First day of ancient Roman New Year, sacred to Juno Lucina. The temple fires were rekindled on this day by the Vestal Virgins, honoring Hestia and welcoming the coming of Spring.
Mercury retrograde begins today!
Today is Holy Wells Day in the Celtic and Northern traditions. It the feast day of Ceadda, a Celtic God of holy wells and cold springs. A good day to give thanks for the clean, abundant water we are given.
Today is a most magical number day - 3/3 which equals 06! This day is sacred to all Triple Goddesses and deities of the Moon.
It is also Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival or Girl's Festival in Japan.
Today is the first of the three day Greek festival of Anthesteria honoring departed souls or keres. It is a festival dedicated to Flora, Hecate, and Dionysus with the intent to "feed" the dead in the hope that the ancestors might bring good fortune to the living and not cause any mischief around living family members.
Today is sacred to Isis. As winters storms abated, a ship would be dedicated to Isis and a new season of sailing declared. Known by ancient Egyptians (and later, Romans) as the festival of Isidis Navigum (the Blessing of the Ship of Isis).
Happy Birthday today to Laurie Cabot, a modern-day witch of Salem and well-known Craft teacher, writer and elder.
In the Greco-Roman calendar, today is the festival of Ares, or Mars, in his beneficent role as protector of the home.
This is another of the several festivals of Juno in the Roman traditions. In this one, called Junonalia, the Goddess is honored in all Her aspects, of which there are quite a few. Principally, She may be thought of as a Goddess of marriage and childbirth.
Today is Mother Earth Day, a festival in China, honoring the birthday of the Earth as a Mother Goddess.
Coincidentally, it is also International Women's Day. On this day in 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was the first international proclamation of gender equality as a fundamental human right. May it someday truly be so.
Today is the ancient Greek feast day of the love between Adonis and Aphrodite.
Final day of Monlam Festival in Tibet. , second only to the Tibetan New Year in importance. An image of Maitreya (the future Buddha) is carried from Lhasa's sacred Jokhang Temple around Barkhor Square, attracting crowds of pilgrims. Monks from the Three Great Monasteries of Tibet gather in Lhasa to debate philosophical questions and pray.
This day is sacred to Heracles (Hercules).
Today is the Omizutori Festival in Nara, Japan. For more than 1200 years the monks of Nara's Todaiji Temple have been performing the sacred ceremony that heralds the spring and to pray for peace and happiness for all.
Gnostic traditions remember the martyrdom of Hypatia. Born in 370 C.E., she was a priestess, astrologer, oracle, scientist, mathematician, and the head curator of the ancient library at Alexandria as well as dean of the Neo-Platonic school of Alexandria. She was murdered by fanatical Christians who then torched the library, destroying the greatest intellectual treasure of the ancient world.
Today is the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Holiday of Joy. It is a time to dress up, drink and be merry while remembering how the Jews of Persia narrowly escaped annihilation thanks to the bravery of Queen Esther.
Full Crow Moon, Chaste Moon, Worm Moon, Windy Moon.
Time when council fires are re-lit among the Cherokee. Traditional time to begin the planting season.
Holi is one of the major festivals of India. On the eve of Holi Festival a bonfire ceremony called Holika Dahan marks the triumph of good over evil. The main day of Holi Festival is celebrated by spraying colored paint water all over dear ones as blessings of love and joy.
The first day of a two-day festival of Dionysos, in the Greek traditions. The celebration is intended to promote a good harvest from the grapes now being planted or pruned. Known as the Liberalia,
this Roman festival honored Ariadne and Dionysus . Romans ate special honey cakes and put ivy on their statues.
Today is Trefuilnid Treochair in the Celtic traditions; the premier national feast day of Ire. The name means "the triple bearer of the triple key," and it refers to the God, Teutates, an ancient Irish God of war, sex, and wealth. His key unlocks the past, the present and the future. Connected with The Green Man, Lugh, and other dying and resurrecting Gods, His feast day has been largely, but not completely, superceded by the Christian feast for St. Patrick.
