HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY

3 1972 06316 5867

The Mystical Year

HENNEPIN COUNTY
LIBRARY
The Mystical Year
 MYSTERIES OF THE UNKNOWN

Hie Mystical Year

By the Editors of Time-Life Books

TIME-LIFE BOOKS, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA

 CONTENTS

Introduction
6

Essay Old Solar Calendars of Stone

Spring

Essay Green Rituals with Old Roots

42

Summer

Essay The Power behind the Masks

74

Fall

Essay Heralding the New Year

106

Winter

Acknowledgments
138

Bibliography
138

Picture Credits
139

Index
140
 aptured at a moment of total
eclipse in the photograph at left, no
earth's nearest star appears
more than a nimbus of spark and flame. But no heavenly
static
object influences life on our planet more than does the sun. As the
hemispheres of earth tilt toward it and away, the changing
amounts of light they receive shape four familiar seasons: Warm-
ing spring gives way to summer, then dusky fall, and finally —
killing winter. To some philosophers, the seasons mirror the birth,
youth, adulthood, and senescence of humankind. To others, the
return of spring is the surest sign that the cycle of life never ends.
In the pages that follow, the days of the solar year —365 plus
one for the quadrennial leap year that keeps the calendar synchro-
nized with the sun —
are celebrated with an abundance of mystical
rites and mysterious occurrences, ranging from seasonal ghosts
and demons to odd premonitions, extraplanetary visits, and time-
honored rituals. Some are associated with particular dates. Others
take place according to the phases of the moon and are shown on
a day within the range of Western dates upon which they may fall.
Another class of anniversaries, perhaps the most mystical of
all, is by necessity omitted from this calendar —
each reader's own
birthday. A birthday is richly endowed with meaning by astrolo-
gers, numerologists, and tradition. It is a personal New Year's Day
and will evoke in each individual the New Year impulse to review
the past and contemplate the meaning of the years to come.
 pring sunlight pouring through a stairway of the Castillo, a
thousand-year-old pyramid at the Chichen Itzd ruins in Mexico,
creates the shadow image of a serpent, an ancient Mayan sym-
bol of rebirth and renewal. The sinuous pattern appears on the pyra-
mid only twice a year, at sunset on spring and autumn equinoxes.
 Old Solar Calendars of Stone
More than 5,000 years ago, centuries be-
fore the Pyramids rose above Egypt's sands, a tribe of Neolithic Irish farmers
built a massive burial mound that still stands on a low ridge above the river
Boyne. Deep inside, at the end of a sixty-two-foot-long stone passage, is the
chamber where the dead were laid. For most of the year no light penetrates
this sanctuary. But on a few mornings each winter, when the days are short-
est and darkest, a shaft of sunlight enters a small opening above the tomb's
entrance and beams straight down the long passageway (page 15). For a few
breathtaking moments, light fills the burial chamber, revealing a Stone Age
cathedral of high vaulted ceilings and fancifully carved walls.
The dramatic illumination of Newgrange, as the tomb is called, occurs
only in the few days around the winter solstice, when the sun reverses its

retreat from the Northern Hemisphere and the days begin to lengthen.

Scholars believe the creators of Newgrange laid out its more than 200,000
tons of stone deliberately to exploit the sun's position at this turning point in

the solar year. If so, then these prehistoric architects were among the earli-
est humans to exhibit reverence for the celestial calendar by designing a
structure in a precise astronomical relationship with the sun.
Ancient peoples watched the stars and planets closely, looking to the
skies in search of order and meaning. The sun held particular prominence,

revered both as the source of light and warmth and because its cyclical

wanderings across the horizon provided reliable patterns of time and made
nature predictable. Based on their observations, people divided the calendar
into four seasons. Each centered on one of the four key dates that mark the
sun's annual travels: the summer and winter solstices, which are respective-
ly the year's longest and shortest days (approximately June 22 and Decem-
ber 22 in the Northern Hemisphere), and .the spring and fall equinoxes, the
two times of the year when the sun crosses the equator', making day and
night equal in length (approximately March 21 and September 23).

Throughout history,humans have paid homage to the sun with special

rites and festivals on these days. And many peoples, from the Maya who
built the pyramid at left to the French churchmen, Chinese astronomers,
American Indians, and others whose works are shown on the following pag-
es, have created buildings specially designed to mark the dates. Cutting

across barriers of time and culture, each of the structures is in itself a kind of
sacred calendar, manifesting obeisance to the gods, the cycles of life and
death, and the seasons of the mystical year.
ummer's solstice sun cuts through the gloom of France's 800-
year-old Chartres Cathedral and shines onto a large and mysteri-
ously placed flagstone at the midpoint of the year's longest day.
Viewed from a solar temple that is located next to the great stone
paws of Egypt's lionlike Sphinx, the sun at the summer solstice sets
directly between the ancient pyramids of Cheops and Chephren.

From the center of the prehistoric stone rings of England's Stone-

henge, the rising sun on the morning of the summer solstice appears
almost directly above the tip of the Heel Stone, 256 feet away.
•**-•-

<* ,»»
"'
all's equinox is when the shadow of a marker on top of
signaled
this thirteenth-century Chinese solar observatory falls at midday on
a particular spot on the long low measuring wall (foreground).

When viewed from the near end of this ball court in Mexico, which
has been in continuous use since ancient Mayan times, the sun at the
autumnal equinox sets precisely in the middle of the court's far end.
inter sun shoots through an opening in the thousand-year-
old ruins of New Mexico's Pueblo Bonito on the morning of
the year's shortest day, and paints afar corner with light.
At sunrise on the winter solstice, a triangle
of light pierces the eyes of a humanlike fig-
ure painted on the wall of an ancient Indian
rock shelter in Mexico, giving it "sight."

Sun streams along the passage of Ireland's

prehistoric Newgrange burial mound, light-
ing an interior that is dark except for the
few days before and after the winter solstice.
The sun peeks above the horizon behind a natural sandstone marker
in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon on December 22. For centuries on
this day — the shortest of the year— Indians visited the spot to per-
form rituals asking the sun to return after the long winter nights.
 Spring
Although the modern calendar begins the year in wintry January, most an-
cient cultures in the Northern Hemisphere marked the start of the annual
cycle of existence with spring. The reason is self-evident. As March's prom-
ise and April's warming breath speed nature's pulse, human feeling and
belief is swept along by an irresistible force — the surge of life itself. As illustrat-
ed in the following pages, the swirling emotional current of the season has

March's talisman, the inspired an extraordinary variety of spiritual rites and folk practices, but the
opaque red bloodstone, overall direction is unmistakable: This is the season of revival and renewal.
allegedly fortifies its

wearer with courage, The northern face of the planet has tilted toward the sun (south of the equa-
attracts fame, and en-
sures a long life.
tor, spring begins in September), and all living things respond —germinating,
mating, reasserting strengths that had been held in check by the cold.
The very names of the months attest to the quickening of the earth.
March is named for Mars, primarily a god of war but also concerned with the
fecundity of the soil. April's name derives from the Latin word aperire, "to

open" —as blossoms do by the billion. May honors Maia, a Roman goddess
who encouraged the growth of the crops.
Since earliest times, societies have stepped back from the daily round
The diamond is April's to celebrate and assist the springing of life at this season. Many cultures
birthstone,and it is said
to promote harmony
have believed it necessary to help the transition from the old year to the new
between husband and by supernatural means —by ceremonially killing a straw doll or other repre-
wife —explaining its use
sentation of winter, by banishing evil spirits, by ritually replacing old gar-
in engagement rings.

ments with new. Some societies have focused on propitiating gods of soil,

water, rain, and sun so that plantings will flourish, a business that, in the
past, often called for the sacrifice of animals, or even humans. But joy, too,

has been used to supernaturally ensure fertility, exemplified by rollicking

around a phallic maypole, by using eggs in rituals both pagan and Christian,
and by joining in festivals that encourage shameless sexual frolics.

Other large themes also shape the season. Some peoples choose this

May's birthstone, the time to communicate with dead ancestors. Buddhists remind themselves
emerald, is thought to
with rites that the world is illusory, not real. But mostly spring's mystical
bring good luck if worn
ina garter The precious aspect reflects its natural character. It is a time of release, a time of buoyant
green gem is also said
to hasten the labor of a
music and zestful dances —a time that all around the world is given over to
woman in childbirth the joy of being alive.
 '

Resurgence of Life in Ancient Greece and Rome

For the ancient Greeks and Romans, the new
year began not when the earth was chilled to
its marrow but as life stirred again at the
beginning of March. Both peoples celebrated
the fresh start with symbolic actions.
In some parts of Greece, for example, a
procession of children would escort Febru-
ary—represented by a lame man astride a
—
donkey out of the village in order to make
way for March. Fires were ritually extin-
guished on the eve of the new year, and then
relighted in the morning. Other customs,
such as washing in the morning dew or
sprinkling the members of a household with
the water drawn on that day, were
first
thought to ensure good health.
Among the Romans, the first day of the
new year was a time for celebrating and for
exchanging gifts, including dates, figs, and
' —
S^Z**, honey "that the year might in
sweetness go through the course
which it had begun," explained the
te^ poet Ovid. In addition, March
^ marked the Roman feast of
lia, the feminine counterpart of a
winter festival for men called Saturnalia. On
Matronalia, female slaves were allowed to
abandon their duties for one day while their
mistresses waited on them for a change.
As its name indicates, March was also
sacred to Mars, the Roman god of war,
whose birthday was celebrated along with
the new year on the first, and whose praises
were sung throughout the month. But the
most important of religious rituals was the
dousing of a sacred fire in the Temple of
Vesta on the last day of February and its
relighting on the first day of March. The
ceremonies were conducted by the vestal
keepers of the flame. These
virgins, official
six handmaids of Vesta, the goddess of the
hearth, were picked for their job by the Pon-
tifex Maximus, Rome's chief priest. Each girl
was chosen before the onset of puberty and
had to be the freeborn daughter of parents
who were both living at the time. Each was
required to remain a virgin for the entire
1 length of her thirty-year term. To lose her
Matron- virginitywas to lose her life, traditionally by
being buried alive.

\ /
1I MARCH
V 2
m MARCH
}
i
i

Granny March's Day. m the Bulgarian A pbOKHnapping Visitor? On T

the evening 1
^
language, March is the only month of March 2, 1965, a man named
with a feminine name, and the John Reeves was strolling in the
calendar denotes its start as Cranny woods near his Florida home when 1
March's Day. Throughout the coun- he allegedly came upon a landed
try, women are admonished not to spacecraft with what appeared to
work on this date, lest they provoke be a robot wandering nearby. Ac-
the anger of Granny March and cording to Reeves, the robot paused
^
cause her to unleash a volley of long enough to take his photo-
*
'

storms that could destroy the crops. graph, then boarded the vehicle
and vanished into the sky. Search-
ing the area, Reeves discovered two ..,

sheets of paper covered with unin-

telligible writing. The U.S. Air Force II

later investigated and pronounced

the incident a —
hoax a claim reject- I

ed by some ufologists.

Chastely costumed in shapeless robes and a

nunlike hood, this statue of a vestal virgin stands
in the Forum at Rome. The Roman men were
expected to heed the virgins' denial of sexuality,
and any who d id not were beaten to death.

-
 In Osaka, Japan, the people celebrate a the positive attributes of dolls instead of
A Day for Japanese thousand-year-old festival in which they unloading negative ones onto them. Each
make paper dolls and rub them on their Japanese girl creates a display of fifteen
Dolls and Girls
bodies to draw off illnesses or evil spirits (see —
beautifully attired porcelain dolls such as
July 25). A more widespread, modern doll the one above — and shows them off to
festival, held on this day, involves borrowing invited friends.

