Dawn and where we get the word “east” from, the direction from which the sun rises, a symbol of resurrection if ever there was one. Though some people think that Christianity is against astrology and “pagan” goddess rites, they have honored them since Christianity began, knowingly or unknowingly, by celebrating many of their main events on days sacred to The Goddess and based on astrological calculations. A main example is Easter, Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon that follows or falls on the Spring Equinox.
April 22nd – Earth Day
Since April 22, 1970, Earth Day has been an annual event for people around the world to celebrate the earth and our responsibility toward it. Volunteer. Go to a festival. Install solar panels on your roof. Organize an event where you live. Change a habit. Help launch a community garden. Communicate your priorities to your elected representatives. The possibilities are endless! Do something nice for the earth, have fun, meet new people, and make a difference.
April 27th – Arbor Day
Trees are the beautiful lungs of the Earth. The ancient Celts used Ogygia, the tree alphabet, known as the Beth-Luis Nion tree alphabet, both for recording information and divination. Named after the Celtic Deity of Literature, Ogma, it is was traditionally believed by the Celts that it was he who created the letters which were made to represent the different trees and their special characteristics.
May 1st – May Day
May Day, which was also called Beltane (Bright Fire) by the Anglo-Saxons, was considered the first day of summer. May Day was symbolic of a return to life, of the defeat of the hard winter, with new hopes for good planting and rich harvests. Beltane was the time of milk and honey, the primary time of pleasure, of blossoming and blooming, of desire and satisfaction, so the cow and the bee were both significant symbols for this celebration. In Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day. Everyone gives the gift of a lei to another, putting it around the receiver’s neck and accompanying the gift with the traditional kiss.
May 13th – Mother’s Day
Mother’s day is obviously a time to honor our mothers and our roots. The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. In the United States Mother’s Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace.
In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By 1911 Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
May 28th – Memorial Day
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. We like to think of Memorial Day as a day to remember that freedom is not free, but those we oppose are people, just like you and me.
Amy Zerner is the Hamptons Number 1 fashion blogger and designer