Today is celebrated among Buddhists in many cultures as the Birthday of Kuan Yin (Kannon). She is the Beloved Goddess of Mercy, who hears the cries of the world.
Sheela-na-gig was honored annually on this date in Ireland. With the advent of Christianity, the identity of the Goddess was altered from heathen deity to the consort or mother of Saint Patrick. She is the patroness of thresholds and women's mysteries.
Today is the Micra (lesser) Panathenaea in honor of Athena. This became the Quintania or Quinquatrus in honor of Minerva in Rome. This gray-eyed Goddess of wisdom is also the patron of civilized life, handicrafts, and agriculture.
Today is also holy in Voudoun to Legba, also known as Lwa. He is the beloved God who acts as an intermediary between the loa and humans. He is also the God of the crossroads; and He taught mankind the use of oracles and how to interpret them.
Blessings of Ostara!
Today the Light and the Dark, the Male and the Female, and all things are in perfect balance. Today we honor the sacred marriage of the young Sun God to the Maiden Who was reborn at Imbolc. All of life is thus renewed.
Happy Birthday, Aries!
Today is the ancient Sumerian festival that celebrates the return of Inannašs beloved Dumuzi (God of Life and Death) from the Underworld to be with Her for the verdant part of the year.
Also, according to some beliefs, the holy city of Tara was founded in Ireland on this day, by the Milesian princesses Tea and Tephi.
On this day in 1974, the Equal Rights Amendment passed in Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. However, a conservative backlash against feminism eroded support and it ultimately failed.
To our shame, sexual equality, with the notable exception of when it pertains to the right to vote, is not protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The Asatru festival of Summer Finding, sacred to Thor, is traditionally held today. Norse traditions mark this point just after the Spring Equinox when the days become noticeably longer than the night, and begin to wax toward the maximum light of the Summer Solstice. The finding of Summer thus marks the resurgence of nature and the reclaiming of spiritual initiative and power by human beings. Frey and Freya are also honored.
Today is the third day of the festival of Attis, when the priest opens the tomb to reveal that the God is not within. Attis has not died after all. The worshippers cheer as the priest announces, “Be of good cheer, neophytes, seeing that the God is saved; for we also, after our toils, shall find salvation!” A general celebration followed, with feasting and much merriment.
On this day. Pope Innocent III issued his infamous declaration "that anyone who attempted to construe a personal view of God which conflicted with Church dogma must be burned without pity." There was to be no discussion or debate. As the Inquisitor Bernard Gui said, the layman must not argue with the unbeliever, but "thrust his sword into the man's belly as far as it will go."
Mercury retrograde ends!
In the ancient Persian calendar, this day was celebrated as the birthday of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), who is said to have been born to a 15-year old virgin in 660 BCE.
Happy Birthday also today to Joseph Campbell, one of the greatest minds (and souls) of the 20th century, the leading expert on comparative religion, philosophy, and especially human myth across cultures and time.
In ancient Rome, this was when the fertility and wine-god Liber Pater was honored. His festival was a time of feasting and drinking, and a day when young males entered into their manhood, usually at age seventeen.
Today is a day of mystery in many ancient calendars. It was widely believed in the Hellenistic and early Christian periods that God created the Sun and the Moon on this day. Third-century Christians accordingly chose March 28 as the day of Christ's nativity, and observed it as such until in the 4th century, it was decided that it should coincide with the Winter Solstice.
Blessings of the New Moon!
Hold on tight, though. There is a total solar eclipse, and Pluto goes retrograde today. Today is Nyepi, the Balinese New Year. It is a day of total silence throughout the island. No activity, no traffic at all on the roads, no fire may be lit for 24 hours. Great purification and sacrificial rites are held the day before so as to exorcize evil spirits from every corner of the island.
Today is the first day of the runic fortnight of Ehwaz.
This rune represents the horse, suggesting travel, pilgrimage, and progress. Ehwaz is a time when something already begun is developed or moved forward.
The last day of each month is sacred to Hecate.