4 MARCH 5 MARCH 6 MARCH

ItSl il lie Trial jle. On March 3, 1918. RrmembfNnS Ihc dead, w about this A Mini's exploits. This day marks the The prlesls Of Mars. On several dates
the U.S. Navy vessel Cyclops time of year, ancient Greeks hon- feast of Saint Ciaran, a sixth- during the month of March, a
steamed into the area of the Atlan- ored departed souls, or keres, with century founder of Irish monaster- brotherhood of Roman warrior-
tic later dubbed the Bermuda Than a three-day ritual called the Anthes- ies.Legend has it that when Ciaran known as the Salii danced in
priests
gle. There she and her crew of 324 leria, when the dead were believed was thirty years old, he traveled to honor of the god Mars. Clad in
vanished without explanation to visit the living. At the conclusion Rome and met Saint Patrick, who what was, even then, old-fashioned
of the rites, the spirits were dis- later became the patron of Ireland. Roman war dress, they leaped
Srettllfc, aliCU. On this date in 1972, missed with the words, "Out, keres, Patrick gave Ciaran a bell, asking about wildly, brandishing spears
Pioneer 10 was launched into the Anthesteria is ended." him to take it to Ireland and build a and rhythmically beating their

space, bearing an inscription (be- monastery wherever the bell might figure-eight shields, or ancilia. The
low) to tell anyone who encoun- of its own accord. One place the
toil original ancile was said to have
tered the craft where it came from rang was called Saighir, and
bell been dropped from heaven by Mars
and what its senders looked like when Ciaran stopped there to build as a sign that Rome was under the
a home, four wild animals present- god's protection
ed themselves. A wild boar, a wolf,
a badger, and a fox offered help
with the work and thus became
Ciaran's first monks.

19
 —

When Reality
Melts Like Ruder

At the heart of Buddhist belief is the idea

that all worldly things are transient, destined
to melt away in the current of time. On
March 9, Tibetans act out this central truth
during a festival that features Buddhist he-
roes made out of butter.
Monks begin to prepare for the so-called
Butter Lamp Festival long beforehand by
mixing bright dyes into tons of iced butter.
Over a period of months, the butter is carved
into elaborate effigies, some of them tower-
ing two stories high.
For the festival, the butter sculptures
mounted on wooden frames and gleaming in
the light of lanterns — are paraded through
streets packed with crowds of delighted
onlookers. But the creamery heroes do not
last for long. Following the procession, the
monks who worked so hard to build them
take their creations apart and heave the
materials into a river, underscoring the key
tenet of their faith.

A woman spoons yak butter into a lamp during the Tibetan

Butter Lamp Festival. Faithful Tibetans believe the lamps strip
demons of their power while securing the favor of the gods.

1 MARCH 8 MARCH 10 MARCH

A spirit pktlOtrapkcr. British carpenter Almost all early cul-

rtolncr Earth Day. A noisy finish. For the Ibo people of
William Hope, who died on this day tures worshiped the earth as a southern Nigeria, the traditional
in 1933. did not discover his alleged mother goddess. In China, despite year expires at around this time on
psychic gifts until he was forty-two millennia of highly sophisticated the modern calendar. As the mo-
years old He and a friend were civilization, this ancient notion has ment approaches, villages erupt in
taking photographs of each other, never completely vanished —even if a cacophony of noise, and children
when a plate that Hope exposed it survives now only as tradition. dash into their homes, fearful of
revealed the image of a weirdly Since long before environmental being spirited away by the old year.
transparent-looking woman, whom activists in the West ever heard of Then the racket suddenly abates,
the friend recognized as his long- a green movement, the Chinese and everyone reappears to welcome
dead Experimenting further,
sister. have been celebrating March 8 as the new year with applause.
Hope discovered that he could Mother Earth's birthday.
routinely produce such effects, and
he set about building a reputation
as a spirit photographer. Skeptics
insisted that Hope was a fraud, but
their investigations never proved
anything conclusive.

20
 dUm

From (he Flames, A Prophecy oi Revenge

•»
One of the most remarkable institutions of wealthy from gifts and
the medieval era effectively came to an end the tax-exempt income
on March 11, 1314, when King Philip IV of of its The Tem-
estates.
France had the last grand master of the money to
plars loaned
Order of the Knights Templars, Jacques de many European mon-
Molay (right), burned at the stake. As the archs, including Philip
flames licked at his flesh, de Molay predicted IV — and in the process,
that Philip himself would be brought to eter- they stirred royal greed
-• nal judgment within a year and that Pope The kingly debtors
Clement V, who had permitted the persecu- decided to simply seize
tion of the Templars, would die within forty the Templar wealth on
days. Both prophecies came true. the pretext that the
With this, the Order passed into legend. Order had become
There were rumors that Templars survived corrupt, allegedly
as a secret sect for centuries thereafter, given to sexual per
leaving their story mysteriously unfinished. version and devil
The Knights Templars (a name derived worship. Evidence
from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, was manufactured
site of their first quarters) were founded in by torture. Even de
1118 to protect Christian pilgrims visiting the Molay confessed,
Holy Land. They were superb warriors, giv- but he then re-
ing no quarter in their battles with Muslims canted. For this
who were vying for the Holy Land. But in embarrassing hitch
peace, they had much in common with other in his schemes,
religious orders-. The knights took vows of Philip had him
chastity and poverty and lived in dormitories. burned alive, little dream
Over the years, despite its members' vows ing that the grand master's death
of poverty, the Order grew prodigiously would soon be followed by his own

12 MARCH 13 MARCH 14 MARCH

A Iter? tnd ior He Knijhls lemplarv Tie onion fields. In times gone by, A fortune Seeking a glimpse of
fulfilled. The Ghanaian New Year, instead of mak-
See above. farmers of every land linked liturgi- his future, an Elizabethan man- ing a quick transition from the old
cal and agricultural timetables. of-affairs named Henry Cuffe drew year to the new, the people of Gha-
Among English farmers of old, for three Tarot cards. One depicted a na spread their celebrations over
—
example, this date the feast day of man taken prisoner; the second thirteen days, the last one falling on
Saint Gregory the Great, a pope was a scene of judgment; and the the day after the spring equinox.
who died in 604 —was the deadline third showed a The first eleven days are devoted to
for the planting of onions. gallows. On March a series of dances performed for
13, 1601, Cuffe various purposes. Some are intend-
was hanged for '

to drive away evil, others to

plotting against honor the spirits of the dead,
Queen Elizabeth. still others to bring good luck
or to ensure a rich harvest. On
the twelfth day, the spirits'
shrines are washed clean of the
old year and of any bad memo-
ries, while the thirteenth day is

devoted to greeting the new year.

 A Memorable Medium
Eileen Garrett, a world-famous psychic cred-
ited with gifts of clairvoyance, telepathy,
and precognition, was born on this day in
1893 in Ireland. During her fifty-year career,
her purported psychic gifts were chiefly
applied to making contact with the dead,
most often through an Oriental spirit-guide
who identified himself as Uvani. A woman
of great liveliness and curiosity, Garrett
studied exotic religions, funded expedi-
tions to study unexplained phenomena,
and established a research institute focus-
ing on parapsychology. Scrupulously
honest, she accepted no money for seances
and even confessed to doubt the reality of
her mediumistic powers, speculating that
they were simply expressions of her subcon-
scious. Yet in one carefully monitored test in
New York, she identified items that were
lying on a physician's desk in Iceland and
even recited passages from a book the Ice-
landic doctor was reading at that moment.
*» w-'^qE

15 MARCH 16 MARCH XL MARCH 18 MARCH

"BCWire (tit ld« Ol Urcll." Shakespeare 4 ICSllVal ol C»l»r. Over several days Birthday ol an amazing woman. Renowned psychic. Famed clairvoyant
did not invent the supernatural preceding the full moon
of March, See above. and psychic healer Edgar Cayce,
warnings oj Julius Caesar's assassi- the Hindu festival ofHoli celebrates who during trances often described
nation on this day in 44 BC the arrival of spring and commem- life in the lost land of Atlantis, was
Second-century biographer Plutarch orates the downfall of the legendary born March 18. 1877.
wrote that a soothsayer warned demon Holika, who was burned to
Caesar "to take heed" on March death for devouring children. A Sheelan'S Day. In Ireland, this date was S
15, "for on that day he should be in of Holi is the
distinctive feature once set aside to honor Sheelah-
grave danger. " Plutarch also re- playful throwing or smearing (be- na-gig, the goddess offertility,
corded that Caesar's wife Calpurnia low) ofabir, a crimson powder. represented below in the stonework
begged him not to go out because of a church. When Christianity
she had dreamed he would be came to Ireland, the pagan deity
slain. Caesar went anyway. Near took on a new identity as a relative
the Senate he saw the soothsayer of Saint Patrick —in some accounts
and "merrily" noted, "The Ides of his wife, in others his mother
March be come " Yes, agreed the
prophet softly, "but yet are they not
past." Just moments later
Caesar's colleagues slashed
him to death.
 Aries: March 21-April 20
To the ancients, the sun appeared to make a have the ^potential to destroy
slow annual orbit around a stationary earth, whatever lies in their path.
I and stargazers divided the circle described Natives of Aries answer to
by the sun's progress into twelve constella- no one. They enjoy wielding
—
tions the signs of the zodiac. On March 21, power themselves, however,
the flickers of spring rouse the northern
first and can be domineering in
reaches of the planet from their winter slum- personal relationships. Driven
ber, and thus astrologers denoted Aries, the by fierce independence, they
sector the sun enters on that date, as the tend to be wary of emotional
first sign of the zodiac. commitment and have a pen-
Those born when the sun is in Aries are chant for short-lived romances.
said to be willful, like their feisty animal Their best quality is said to
totem, the Ram. They are also considered be courage. Known to dare
aggressive, influenced by Mars the planet — under circumstances others
named for the Roman warrior god. Further- dread, Arians are the world's
more, Aries is thought to govern the head, adventurers and history's pio-
which imparts an oft-foolhardy impulsive- neers. Some famous Arians
ness upon those born under the sign. include Sandra Day O'Connor,
Lacking foresight, they frequently charge first woman on the U.S. Su-

headlong into any interest that grabs their preme Court; magician Harry
fancy, oblivious to the consequences for Houdini; painter Vincent van
themselves or others. Like the element fire, Gogh; and Gloria Steinem,
with which their sign is associated, they writer and feminist leader.

•10
1 27 March ?A
miU March
91
m1 MARCH
v 99
mm March
An annul miracle. As if watching a Festival 01 ISlS. In ancient Egypt, the The sun enters (he sign oi Aries, see above. The modern
A witches' celebration.
calendar, migrating swallows re- spring harvest festival, held to hon- branch of witchcraft known as
turn from their winter homes to a or the goddess Isis (below), began Wicca observes a joyous holiday on
summering place near California's on this date. Isis was a deity-of- the vernal equinox, which falls
old mission town of San Juan Cap- all-trades, worshiped not only as generally either on this date or a
istrano on this same date every mother goddess and enchantress day or two earlier The witches call
iLyear, Saint Joseph's Day. but also as protector of the dead the feast Eostre, after the Teutonic
and patroness of seafarers. goddess of spring, and mark it with
The laiylttiai New Tear, v rituals of renewal and rebirth. Eggs
Akitu, Babylonia's ten- \ are the primary symbol of Eostre,
day-long New Year \ dyed and decorated, they are as
festival, was held around \ ^^fj much a part of some Wiccan rituals
the time of the spring \ ^BB^^ as of the Christian Easter.
equinox and was a cele- VaV
bration of the marriage \

of heaven and earth. V

n 1

23
 -

23 MARCH MARCH
M

Away Willi WlllCf. As spring nears, old Pi$S»TCT. Originally a spring harvest Wat renewal. In late March, Romans A lime By old Slavic mysti-
Of ittlallon.

people in the Polish countryside festival, Passover istoday an eight honored a pair of ill-fated lovers, cal tradition, March 26 was desig-
prepare to send winter packing day celebration of the "passing- the mother goddess Cybele and a nated as the start of the plowing
with the festival of Marzenna. They over" of the houses of the lews by young shepherd named Attis season, because the earth was
weave straw dolls that represent the an angel that God sent to slay the (above). According to myth, Attis thought be pregnant until this
to
waning season, each three or four firstborn sons of Egypt. A moveable castrated himself in a moment of day. It would be a sin to till the soil
feet tall, dressed in rags and fes- feast, it begins at the full moon madness and bled to death. Cybele of the expectant mother with any
tooned with ribbons (below) When nearest the spring equinox Its begged Jupiter to restore his life, kind of iron implement. • I

mild weather tells the villagers centerpiece is a meal

spring has arrived, they sing and
dance as they carry the straw fig-
ures to nearby rivers or lakes and
toss them into the icy waters.
ritual family
known as the seder, during which
prayers are recited and the story
of the Exodus is read. The meal is
rich in symbolic details and touches
of drama: At one point, for exam-
ple, the door of the house is
opened, and the
prophet Elijah
invited to enter in
and drink from a
goblet of wine.
and the supreme deity responded
by transforming the body into a
pine tree, eternally green The cult
of Cybele was served in Rome by
self-castrated priests. Toward the
end of the March rites, they carried
a pine to her temple, then slashed
themselves and splattered the altar
is with blood.On March 25, this
mourning gave way to an ecstatic
debauch of eating and drinking.
M

24
.
I
An Elaborate Balancing M
Once in a century —
but more often if times of Bali's supreme
—
are particularly troublesome the people of deity. After that an-
Bali gather to restore the balance between cient rite has been
the forces of good and evil This harmoniz- carried out, dancers
ing feat, accomplished by means of a festival perform elaborate
.
called Eka Dasa Rudra, is not a simple one. figures, gifts are offered
Eka Dasa Rudra eleven weeks and
lasts up to the gods, and
consists of some thirty ceremonies, ranging priests direct prayers in
from sacred dances to a three-day, thirty- all eleven directions of
eight-mile-long procession (right) from a Balinese space. Thus the
temple complex atop Mount Agung Bali's— festival is brought to a
—
holiest volcano to the sea and back again. close until another hun-
The climax of the festival occurs on dred years have gone
March 28, when tens of thousands of pil- —
by or until some sudden
grims crowd the temple complex and watch tilt of the scales in favor of

as scores of animals are sacrificed in an the forces of malevolence

effort to slake the fury of Rudra, the evil side prompts remedial action.

21 MARCH 29 MARCH 30 MARCH

Passage ill* adllllMl For Roman A Visionary saini The Spanish mystic 4 yearly correction. Believing that the The trembling earth. Iran s New Year
males, the festival of Liberalia, held known as Saint Teresa of Avila equilibrium of sun, rain, and soil is celebration begins at the spring
on March 27 in honor of the vege- entered the world on March 28, upset by farming, the Bobo people equinox and lasts for thirteen days.
tation god Liber, marked the transi- 1515, and, in effect, left it some of Africa perform a restorative Families light small bonfires and
tion from boyhood to manhood. twenty years later when she joined masquerade each year on this date. jump over them, symbolically leap-
Boys who had reached a suitable the austere order of Carmelite nuns. Clad in special costumes and wear- ing into the new year. As with so
age —usually seventeen —doffed Over the years, she committed her ing painted masks (below), they beg many spring ceremonies, eggs play
their purple-bordered togas, put on mystical beliefs to paper, writing an intermediary god to redress the a part —in this case symbolizing
the plain togas worn by men, and with great power and passion. In a natural balance, banish evil, and an ancient belief that the earth
assumed the status of citizens. book titled The Interior Castle, she bring the rainfall that will ensure trembles at the arrival of a new
laid out the path that a soul must a good harvest. year. As the moment of transition
follow in order to achieve union nears, an egg is placed upon a
with Cod. She also left vivid de- mirror, and almost always shivers
scriptions of her visions, voices she slightly —
if only because of excite-
heard, and "raptures" that lifted ment in the room.
her bodily off the ground.
 "

31 MARCH 1 APRIL 2 APRIL 3 APRIL

ItC FM SlSlers' lefell. In upstate New A lay l»r prinks. Mystery surrounds the Tit demise »l Winter. The fourth Sunday The IblrtcenlD lay. Iranians observe a
York on the last day of March 1848, origin of April Fool's Day, an occa- in Lent, named Day after
Rejoicing holiday called Sizdar-Bedah on the
two sisters, Kate and Maggie Fox sion for playing pranks and making a biblical verse from the Book of thirteenth day of their New Year, or
(below), touched off a craze for fun of others The spirit of the day Isaiah, long retained a pagan flavor No Ruz, festival. It is considered
spiritualism when, for the first time, has been linked to the uncertain among German people In some unlucky to stay indoors on this day,
they apparently communicated with weather at that time ofyear, to an was staged by two
places, a fight so people flock to their favorite
the dead, who
tapped out responses old custom of letting the insane out men, one dressed as winter and the picnic spots.On the way, children *
to their questions. Forty years later, of asylums one day each year for other attired as spring, with the throw bowls of sprouted seeds into
the sisters admitted to faking the the amusement of normal folk, and latteralways emerging the victor. streams in the belief that the old
episode By then, however, spiritu- even to the story of Christ's passion, Elsewhere, people would create year's bad luck will be swept away
alists practicing their techniques during which lesus was shunted straw dolls, then burn or drown with this offering.
numbered in the tens of thousands. pointlessly from place to place, only them —a ceremony they called
to be mocked and tormented. "carrying death away.

m
THE BIRTHPLACE 6F ^X
MODERN SPIRITUALISM
UPON THIS S)Tt STOOD THt HYKSVUU COTTAGE
THE HOME OF THE
FOX SISTERS
I HROUGH WHOSE MEOTUMSHIP C0MMUN1CAT ION
WIT!) 1 HE SPRIT WORLD WAS ESTABl KM D
MARCH 31. 1848 .

THERE IS NO DEATH
 When (he Pharaoh's Curse SfrucK Home
In 1922, after fifteen years of labor in Egypt's lay sealed in a chamber just a few meters
Valley of the Kings, excavators in the employ away. Lord Carnarvon, however, would not
of archaeologist Howard Carter and his livelong enough to see the mummy disin-
sponsor, George Edward Herbert, fifth earl of terred.He was bitten by a mosquito when he
Carnarvon, made a sensational discovery. went to visit the newly opened tomb, and on
They broke through into an underground April 5, about five months after the initial
tomb that held a rich collection of jewelry, discovery, he joined King Tut in death, sue
chariots, thrones, and other artifacts to serve cumbing mysterious blood infection.
to a
the occupant in the afterlife. Continued dig- Some demise to a "Phar-
attributed his
ging revealed an even more extraordinary —
aoh's curse" vengeance for defilement of
treasure: The tomb also contained the mum- the royal resting place. It was said that at the
my of a boy-king who had died thirty centu- precise moment he died, the lights of Cairo
ries earlier. The pharaoh Tutankhamen, or flickered and, far away in England, the earl's
Tut as he came to be known by the press, dog howled, then expired as well.

4 APRIL 6 APRIL I APRIL

Homage I* Cyide. Threatened by the An alien Issue lor Congress, on this date A spring feslival for children, on this day Secret benefactors. InRumania, offer-
armies of Hannibal in 205 BC, the in 1966, responding to a flurry of in southeastern France, children ings are made on this day to the
leaders of Rome delved into a can UFO sightings, the House Commit- cast miniature pine boats into the spirits of the water and the under-
on of prophecies known as the tee on Armed Services commenced estuaries of the Moselle River in an world Though hidden, they appar-
Sibylline Books. In this oracular a brief and—for the most part — annual celebration of spring. Each ently are deemed beneficent if given

source, they found a prediction closed-door hearing on the issue of boat has a lighted candle in place their proper due: They go by the
saying that Hannibal would be possible alien visitations. Only a of a mast, symbolizing human- name of Blajini, or%dndly ones.
driven from and within
Italy, handful of witnesses were called to kind's joy in sailing the seas of life.
a year the prophecy was give testimony, and their opinions
fulfilled. Ever ready to add a were generally supportive of the
new festival to the calendar, longstanding government view that
the Romans set aside April 4 UFO sightings have natural expla-
as a day on which to honor nations. Ufologists were less than
their protector, Cybele. convinced that the proceedings
were thorough
 "

Folk Beliefs of Holy Week

Usually in April but sometimes in March,
depending on the phase of the moon, the
season of Lent draws to a close with Holy
Week, a series of religious observances com-
memorating the passion and death of Jesus
Christ. Over the centuries, numerous folk
beliefs have attached themselves to the
week's Christian framework. For example,
—
on Palm Sunday a day celebrating the joy-
ous reception of Jesus in Jerusalem by a
—
palm-waving crowd churchgoers in some
parts of Greece receive branches of ever-
green myrtle or bay along with the usual
crosses of woven palm leaves; mothers use
these leafy bunches to protect their children
against the evil eye.
Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion,
has attracted an abundance of traditions.
According to one belief, planting a garden on
Good Friday guarantees profusion. Similarly,
a friend acquired on that day is supposedly a Romans baked in
cross-inscribed loaves that Wearing halos, silver robes, and feathery
friend for life. Evil can be averted by baking honor of Diana, goddess of the hunt. And the wings, girls lead a procession through
hot cross buns on Good Friday and then origin of a longstanding taboo against fish- the town ofOuro Preto, in southeastern I
Brazil, to mark the end of Holy Week.
hanging them over the bed. ing on Good Friday can be found in the cult
Many of the traditions linked to Holy once associated with Atargatis, an ancient
Week have clear pagan ancestry. Hot cross goddess whose day was Friday and to whom
buns, for instance, can be traced to the fish were sacred.

8 APRIL 9 APRIL 10 APRIL APRIL

Btlllilt ip WillCT. When their corn has Feasl tl A-Fla. In the tiny Portuguese A myslerlois sea Busier, on April w, Boly Weed. See above.
been planted, the Cuchumatan territoryof Macao, situated on a 1 977, a Japanese trawler hauled in
Indians of Guatemala take pains to peninsula along China's southern a carcass (below) that some investi-
protect against winter's return. coast, this day is devoted to praises gators took to be the remains of a
Villagers climb to a nearby cliff of the goddess A-Ma, patroness of plesiosaur, a huge and supposedly
where Frost is said to live. A sha- sailors and fishermen. Macao's very extinct reptile (below, right) that
man is lowered by rope to a crack name honors her It is derived from paddled the world's oceans 100
in the cliff's face, which he plasters the Chinese word A-mangao, "bay million years ago. Skeptics contend
shut to seal in the killing cold. of the goddess A-Ma. that the catch was most likely a
basking shark.
Usleillg I* IkC IllTcrsc This date in
1 960 saw the start of Project Ozma,
a pioneering attempt by astronomer
Frank Drake and his colleagues at
the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory in West Virginia to
detect messages from alien civiliza-
tions with a radio telescope.
 with an iceberg on April and suffered a
1 4 of the Titanic. Like the Titanic, the fictional
A Preview of Disaster? people perished.
fatal tear in its hull, 1,513 Titan first put to sea in April, struck an ice-
The famed liner would not be seen again berg on its starboard side, and sank with a
Was the sinking of the Titanic foreseen four- until a deep-sea camera discovered its grave huge loss of life.
teen years before it happened? If so, the in 1 985 (above). At the very least, the similarity of the two
2,224 people aboard the great ocean liner on But in a sense, the Titanic was following a ships and their fates was extraordinarily
its maiden voyage in April of 1912 certainly script — a novel, extraordinarily prescient in coincidental, but some people have seen it

were unaware of it. They believed they were
on the world's safest ship. The huge floating
palace was thought so sturdy that the own-
ers considered sinking to be an impossibility.
They equipped the vessel with only twenty
lifeboats, which could carry fewer than 1 ,200
people. As a result, when the Titanic collided
its details, that was published fourteen years as more than that: The author, they note,
earlier by an American writer named Morgan considered himself something of a psychic
Robertson. For his tale, Robertson invented a and once claimed that he owed his inspira-
as
British liner, the S.S. Titan, describing it tion to what he called his "astral writing
the biggest and safest vessel in the world. partner." But Robertson shed no light on the
The size, speed, and passenger capacity he issue. He died, destitute and forgotten, three
gave to the Titan were almost exactly those years after the Titanic went to the bottom.

i*

12 APRIL 13 APRIL 14 APRIL 15 APRIL

1 rOMrctfil MR The Nepalese New A For three days in

ICSllVal Oi WalCT. The sinking of Ihe Titanic, see above. Sacrificing Ihe unborn, m the Roman
Year falls in the middle of an eight- April, in Thailand wel-
Buddhists calendar, this day was set aside for
day April festival called Bisket, come the new year with a ceremo- an offering to Tellus, the earth
i linked to an ancient account of a ny of cleansing During the celebra- mother. To ensure that their farms
' princess possessed by two serpent tions, statues of the Buddha are would be productive, people sacri-
demons. The princess took many ritually bathed, and people throw ficed a pregnant cow and burned
it is said, and all died in her
lovers, water at one another to wash away the unborn calf.
Then a prince of a foreign land
bed. the old year's evil.

arrived and arranged a tryst. That

night, after lovemaking, he hid
himself and watched the princess
for hours. Finally, two threads of
darkness emerged from her nostrils
^ and expanded into serpents. Leap-
ing from concealment, the prince
slew the demons with his sword,
then devoted himself to the pleas
ures of love once again
 " "

Pre-Christian Links lo Hie Holies! Christian Day

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated
on Easter, the culmination of Holy Week and
the most important festival of the Chris-
tian calendar. It is a moveable feast,
occurring on the first Sunday after the
first full moon after the spring equinox—

a formula devised at the Council of

Nicea, a gathering of bishops held in the
year 325 Consequently, Easter can fall
on any Sunday between March 22 and
Orthodox Church observes
April 25. (The
Easter a week later, on the second Sunday
after the first full moon of spring.)

During the early days of Christianity,

Easter was linked to the festival of Passover Europe during the time of the Crusades.
The Council of Nicea severed that tie, but the The tradition of an Easter Bunny is Teu-
influence of many other non-Christian reli- tonic in origin: —
A hare a prolific breeder
gious traditions can still be discerned. Eggs, that came to be associated with the laying of i

for example, were a symbol of fertility in Easter eggs — was the emblem of Eostre, the
many pagan cultures. Church leaders forbade Teutonic goddess of spring, who gave Easter
the eating of them during Lent but lifted the name. Even the custom of wearing new
its

prohibition on Easter. The practice of dyeing clothes on Easter can be traced to pagan
and decorating eggs probably originated in times, when people chose the time of spring
Middle Eastern spring festivals and spread to festivals to shed the old and don the new.

Easier. See above

n APRIL

A palriOf'S Wish. On this day in 1 790,

18
RUM'S Da?.
APRIL

A paragon of chivalry and

19
Death Oi
APRIL

Lord ByrOB. Many foreign roman-

American statesman Benjamin virtue, the Hindu god Rama was the tics have fallen in love with Greece, 4*
Franklin died, having harbored for seventh of the ten incarnations of but English poet George Gordon, Lord
many years an interest in the possi- the god Vishnu and the husband of Byron, may be the only one who truly
bility of bringing the dead back to the goddess Sita. The festival of left his heart there. Idolized for works
life. On one occasion, he noticed Ram Navami, staged at this time of such as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,
that flies that he had presumed year, commemorates Rama's royal Byron also haeLan interest in the
drowned in a bottle of wine revived son of King Dasa-
birth as the first occult He helped shape Mary Shel-
when he placed them in the sun, ratha.As part of the festivities. ley's Frankenstein, and he
and he hypothesized that humans Hindus retell their favorite gave John Polidori the idea
might also be retrieved from death. stories from the epic
po- for The Vampyre, a novel
Indeed, he jestingly wrote to a em, the Ramayana, or that led to all the vampyr
friend that because of his "ardent "romance of Rama. books, plays, and movies
desire to see the state of America a since. Byron died of a
hundred years hence, " he would fever on this day in 1824
"prefer to an ordinary death being while helping Greeks fight
immersed with a few friends in a for independence from the
cask of Madeira," from which he Ottomans. His corpse was
could be "recalled to life. shipped to England, except
>.
for his heart, which was
buhed in Greece.

**,

30
«

eC**^*-
 Taurus: April 2l-May 20
As the early, unpredictable days of spring ures. Indeed, they are the
soften into the more settled weather of late world's most ardent materialists
April and May, so too does volatile Aries give and its most blatant sensualists,
way to steady Taurus. Astrologers say that guided by Venus, planet of the
» unlike reckless Aries, Taurus is all level- Roman goddess of love. They
headed maturity: practical, patient, and, like display an uncanny knack for
its symbol — —
the Bull a bastion of strength earning money, which they use
and a bulwark against adversity. to feather their own nests.
It is said that those born under the sign of Allowed to run unchecked,
Taurus stubbornly pursue any goal. They are Taurean materialism may teeter
loyal friends and tender lovers, tolerant of into greed, and bullish determi-
the foibles of others and slow to anger. Once nation can become bullheaded
roused, however, their fury is frightful, mak- obstinacy. In addition, the com-
ing the choice of the Bull as the Taurean bination of devotion and desire
symbol all the more appropriate. that often makes a Taurean the
Taurus is also identified with the element ideal spouse can explode into
earth, a connection that fuels its natives' fiery jealousy. cally Taurean in his dogged pursuit of victory
worldly approach to life. Tireless at work and On balance, however, Taureans are the in the American Civil War— British Queen
passionate at play, Taureans meet life's stalwarts of the zodiac, and their ranks in- Elizabeth II, tennis player Chris Evert, and
challenges head-on and revel in its pleas- clude military great Ulysses S. Grant — typi- actress Shirley MacLaine.

20 APRIL 21 APRIL 22 APRIL 23 APRIL

A eravlij lor pwer. m 1889, Adolf Guardians Ol livestock. Each year on this A ghOSlty train. The grief that followed time. Both brave
A leader from another
A Hitler (below) was born on this date date, the Romans honored a pair of the assassination of President and pious measure, the
in rare
in the village of Braunau in Austria. deities known as the Pales, the Abraham Lincoln in 1865 had no legendary Christian warrior known
Destined to show malignant genius guardians of cattle and sheep. Rit- precedent in American history. as Saint George lived in Asia Minor
at building political and military ual cleaning of the stalls, offerings Seven million people —a quarter of in the third century AD. He reputed-
power, he was also intrigued by the to the gods, and the purification of the nation's population —paid their ly slew a dragon and performed
hidden powers of the mind. On one the animals were all part of the respects as the dead president was other knightly deeds, then died a
occasion during World War I, he day's activities, which ended with a slowly carried home to Illinois by a martyr's death on April 23, 303.
left his trench position just mo- feast after the herdsmen had leaped funeral train. Some say the train After the Crusades, he became
ments before an artillery round three times over a bonfire. Eventu- repeats the mournful journey every England's patron saint,
—
struck a narrow escape that he ally, the festival became one of the April,making a spectral transit and as late as World
fa attributed to clairvoyance. most important on the Roman along a stretch of track in New War I, British soldiers
calendar: April 21, it was decided, York State. A military band is sup- reported seeing him
was the day on which Romulus had posedly aboard, playing music riding into
founded the city of Rome. beyond the range of mortal ears. battle.
 date ranks among their most sacred sabbats, was said to have the power to preserve or
Dark Nighf and Shining Day or festivals, and is a hallowed prelude to restore one's looks.
their annual celebration of Beltane on the The returning Maying parties might also
In German tradition, the hours of darkness first day of May. carry home
a birch or pine tree stripped of
after sunset on April 30 and before sunrise Beltane —or May Day, as it is known now- all its branches. Placed upright on the village

on May 1 are known as Walpurgis Night, adays to —

non-witches stands in bright con- green and gaily decorated with vines, flow-
named for Saint Walpurga, an abbess who trast to dark Walpurgis Night. In Celtic tradi- ers, and ribbons, it became the maypole —an
died in AD 779. Despite the saintly prove- tion, the beginning of May marked the start obvious phallic symbol, linked to the fertility

nance, Walpurgisnacht belongs to witches.
Legend says that on this blackest of nights,
they fly in from every corner, clutching
broomsticks and spewing evil, to gather atop
—
the Brocken the highest peak in the Harz
Mountains. There, they share a night of
feasting and licentious revelry with the devil.
In times past, people sought to frighten
off the witches by making as much noise as
they could during the night, ringing church
bells, slamming doors, cracking whips, and
banging pots and pans. They lit bonfires,
erected crosses, and brandished torches
topped with such supposed witch-
dispersants as rosemary and juniper, and
they witch-proofed their houses by decking
the doors and windows with birch boughs.
Not until dawn dispelled the darkness could
people at last let down their guard.
These customs have faded, but Walpurgis
Night retains great importance for modern
witches, followers of the Wiccan faith. This
of summer. Huge bonfires were lit on the
hilltops, sometimes near a sacred tree repre-
senting the gods of vegetation a practice —
that gave rise to the tradition of the maypole.
Once the bonfires were blazing, the people
danced around them, singing and moving in
a clockwise direction. Sometimes bonfires
were kindled in pairs, and the merrymakers
danced and drove their cattle between them
as a rite of purification.
Beltane was suppressed by the Catholic
church, but pagan practices long continued
to greet the month of May. In England and
elsewhere, young men and maidens would
go a- Maying on the eve of May Day, spend-
ing the night in the greenwood and returning
at dawn to dress the village in boughs of
greenery and garlands of flowers a custom — came little more than an official holiday in
that came to be called "bringing in the May."
On their way home, the young women,
some no longer maidens, might pause to
wash their faces in the morning dew, which
of crops, cattle, and people.
In times past, nearly every village had its
own maypole; in fact, London had several,
including a 134-foot-tall giant that was
erected in 1661 and that held its ground for
more than fifty years. In many places, a May
King and Queen would also be chosen, and
under their aegis people would dance
around the maypole from morning to night
on the first day of May.
Maypoles fell into disfavor during the
heyday of Puritan. sm in the mid-seventeenth
century, with one noteworthy defender of
public morality indicting the maypole as a
"stinckying idoll." In time, what had been a
carefree fertility festival was stripped of its
religious and magical significance and be-
—
some places chosen, with no evident aware-
ness of the irony, for displays of military
power. Nowadays the old Beltane customs
are mainly observed only by witches.

24 APRIL 25 APRIL 26 APRIL 22 APRIL

A WlldiW II IkC IWirt. In rural areas of A luntal ttt. In order to protect their A propiliililj Slarl In the African re- Boma it Win. Farmers of the
ll IJ1

England, it was once a practice for life-giving crops, the ancient Ro- public of Sierra Leone, this day — the Bambara Mali attribute
tribe in
those who sought a glimpse of the mans went to a grove outside the start —
of their new year is devoted their food-growing ability to a
future to spend this night —Saint cityeach year on this day and to a seed-sowing ceremony (below) mythical teacher named Tyi Wara,
—
Mark's Eve on the porch of the sacrificed a dog and a sheep to that is designed to appease the half-man, half-animal (below). On
local church Sometime during the Robigus, the god of mildew. goddess offertility this day,
night, the spiritsof all those des- they honor
tined to die in the next year would his memo-
supposedly glide by The preview ry with
had its price, however, since those songs and
who stood watch had to remain dance.
—
awake or never wake again.
Moreover, they had to repeat the
vigil each year thereafter for the rest

of their lives.
 Two witches
wltci
i tug a companion out of her chim-
ney so she can join the host of revelers on their
way to a Walpurgis Night sabbat. The fanciful
scene was painted in 1897 by Albert Welti.

Gaily costumed, modern pagans weave colored

ribbons around a maypole in a symbolic fertility
dance said to meld male and female energy.

U*
28 APRIL 29 APRIL 1 MAY
A CdCfcrallll »l SCI In imperial Rome, The prophcl's ascension. According to WalpurglS Nighf. See above. Reading forbidden books, on this date in
sixdays of government-sanctioned Islamic tradition, the prophet Mu- 1 776, Bavarian lawyer Adam
debauchery got underway on April hammad had a vision in which he Weishaupl (below, left) founded the
28. —
The festival of Floralia honor- flew astride a mythical beast called Order of the Illuminati, a secret
ing Flora, goddess offlowering the Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem society dedicated to the study of
—
plants began with a play that in a single night. From there, he books banned by the Jesuit religious
featured nude actresses and ob- ascended to the heavenly throne of order Assuming the name Sparta-
scene gestures and dances Ribald God, where he was told to recite a cus, Weishaupt established three
games followed, including the snar- prayer called the salat fifty times a degrees of membership: Novice,
bW ing of such notably libidinous ani- day. That number was later re- Minerval, and Illuminated Minerval.
mals as hares and goats. In later duced and today all Muslims
to five, Promotion was marked by ceremo-
years, young men took to express- pray the salat five times daily. Mu- nies involving disclosure of secret
ing their ardor by erecting trees or hammad's vision is recalled by the signs and passwords. Though never
poles in front of the houses offa- faithfulon this date with readings large, the society included such
—
vored women a precursor of the of the account of the journey notables as the dukes of
maypoles that became a part of Brunswick and Gotha.
May Day celebrations in Europe Disbanded in 1 795, the
Illuminati reappeared
in 1906 and again in
the 1980s.

33
 MljICil IttStS. A European reminder D-DiJ piZZlt. British agents were Frustrating Ike lairles. The insh once Rain festival. In parts of Mexico and
of May Day's origins as a fertility concerned on May 3, 1944, when believed that fairiesemerged from Central America, some such as
—
festival is the hobbyhorse a man —
the secret code word Utah desig- hiding at this time ofyear to make the Yucatan priest above still offer
dressed in equine costume, often nating a landing beach for the trouble for humans. People limited prayers to a rain god Guatemalans
wearing a pointed hat and a fiend- —
coming invasion of France ap- their travel to avoid running afoul of the old faith mark May 5 with
ish mask. One such apparition peared in the London Daily Tele- of the sprites, and some wore their a rain goddess ritual.

romps through the English town of
Minehead (above) from May Day
eve through May 2 Until recently,
the hobbyhorse was attended by
graph crossword puzzle solution coats inside out to confuse the
Concern became alarm as numer- fairies.A spot of tea and a bit of Tie reappearance Pi rf i. The fabled lost
ous code words appeared in subse- bread left on the doorstep were Pacific continent called Mu will rise
—
quent puzzles including, only days thought to deter trickery, but babies from watery grave on this dale
its £ t

two club-wielding assistants whose before the invasion. Overlord, the were always guarded lest the wee in the year 2000, according to the
job was to prompt donations operation's code name. Suspecting folk kidnap them and leave ugly Lemurian Fellowship This group
from the crowd espionage, agents swarmed into the changelings in their stead. Today, says Mu once stretched from North
paper's office to confront the puzzle some believers in UFOs speculate America to Asia and was home to
setter Questioning revealed he was that abductions by aliens led to the the Utopian Mukulian Empire be-
no he could not account
spy, but tales offairies kidnapping children fore sinking into the sea.
for the amazing coincidence. Some
wonder if he picked up unintended
psychic messages, or perhaps fore-
saw the future
c
17

u T k fl

34
 Dance from (lie Distant Pas!

Although it coincides with the feast of Saint

Michael the Archangel on May 8, the so-
called Furry Dance held in the Cornish town
of Helston, on England's southwestern tip,
predates the Christian era. The dance is, in
fact, one of the world's oldest surviving
spring festivals. The name Furry may come
from Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, or
perhaps is an echo of the Celtic word for
"fair." Whatever its etymological lineage, the

festival preserves the essence of countless

spring-welcoming ceremonies in the dim
past: It brings people together for communal
dancing, a demonstration of their unity.
The ceremonies consist chiefly of a day-
long series of processions, first by young
men and women, then by children, and
finally by the more prominent citizens of the
area. Assembled in long lines and led by a
band, they weave in and out of houses and
gardens, along the town streets, and through
public buildings. Wherever the celebrants
wander, it is said,good fortune will follow.

•
Umay A MAY Omay "may
NMk'S Ark Ills iitmi. According to English BOCklide. On the third Monday A dream of devastation, m the spring of DajfS Of dread. Ancient Romans be-
lames Ussher, a seventeenth - and Tuesday after Easter, villagers 1 902, a British soldier who was to lieved thaton May 9, II. and 13,
century bishop of Armagh and traditionally used ropes to "hock, become an aviation pioneer, John the gate between this world and the
primate of Ireland. Noah's Ark or catch, a member of the opposite William Dunne, dreamed about an next opened, allowing restless
settledon the mountains of Ararat sex The captive gained release by islanddoomed by a volcano. In the spirits, or lemures, to pour through.
on May 6, 2349 BC, a precise date donating to the local church dream, Dunne said, he tried in vain Pacifying the ghosts required the
he determined by consulting "sa- to persuade "incredulous French male head of every household to
cred and exotic history, astronomi- authorities" to evacuate the island. arise at midnight on each of the
cal calculation" and an old "He- Not long after, he read in a news- three nights, wash his hands three
|k brew calendar. " Furthermore, paper that on May 8, Mount Pelee times, then stride through the
declared the prelate, the day of the on the French West Indian island of house spitting or tossing black
week was Wednesday. Martinique had erupted with horrif- beans behind him for the ghosts to
ic violence, killing some 30,000 gather This sequence was repeated
people. More predictive dreams in nine times Finally, he would wash
later years prompted Dunne to his hands again, strike a brass
develop a new theory of time to vessel, and call out nine times,
account for his premonitions. "Shades of my fathers, depart."
Despite these measures, the lem
ures cast a pall over the month,
giving rise to the belief that May
marriages are unwise

»
 —

England's Medieval Capers

In some parts of England, no spring festival

would be complete without an appearance
by the local band of Morris dancers. Al-
though the origin of their name is obscure
some believe it was another term for pa-
gan —
a medieval inheritance is clear.
Dressed in white and wearing brightly
colored sashes, their straw hats strung with
ribbons and hung with flowers, the dancers
step and stomp to the measure of fiddles and
accordions. Jingling bells strapped to their
legs add to the hoopla. The dances, some-
times graceful, at other times charged with
energy, are performed according to complex
patterns and may be accompanied by clap-
ping, waving of handkerchiefs, or rhythmic
stamping of short staves on the ground.
Morris dancers make their first appear-
ance of the year on May Day, perform again
on the whit holiday weekend (Whitsunday is
the seventh Sunday after Easter) and reap-
pear occasionally throughout the summer.
By tradition, they are always men, generally
organized into troupes consisting of six
dancers, a musician, and a fool, who may
poke at women with a horse effigy fixed to
the front of his waist and uses a bladder
strung to a stick to keep the crowds at bay.

10. 11 MAY
Happy llllmMlf On May 6,
Madurai, tngland s ubiqullo NO llic li«S. To prove cats are not A holy Vision. On May 13, 1917, at
marriage of the
India, celebrates the above magical, a tenth-century Flemish Fdtima, Portugal, the Virgin Mary <
god Shiva (below right) to goddess count tossed some from a high allegedly made the first of six ap-
Meenakshi (center). Her brother tower. His deed is recalled in Ypres pearances to three peasant chil-
Vishnu (left) gives her away. by the Cat Parade (below). dren, an event that was to rivet the
world's attention (see October 13).

m
ffl
|-

) <-
 Virgins and Straw Men
During the course of the year, Rome's vestal

•
virgins —
the six priestesses of the goddess
—
Vesta not only tended a sacred fire in their
temple (see March 1) but also played a role in
numerous religious festivals. One of the
celebrations was the annual Argei rites held
on May 15. The Argei, or, more properly, the
argeorum sacraria, were twenty-seven
shrines scattered around the city and said to
have been consecrated by the early Roman
king Numa (twenty-seven because it was
three times nine, and therefore a magic
number). On this day, the shrines became
way solemn procession led by
stations for a
the vestal virgins, the Pontifex Maximus, or
chief priest, and a few magistrates.
At each of the Argei, the paraders paused
to pick up a straw puppet made to resemble
an old man. Once all twenty-seven puppets
had been collected, they were carried to the
Pons Sublicius, Rome's oldest bridge, and
thrown into the Tiber River by the virgins.
Exactly why the Romans created an elab-
orate ceremony around heaving straw dolls
into a river remains uncertain. Possibly the according to some scholars, the ritualmay The old wooden Sublicius bridge,
ritewas a purification ceremony preparatory have recalled an earlier time when old men from which straw men were thrown
to some larger agricultural ritual. Perhaps it were tossed into the river as human sacrific- into the Tiber, stood near here.
Before 1 OO BC it was replaced by
was intended to propitiate a river god. Or, es to the god Saturn.
the stone Ponte Rotto (foreground).

14 MAY 16 MAY II MAY

lie BIldBlflll $11. On May 14 in far A heave-ho lor slraw men. see above. Death ol a medium. This day in 1 91 A modern lerlillly rile, on this day in the
northern Norway, the rising sun marked the death offamed Italian town of Obando, in the Philippine
begins a "day" that will last ten medium Eusapia Palladino. Her islands, childless couples seek to
weeks. Changes in both social and alleged ability to levitate objects — improve their luck in starting fami-
physiological activity occasioned by during one seance she reportedly lies by dancing at a special fertility

the midnight sun —people easily get lifted herself, bound in a chair, onto festival. The objective of the dance
by with little working and
sleep, the top of a table —earned her the is to win the intercession of the

playing almost around the clock — nickname Queen of the Cabinet, Catholic saints.
demonstrate how strongly human space in
after the curtain-enclosed
behavior is tied to the earth's natu- which mediums supposedly con-
ral rhythms, even in a sophisticated centrate their psychic energy.
civilization. Come November, when Though Palladino was caught fak-
sunset plunges the region into two ing her stunts on a number of
months of darkness, life slows and occasions, she performed many
people sleep more. feats that left even the most ardent
skeptics thoroughly perplexed.

37
 " —

Gemini: May 21-junc 21

Beginning on May 21, Gemini straddles the tive Taureans, Gemini natives have little

seasons of spring and summer, in the proc- respect for tradition and constantly seek out
ess betraying what astrologers describe as change. Spontaneity is their stock in trade
the duality inherent in the sign. Gemini's and monotony a curse, whether in their
double personality is apparent in its zodiacal professions or in affairs of the heart. Conse-
symbol, the Twins, and is said to be equally —
quently, Geminis fall in and out of love —
obvious in the behavior of its natives, whose with ease and tend to shy away from long-
hallmark is inconsistency. term commitments.
Indeed, thanks to the influence of the On the job, Geminis are ill-suited to the
planet Mercury, quicksilvery Geminis lead tedium of the production line, but they make
lives of fluctuation. They are consummate and thespians careers
ideal orators, writers, —
fence-sitters, able to see two points of view that providethem with the variety they
at the same time — and to argue both sides crave. Famous people born under the sign of
convincingly. Their ruling element is air, the Twins include painter Paul Gauguin
which contributes to their elusiveness. who fled his native France for Tahiti in a fit
Geminis are full of charm and wit, al- —
of Gemini ennui financial mogul Donald
though ready sense of humor often
their Trump, rock star Paul McCartney, and televi-
masks their true feelings. Unlike conserva- sion personality Joan Rivers.

18 MAY 19 MAY 20 MAY

A rCTCreiCC l*r IWllS. Among the Yoruba NOV Enflill S lark toy. A sense of doom A tUsti) •»!. After taking offfrom Behcmclk •! lie Bay. Purported sea
people of Nigeria, twins — ibeji —are swept overNew England around New York on May 20, 1927, Ameri- monsters include Chesapeake Bay's
believed to have
powers beyond the noon on May 19, 1780, as much of can aviator Charles Lindbergh flew Chessie, videotaped by a Maryland
normal human measure Therefore, the region was plunged into dark- his single-engine plane, the Spirit of couple on May 21, 1982 Scientists
and other times of the year,
at this ness. Chickens settled down to St. Louis, for more than thirty -three found the image too blurry to iden-
mothers of twins hold special sup roost, frogs began their nighttime hours to —
reach Paris the first non- tify, but they agreed it seemed to be

pers, with the children as the croaking,and many people con- stop solo flight across the Atlantic a large animal
guests of honor. If one of the cluded that the day of judgment Later, Lindbergh told of a strange
twins should die, an effigy like had come. There was no eclipse to moment in the
the one below, called an ere account for the darkness Indeed, trip —an out-of-
ibeji, is created to represent no explanation has ever been body experience
the deceased child at the proved, although the cause may during which he
suppers —and to keep the have been a high-altitude pall of felt his spirit leave
of the living twin from
spirit wind-bome soot from huge forest hisbody and hover
yearning to follow its soul fires burning in the West. above it, connected
mate into death only by "a strand
so tenuous that it
could have been
severed by a
breath.

38
 r The Future's Allure

Much as he is pictured doing in the old etch-

Dee sat peering into a
ing at right, John
on May 25, 1581. At first he saw
crystal ball
nothing. Then, as he continued to focus on
the glassy depths, the ball appeared to cloud
up,and in the cloudiness a host of spirits
seemed to materialize. Thrilled, Dee was
sure he was
looking ahead in time.
By the time Dee attempted crystal gaz-
—
ing or scrying, as this ancient form of prog-
—
nostication was called he was one of the
most celebrated men in England. He had
served for years as Queen Elizabeth's royal
astrologer and was personal geographer to
famed explorer-navigators Sir Walter Raleigh
and Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Dee also enjoyed
an illustrious reputation as a mathematician.
i# But nothing attracted his quick mind
more strongly than the occult arts, and he
now responded wholeheartedly to their call.

He immersed himself in the study of alche-

my. He staged seances at which he claimed
to channel astral messages and converse
with angels. And, convinced of his skill as a
scryer, he boldly forecast the future on nu-
merous occasions, once telling a Polish
nobleman that he would live forever.
Whether Dee ever attempted to foresee
his own fate is unknown, but it was bleak. turned out to be unscrupulous types, and by
Unable to remember everything the spirits 1587 Dee's own star was fading. He eventu-
told him when they appeared in his crystal ally retired, telling fortunes in order to eat
ball, Dee employed others to do his scrying and gaining little in return except an unenvi-
while he wrote copious notes. The scryers able reputation as a wizard. He died in 1608.

.22 MAY 23 MAY 24 NAY

UlMlTCtf filer)'. On May 22, 415 BC, Repackaged MlualS. Among pagan Regal larming. When Cambodia was The Feasl Of Weeks. In its original form
during a war between Athens and feasts absorbed by Christianity were under royal rule, this date was as a harvest celebration, the Jewish
Sparta, Athenians awoke to find the Roman spring festivals (see May 29) known as Sacred Furrow Day. To festival of Shavuoth, or the Feast of
city's many busts of the god Her- that became Rogation Days —three attract heavenly favor to the land Weeks, centered around the offer-
mes mutilated The affront to divine days of prayer preceding Ascension and magnify the harvest, members ing of two loaves of bread made
power caused panic and a fear of Day. The name changed, but the of the royal family put their own from the first ripened wheat. Later,
dire consequences that proved object was the same, to ask divine backs to the plow and turned over Shavuoth became associated with
warranted. While the identity of the blessings for crops and to reinforce a single sacred furrow. the return of Moses from Mount
true vandals is still a mystery, Ath- awareness of civic and private Sinai and the proclamation of the
ens's most able boundaries At Ten Commandments In commem-
general, AJcibiades, left, on a Rogation oration of those events, modern-day
was condemned to Day in 1934, Eng- Jews eat a meal made up of special
death after rivals lish officials "beat dairy foods, symbolizing God's
accused him of the bounds"
the — tap promise that his Chosen People
sacrilege He fled to a man 's head would settle in a land "flowing with
Sparta, where his along a town 's milk and honey.
advice ultimately limits to impress
helped defeat the the boundaries
Athenians upon citizens.

39
 .

"\
Wells were also said to have curative pow-
God in (he Well ers. Among the more famous of Holy Wells
are those surrounding the village of Tissing-
The practice known as well dressing dates ton in Derbyshire, where the practice of well
from the days when people believed that dressing continues today.
water, the essential ingredient of life, was According to legend, the local festival was
inhabited by gods or spirits. These spirits had first held in 1350, after the Black Death dev-

the dreadful power to cause the water to astated the population of most of Derbyshire
flow or to withhold it, so people naturally but spared Tissington Villagers concluded
made every effort to honor and seek the that they had been protected by the purity of
favor of these divinities. their well water. Grateful for what they saw
To keep their water gods content, the as God's grace, they began decorating the
Romans staged an annual festival called the wells with flowers.
Fontinalia, during which flowers were tossed Today, Tissington 's well-dressing festival
into springs and wells were decorated with is held on Ascension Day, the fortieth day

wreaths. The water gods of ancient Britain after Easter A wooden frame is erected at
were apparently a more demanding lot, each of the five village wells, then the frame
however: Water sources there were ap- is covered with moist clay. Flowers, leaves,

peased not with flowers but with human buds, and berries are pressed into the clay to
self-mutilation. form elaborate designs, and these are usual-
Later, under the influence of Christianity, ly surmounted by a verse from the Bible. Led
wells that had once been sacred to pagans by the local clergy and choir, the villagers
were given the names of saints or the Virgin $, form a procession to visit each well, reading
Mary and became the sites ofbaptismal prayers, singing hymns, and blessing the
ceremonies. Some of these so-called Holy well water at every stop.

21 MAY 28 may 29 MAY ti I

Drmlng ip lie Wllcr Sippty. See above. paraHmal. This date in

A pairai tl Ike
1794 marked the birth of Cornelius
Vanderbilt. a shipping and railroad
magnate who began his career with
a loan of one hundred dollars from
his mother. A lifelong sufferer from
many ailments, theCommodore, as
he was known, retained a number
of psychic healers and mediums
one of whom supposedly sum-
moned up the ghost offinancial
wizard Jim Fiskfor a particularly
important railroad stocks meeting.
In his later years, Vanderbilt
to have slept with containers of
water under his bed, in the appar-
ent belief that the liquid would keep
the ghosts away.
Silencing a m rcptrl. On this
1965, a pilot flying over Australia
contacted ground-control operators,
exclaiming that a spherical object
had kept pace with his craft for ten
minutes before surging ahead.
Following this, Australian officials
allegedly warned the pilot and
— ground crew to maintain silence
about the sighting The pilot also
claimed film that was confiscated
would bear out his allegations.
is said
day in \ benIO Mars. Mars was not only
Rome's war god but also a god of
agriculture Around the end of May,
farmers honored Mars's gentler side
with feasts that included prayers
and rites, as well as the
purification
of a pig, a sheep, and an
sacrifice
ox Before sacrificing the animals,
people drove them around the
limits offarms and villages (below),
partly to imprint on their children
where the boundaries lay.

40
 The Triple Blessing

He was born Siddhartha Gautama in 563 BC,

but history knows him as the Buddha, "the
enlightened one." Time has cloaked his life
in legends, most revolving around three
major events: his birth, after what tradition
describes as an immaculate conception; his
enlightenment, when, having become a
wandering ascetic who triumphed over all

manner of temptation, the thirty-five-year-

old Siddhartha achieved perfect knowledge;
and the Buddha's final passage into nirvana,
a state of illumination and tranquility that
ends the cycle of reincarnation.
According to tradition, these three events
occurred on days of a full moon in May.
Today, Theravada Buddhists observe this
"triple blessing" on the feast of Vesakh, the
full-moon day of the sixth lunar month,
either April or May. On the eve of the cele-
brations, followers decorate temples and
homes with flowers, streamers, and prayer
flags, make offerings of rice, flowers, fruits,
coins, and incense; and join processions to
nearby temples and statues of the Buddha.
The festivals are not always one-day
affairs. Some observe the Triple Blessing on
three separate days, most celebrating Bud-
dha's birth sometime in April or May.

.30 MAY 31
L»Sl SCtkCT. On May 30, 1925, Briton Three holy days Id one.

Percy Fawcett entered the jungle on See above.

the Brazil-Bolivia border to seek a
fabled lost —and several
city. He
would-be rescuers — vanished.
 Green Rituals with Old Roots

. Ancient peoples thought

trees and other plants em- bodied inexhaustible life,

since they burst forth with new green vitality every year. And because the
reproduction of food plants was crucial to the humans who fed on them,
their fertility was a source of wonder and a subject of great concern.
Each year, when the abundant rebirth of plant life recalled the com-
monly told stories of the world's creation, of chaos yielding to order and
fertility ascending triumphantly over barrenness, people credited the awe-
inspiring process not to natural, purely physical forces but to gods, spirits,

and the supernatural. Many cultures worshiped the life-giving earth itself, in
the form of a great mother goddess such as Cybele, a Mediterranean fertility

deity whose fecundity is amply displayed in the stone image above. Vegeta-
tion, too, was personified. Corn, for example— born of the earth each spring

and falling back into the earth as seed in the autumn, only to be born again
the next year —was viewed as the offspring of the Mother Goddess and the
paternal god of rain.
Early farmers, believing their seeds would produce good crops only by
grace of such superhuman powers, sought favor in the spirit world through
rituals that reenacted the cycle of birth, death, and regeneration. In those
ceremonies human players ornamented with greenery or the fruits of the
harvest often took on the roles of plant spirits.

Annual rituals involving plants are still celebrated all over the world,
some as festivals adopted by establishment religions. Christianity, for in-
stance, long ago assimilated a number of European plant ceremonies, im-
parting a churchly gloss—and often a saint's name— to practices that previ-
ously were the domain of pagan priests, gods, sprites, and demons. In such
cases the people who participate today may know little or nothing of a ritu-
als origin, regarding the whole exercise as amusing tradition. But in socie-
ties that still live close to the old ways of forest and field, the celebration of
plant life continues to evoke real spiritual power.
 from within a massive hood of hazel
leaves during the Whitsun King
procession through the town of
Arbesthal, Austria. Now a part of the
Christian celebration of the Pentecost,
when the Holy Spirit descended on the
disciples seven weeks after Christ's
resurrection and caused them to
speak in tongues, this Whitmonday
ceremony was probably originally a
Slavic or Teutonic spring fertility rite.

3K
Villagers follow the two Whitsun
Kings (below) as they wend their way
among Arbesthal's houses and fields.
The day includes much singing and
dancing and ends with an "auction"
of the Whitsun Kings to raise money
for local charities. This may be rooted
in the ancient practice of demanding
food or money for the spirits; failure
to contribute invited punishment
from the messengers of vegetation.

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At winter's end, a wicked spirit named Pust, horned and moss-covered,

leads a parade of Yugoslavs clad in winter vegetation. Pust is found guilty
of the past year's sins aitd is replaced by the joyful pair at right above —
ivy-clad Brslanast and daisy-decked Marjetica, representing spring.
 Jack-in-the-Creen (left) is a central character in

\V '^
*?<t^ M VJ
springtime festivals in Britain and much of
Europe. A wickerwork frame covered with green
Vv.'

ies the idea ofm

earth, and the spirit of reviving vegetation.

1
r

ij^ri ^P|r
& § u f>

The Welschkornnarro, or Corn Jester (below), is

one offive jesters appearing in pre-Lenten cele-
brations in the German Black Forest town of
Zell. Dressed entirely in corn leaves, he repre-
sents opulent harvests past and future. With the
other jesters he awakens after a year's slumber,
mingles with townspeople for three days, then
removes his mask at midnight on Shrove Tues-
day. A jester effigy is buried amid weeping and
wailing, to sleep like seeds for another year.
 :
t-5?% TT

'

With strips of newspaper replacing the earlier

costumes of leaves, mummers in Marshfield,
England, reenact a scene that leads to one of
them lying "fatally wounded. " At the point of
death the mummer is revived by magic medi-
cine. The traditional regeneration ritual, played
—
out on Boxing Day the day after Christmas —
*
echoes pagan festivals as well as the Christian *fcv
belief in Jesus' death and resurrection.

v:
***&-

>^ %
The Garland King rides in a
covering of wildflowers and
greenery during the May festi-
val in Castle ton, England. His
procession stops at six pubs for
music and dancing before end-
ing at the village church, where
the conical garland is hoisted
to the top of the church tower.
It is thought that perhaps the
Garland King was once a pagan
sacrificial victim and that the
ceremony practiced today de-
veloped as a compromise be-
tween Christianity and magic.
V*
 Gracefully swinging their huge blossom hats, dancers in Chiyoda,
Japan, summon the Shinto god Sanbai-sama to help transplant the young
rice shoots. This summer monsoon ritual, called Mibu Ohana-taue, is
preserved by the Japanese government as a national "folk-culture asset.
To terrify their audience, performers of Papua New Guinea's Cimi peo-
ple dress as ancestral spirit monsters in clay-matted vines and leaves
as they take part in ceremonies to initiate and marry offyoung men.
The costumes evoke an ancient era when, they say, settlement was
—
indistinguishable from the wild and women now fiercely subjugated —
roamed at will in the rain forest, well spring of power and fertility.

• -
I • .

• »
„

Wi

•
 Summer
As the exhilarating days of spring lengthen into those of lazy
tempo of daily life slows in many
summer, the
parts of the world to a leisurely crawl that
is punctuated by the variety of outdoor festivals and uncanny events de-
scribed in the pages that follow. Thanks to the enervating temperatures,
people show a natural preference for relaxation, restricting work to what is

necessary to get by. So little news is generated during this restful time that
Tradition links June's summer has become known as journalism's "silly season," when reports of
birthstone, the pearl, usually slighted topics such as unidentified flying objects, sea serpents, or
with the moon, the sea,
and virginity. The jewel haunted houses are more likely to make the headlines and newscasts. Per-
supposedly helps to
attract admirers and
haps it has always been so. Many of the best-known reports of strange
brings business success events and allegations of paranormal activity throughout history can be
traced to occurrences at this time of year.
Only a few threats disturb the even tenor of this calmest of the four
seasons. For farmers, the coming crop remains a vulnerable one until the
harvest, subject at any moment to drought, flood, wind, or swarming in-

sects. Farmers in Belgium once prayed on Saint Christopher's Day to avert

crop-destroying summer tempests; their Japanese counterparts invoke the
Considered the luckiest protection of a rice god. In cities, summer's heat has often bred disease —
of all gems, July's birth -
stone, the ruby, report-
threat still warded off in traditional rituals and parades held throughout Eu-
good for-
edly attracts rope, Britain, and Japan.
tune in romance and—
wards off bad dreams By far the dominant theme of summer, however, is growth in the
and unhappiness. fields. Rites celebrating the fertility of the crops and the power of the ener-
gizing sun are common in June, a fertile month that the Romans named
after Juno, goddess of marriage. By tradition, the most magical day of this

period comes late in June on Midsummer Eve (which in astronomical terms

is summer's beginning, not its midpoint). A wealth of pagan rites once cel-
ebrated that date as the longest day and shortest night of the year, and many
still exist or have been revived. As harvesting begins in some areas in late

Sardonyx is special to July and in August (named after Roman emperors Julius and Augustus), oth-
August The striated
er customs and observances take hold, many celebrating the first fruits of
red and white stone
was once thought to en- the harvest and the plentiful food that follows. All too soon, however, short-
sure mantal happiness
and fidelity
ening days mark the end of this easy season, and the languor of summer
turns to the industrious labor of fall.

49
 In this medieval woodcut, a priest and his
attendants defy all modem notions of conju-
gal privacy by visiting a newly wed couple
as they lie in their bed. The cleric sprinkles
the lovers with holy water to ensure the
fertility and good fortune of their union.

2 JUNE

nt till Named after Juno,

arrylli
the Roman goddess of marriage,
the month oflune was considered
by the ancient Romans to be the
most auspicious lime for weddings
More than fifteen centuries later,
the month remains a favorite for
nuptials in many Western cultures.
Other wedding customs —including
GlHll tayak. A yearly festival held by
the Iban people of Malaysia on the
first or second day oflune, Gawai
Dayak celebrates the gathering of
the local harvest. In the huge com-
mon rooms of long houses perched
high atop stilts in jungle clearings,
families gather at midnight as the
holiday begins, offering thanks to I

the medieval one of blessing the the gods and invoking their bless-
—
marriage bed (above, lefi) owe ing. After a lavish feast complete
much to early European beliefs with rice wine, revelers round off
about fertility The traditional wed- the occasion by selecting the most
ding cake, for example, traces its beautiful man and woman among
heritage to a time when the bride them as a kind of embodiment of
wore ears of grain to ensure her the year's harvest spirit
The grain gave way to
fertility.

bread and then to wedding cake.

II

A Bad Day for Birthdays

Long ago, pre-Christian Europeans are

thought to have held a festival in early June
to mark the death of winter and the birth of
summer. With the arrival of Christianity, the
official purpose of the June feast changed to
celebrating the Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit is said to have descended upon the
first apostles, leading them to baptize three
thousand new converts in a single day.
Known in Britain as Whitsunday, or

It
\ seaside rtlial. At about this time of
year, worshipers on the Mediterra-
nean island of Cyprus observe the
festival of Cataclysmos by praying
for the dead and making a special
trip to the sea After sprinkling each
other with seawater—said to be
especially blessed this day cele- —
brants play traditional water games
and perform a dance that requires
participants to balance as many as
six glasses of water on their heads
Although celebrated as a Christian
holiday, Cataclysmos may have
evolved from a far more ancient
rite, held to mark the end of a flood
supposedly sent by Zeus to destroy
humankind for its wickedness
sometimes simply Whit, for the white vest-
ments that baptismal candidates wear on
this occasion, the Church festival has long
retained many of its pagan associations
including goblet-wielding fertility
those seen at left in full vegetation regalia at
a German gathering. One hallowed British
belief has it that a child born on Whitsunday
is doomed either to kill or to be killed. To
fool the fates, parents of old held mock fu-
I
Whll>unday See below. Dancing lor a good harvest. Throughout
the spring and summer months, the
Pueblo peoples of New Mexico
perform traditional corn dances like
the one pictured above, dedicated
to the Rain People and the Earth
Mothers and meant to ensure a
good harvest and a blessing on the
earth. Shaking traditional rattles,
men and women dressed in white
and adorned with feathers mingle
in the solemn ritual.
nerals for Whitsunday babies. For those not
born on the day, however, Whitsunday may
be a lucky time. According to one belief,
whatever one asks for as the sun rises on
figures like Whitsunday will be granted. A fine and fair
Whitsunday is believed to augur a good
harvest. Because the feast welcomes the
newborn summer, moreover, it has long
been considered unlucky to venture out on
this day without wearing something new.
Return Ol the ancestors. Early in June, the
Yoruba people of Nigeria honor the
spirits of their ancestors with a
week-long festival. According to
Yoruba belief, these otherworldly
entities, known as the Egungun,
control the fates of the living and
must be properly honored and
venerated. During the festival some
villagers offer foodand gifts to the
spirits, while Egungun imperson-
ators like the one pictured below
dance through the streets. At times,
participants believe, the living danc-
ers find themselves possessed by
the long-dead Egungun spirits.
 "

2 JUNE 8 JUNE

Ylsll it SMdn. On this date in

lk€ llicr RICC ICSllfllS. ,-As rice seedlings are Iinini na lit itii Every few sum- \ ViCllB Ol IkC WllCk Milk. On this day in
ancient Rome began the festival of transplanted to the paddies in early —
mers and sometimes more often — 1 became the
692, Bridget Bishop
which honored Vesta,
Vestalia, June, many Japanese villages hold the Malagasy highlanders of Mada- first of nineteen men and women to
goddess of the hearth During this ceremonies to ask the blessing of gascar open their family tombs and be hanged for witchcraft in Salem,
time Vesta's shrine —ordinarily the rice god on the crop. In a typi- exhume the bodies of dead relatives Massachusetts, in conjunction with
forbidden ground to all but her cal nte, women planters in tradi- in a ceremony called famadihana, the famous trials there.

attendant vestal virgins — was tional kimonos recite prayers and literally "turning over the dead.
opened to married women for eight light rice-straw fires to lure the god Afterwrapping the corpses in silk
days. After walking to the temple from his mountain home Then, shrouds (above), joyful family mem-
barefoot, the matrons made offer- moving rhythmically to the music of bers carry the remains around the
ings offood to the goddess, who drummers and pipers, they stoop graveyard or through the streets
they believed guarded theirhomes and plant in near-choreographic before reinternng their burdens.
and household fires On lune 15. unison (below) until the paddy is Because they believe the dead still
the housewives returned home, and filled At day's end, according to the Malagasy often call upon
live,

the shrine was once again off-limits tradition, the god goes home to their ancestors for help. This is the
until Vestalia came again. worshipers' next call only day, however, that the dead
physically return

Beware (he Juggernauts

Once every June, tens of thousands of Hindu
pilgrims flock to the city of Puri on India's
eastern coast for a joyous festival honoring
the god Jagannath, a benevolent incarnation
of Vishnu, lord of creation. The day before H
the festivities begin, attendants at Jagan-
nath's temple adorn three huge statues of
the god, his brother, and his sister with
crowns of flowers and golden robes. They
then transfer the figures to three enormous
chariots, or cars, lined up outside. At forty-
five feet high, Jagannath's splendid car is the
largest. It rests on sixteen wooden wheels,
each about seven feet in diameter.
The next morning, thousands of the faith-
ful gather in the temple courtyard. At a sig-

nal from Jagannath's priests, they take up

thick ropes attached to the sacred cars and
begin drawing them through Puri's main
street to a building known as Jagannath's
garden house. Although their goal lies only a
mile or so away, the journey takes up most
of the day. Immense, noisy crowds like the
one shown here throng the route, and enthu-
siastic worshipers constantly surge toward
the sacred, cloth-draped structures, hoping
to be blessed by a turn at the ropes.
When the carts and their monumental
occupants at last reach the garden house,
the carts are parked and the statues taken
•

11 June 12 JUNE 13 JUNE 14 JUNE

Slghllng i gHOSi Skip. In the early morn- luck. Like their coun-
Washing away bad Blrfh of a modern wlfch. on this date m Feslival ol (agannalh. see below.
ing hours on this date in 1881, a Japan (see June 8), many
terparts in 1884 was born Gerald Gardner,
wakeful pair of British princes one — Korean rice farmers perform an who became a British customs
of them the future King George V— ancient ritual before transplanting inspector and self-proclaimed
saw a strange ship bathed in a red the precious rice seedlings into witch. With his 1954 book Witch-
glow glide by their naval vessel as place. To ensure an abundant crop, craftToday, Gardner greatly influ-
they sailed near the Australian these farmers wash their hair in a enced the modern witchcraft and
coast. Others aboard also witnessed stream, hoping that any ill fortune neopagan movements.
the phenomenon, which the that might be clinging to them will
shocked group identified as the be carried away with the current. A lifelong love ol magic. Irish poet
legendary Flying Dutchman, a William Butler Yeats, born on this
spectral ship that was doomed to date in 1865, said he could not
sail the sea for eternity because have written some of his works "if
its captain had cursed God. 1 had not made magic my constant

study. " His interest in magic led

Yeats to join the secretive Order
of the Golden Dawn.

inside. There they remain for seven days,
while the pilgrims indulge in feasting and
riotous dancing. On the eighth day, Jagan-
nath and his siblings return to his temple in
the same vehicles by which they left it.
It has been reported by foreign observers
that in the past, some pilgrims, driven to a
frenzy of religious excitement, threw them-
selves beneath the wheels of Jagannath's car
and were crushed to death. Undoubtedly,
there were accidents in which unfortunates
fell into a chariot's path. Because of such
incidents, the English word juggernaut
a variant of the god (agannath's name
has come to mean any inexorable force
that crushes everything in its path, a
peculiar association for a god meant to
help, rather than slaughter, humankind.
15 JUNE 16 JUNE 12 JUNE 18 JUNE

C«rpis
day
ttrtSfl. On the second Thurs-
after Pentecost, the Roman
Miliary Itr Ike

in 1975. the
«
New
SMl. On this
York Times obitu-
dale Tl€ ClfilSllf Illy, in a centuries-old
purification ritual, the people of the
Draftl Btal
and below.
Festival. See above

Catholic and Orthodox churches ary page earned a short article Japanese city of Nara collect thou-
celebrate Corpus Chrisli This fes- announcing that a search for the sands of lily stalks from a nearby
tival honors the mystical rite of human soul had come to an incon- mountain at about this time and
communion, during which Chris- clusive end As explained in the take them to a temple, where the
tians consume the Body of Christ — story, an eccentric Arizona miner flowers are blessed by seven young
in Latin,Corpus Chnsti in the — named lames Kidd had disappeared women in while robes The next
form of consecrated bread As mis- one day in 1949, leaving behind morning, a Shinto priest lays a
sionaries introduced Christianity roughly $1 74.000 and a will re- large lily bouquet at the altar, after
into Peru. Bolivia, and other parts questing that the money be used to which the seven maidens wave lily
of the old Incan empire, this obtain "scientific proof of a soul of stalks in a traditional dance de-
Church feast largely replaced tradi- the human body which leaves at signed to drive away the evils of the
tional Incan solstice rituals The death " The American Society for rainy season. At the end of the
result was a mixture of Incan and Psychical Research, which took up performance, attendees transport a
Catholic elements that persists the challenge, proved unable to large lily-filled float through the city
today, as crowds parade consecrat- demonstrate the existence of any streets to purify the air
ed bread through streets carpeted human soul —an outcome that
with flower petals arranged in inspired the newspaper obituary.
geometric figures

Dragon Boafe Searching for a Drowned Poei

Near the summer solsti :e, the Chinese peo-
ple celebrate a holiday known
Westernersto
as the Dragon Boat Festival According to
legend, the festival commemorates the death
in the year 278 BC of Qu Yuan, a Chinese
statesman and poet. As the story is told.
Qu Yuan deliberately flung himself into a
river in sorrow at the corruption of his home
state of Chu. Villagers rushed to their boats
in a vain effort to save him. Rice also played
a role in the rescue effort; some accounts
say searchers threw rice dumplings in the
river to distract the dragons and
lurking in the water, while other stories have
it that the rice was a tribute to the soul of
the martyred poet.
Ever since, as the story goes, boat races
have been held annually to commemorate
the futile search for the dead hero; specta-
tors eat rice cakes in memory of the rice
poured overboard by the searchers. Crews
row large, dragon-shaped boats like the one
pictured above.
According to some researchers, however,
evil spirits the dragon design of the vessels suggests
that the boat races may actually predate Qu
Yuan's death by several centuries. The races,
they say, may have begun as an ancient
summer solstice ritual intended to propitiate 4t
the river dragons, which in Chinese tradition
are benevolent guardians who bring rain. To
please the dragon gods, the boats were
made to resemble them. Later, the ancient
rites— and the traditional rice cakes may —
have been integrated with Qu Yuan's story to
produce the festival observed today.

J
 Cancer: June 22-July 22

Cancer, first of the three water signs in the
zodiac, begins today. Ruled by the
—
Cancerians are attuned say astrologers to
such natural cycles as gestation and mother-
hood. And Cancer's symbol, the crab, repre-
sents the sea, where life began.
Like the crab, Cancerians hide a vulnera-
ble interior under a tough shell. They are
instinctively compassionate and nurturing,
but on the outside, a brittle carapace shields
them against a potentially hostile world.
Quick to take offense, they swiftly retreat
into their shells when their feelings are hurt.
Influenced by the moon and its tides,
Cancerians are often moody and restless,
melancholy and introverted one moment,
cheerful and enthusiastic the next.
usually harbor a persistent fear of the future.
Cancer natives revel in the comfort and
moon, of family and tradition, and their
stability
— homes are beloved havens from which they
venture into the world. Accordingly, women
born under this moon sign are likely to em-
brace the roles of wife and mother, and
Cancerian men, who are deeply attached to
their own mothers throughout life, seek a
domestic life of harmony and emotional
security. Natives of both sexes often feel a
lifelong link to childhood and memories.
Indeed Cancerians boast great powers of
memory. They are also uncannily perceptive
and sensitive to their environment and to
other people's needs. Famous people born
under the sign include comedian Bill Cosby,
They tennis player Arthur Ashe, actress Meryl
Streep, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

19 JUNE 20 JUNE 21 JUNE

Wktl IK Eapcnr calls. This day marks A mystical SCal. On June 20, 1 782, Solstice riles, East and Wesl. on or about The sun enters Ihe sign oi Cancer.

the beginning of a week-long cele- Charles Thomson 's design for the this date comes the Northern Hemi- See above.
bration in Brazil, the Feast of the U.S. seal was approved. The reverse sphere's summer solstice, an event
Holy Ghost In rural communities, (below) featured a pyramid and an rife with ancient meaning that
one wealthy farmer is chosen as all-seeing eye,two mysterious sym- occurs when sun attains its
the
Emperor of the festivities He plans bols cherished by the Freemasons. highest point in the heavens and
the huge event but relies upon the begins its inevitable decline toward
contributions of others to carry it the darkness of winter. In England,
off. Months before the occasion, the modern Druids mark the solstice
so-called Emperor and a group of with sunrise rituals at Stonehenge
musicians travel through the coun- (below); in Japan, a solstice festival
tryside, stopping at each farm and known as Ceshi emphasizes
requesting through an age-old prayers for protection against the
musical entreaty a pledge of live- heat and disease of summer.
stock or grain for the feast. On the
day of the event, the farmers gather
to fulfill their promises, and the
celebration begins
 4

A Peruvian Indian raises a chalice

in offering to thesun during a con-
temporary reenactment of an an-
cient Incan ritual held at the South-
ern Hemisphere's winter solstice.

26 JUNE

MMsiMtr Eft See below Prayer l»r lit sn's reliri. on ihis date, nslus tl a disaster. On this day in ReVClfe Ol fee PlCi Piper. On this day in
near the time of the winter solstice 1876, General George Custer and 1284, a real Pied Piper is said to
south of the equator, the Incas of all his men died in a battle against have visited the German town of
Peru once held a sun-god festival Sioux Indians at the Little Bighom Hamelin There, he reportedly led
known as Inti Raymi, shown being River in Montana. At least two the resident children to their demise i

reenacted above. Priests foretold people had premonitions of the
the future from the entrails offresh- bloodbath Three weeks before.
ly killed llamas. Sitting Bull, a Sioux medicine man,
saw a vision of many soldiers at-
Finl Ityilj MICCTS. While flying over the tacking his camp Then Elizabeth
Cascade Mountains on this day in Custer, the general's wife, had a
1947, businessman Kenneth Arnold strange experience while watching
spotted several airborne objects he her husband and his troops ride off.
described as "flying saucers " In She saw them reflected in the sky
the years that followed, other flying which she took as a sign that they
saucers were reported in thousands were on their way to heaven
of incidents around the world.
in a sealed cave by playing alluring
melodies on his pipe. The piper had
previously rid Hamelin of its rats,
but he had never been paid for the
good deed, so he stole the town's
children as retaliation.
—
«

The Magic of Midsummer Eve

Perhaps no other time of the year is so preg- qualities. Dancing around the fire or leaping fairies was thought to stretch so thin that
nant with mystical possibilities as Midsum- through the flames (right) was thought to otherworldly creatures might easily penetrate
mer Eve. Celebrated since early Christian bring good luck and to keep evil spirits at it. Fire was not the only precaution against

times on June 23, the eve of Saint John's
Day, the rituals of Midsummer Eve have
changed very little from the pagan celebra-
tions that once marked the summer solstice
that occurs a few days before.
Chief among these is the lighting of bon-
fires, a practice once found— and, in some
—
cases, still observed in Britain, Europe,
South America, and North Africa. Such
blazes were probably kindled originally to
strengthen the spirit of the weakening sun
god and ensure his eventual return to full
glory. According to traditional belief, the
bay, and farmers sometimes drove their
cattlearound the fire to banish pestilence
and disease. In some Welsh towns, revelers
set wheels or barrels ablaze and sent them
rolling downhill to cany away ill fortune. In
eighteenth-century Ireland, townsfolk lit
torches from the bonfires, then ran with
them through the village to purify the air,
which was likely to be infected with malign
influences on this night.
For on Midsummer Eve as Shakespeare —
suggested in A Midsummer Night's Dream
the barrier between the visible realm of the
such visitors. The golden flower known as
St-John's-wort, for instance, was believed to
ward off the devil and other evil spirits and —
to protect the eyes from the glare of the
bonfires. Fern seeds, too, were considered a
sovereign guard against Midsummer Eve
witchcraft. They also provided white magic,
enabling a maiden to see a Midsummer
apparition of her future husband; she had
only to scatter the seed at midnight and peek
over her shoulder. Myriad other love divina-
— tions were linked to Midsummer Eve, which
considered by modern witches to be
is still

flames themselves had a number of magical living and the invisible world of ghosts and the best time to gather magic plants.

i
 Explosion over Siberia

On this morning in 1908, a massive, fiery

and still unidentified —object from outer
space burst into the sky over the remote
Siberian region of Tunguska. As it collided
with Earth's atmosphere, it created a blast
unrivaled in human history, generating a
scorching wind that flattened and burned
twelve hundred square miles of forest into
charred stumps like those shown here.
The cause of the cataclysm remains a
mystery among scientists and laypeople
alike. Astronomers generally incline to the
theory that the Tunguska object could have
been a comet or an asteroid that exploded as
it hit the atmosphere, generating a wave of

infernal heat but no impact crater. UFO re-

searchers, however, have speculated that it to avoid strikingany human population large: Calculations show that whatever hit
was a massive alien spaceship deliberately — centers. Whether UFO, asteroid, or comet. Tunguska measured 300 feet across and
steered to the remote woodlands of Siberia the object was undeniably and impressively I weighed as much as a million tons.

27 JIM 28 JUNE 29 JUNE

Thr tnijlc ol Ike dancr At about this A dream oi assassination. Early in the Baffling (he Ihom. In a late June cere-
time ofyear, many Plains Indian morning on this date in 1914, Hun- mony that may have arisen from
tribes perform a Sun Dance to garian bishop Monsignor de Lanyi pagan tree worship rituals, the
honor the burning summer sun. reportedly had a dream foretelling people of Appleton, England, cere-
Among the magical items associat- the event that precipitated World —
moniously decorate or "bawm" —
ed with such dances is a special War 1: the assassination of his an enormous hawthorn tree that
Crow totem that is adorned with former pupil, Austrian archduke grows in the center of town. After
bird feathers. If it is held during a Francis Ferdinand. In the dream he marching in procession to the tree,
Sun Dance by the relative of a saw not only the archduke but also villagers deck its branches with
murder victim, the totem is said to Ferdinand's wife being shot to flowers, flags, and ribbons. When
reveal the identity of the killer death as they rode in a carriage. the venerable tree has been suitably
bishop received a cable
Later, the adorned, Appleton's children dance
confirming that archduke and arch- under its aged boughs.
duchess were dead, murdered that
day under circumstances eerily
similar to Lanyi 's alleged dream.

z-'^l^j ^U;(
 Tribute to (he Serpen! Gods
Since ancient times, the Indians and Nepa-
lese have feared and worshiped snakes,
which they consider the earthly relations of
snake gods known as Nagas. Said to inhabit
the world's nether regions, the Nagas can
bring or withhold rain, cure or cause disease,
grant good or bad fortune, and prevent or
inflict death by snakebite. During the festival
of Naga Panchami, the people of Nepal and
India commemorate a promise given by the
Nagas on this date many centuries ago.
The promise was made, according to
legend, after a poor farmer accidentally
killed three baby snakes while tilling his
field. Maddened by grief, the mother serpent

entered his house and killed him, his wife,

and their two sons with her venomous fangs.
When she turned to the remaining child, a
daughter, the quick-thinking girl set a bowl
of milk before her. Pleased, the mother
snake not only spared the girl's life, but
granted her anything she wished. The
daughter asked simply that her family be
returned to life and that the Nagas agree to anniversary of that agreement by displaying through town in processions like the one
refrainfrom killing anyone else on that day. snake images and placing offerings of milk, shown here. To avoid a repetition of the
The snake acceded and slithered away. grain, or other food at snake holes. In some original accident, plowing and digging are
On Naga Panchami, worshipers mark the Indian villages, live serpents are paraded forbidden on this day.

2 JULY 3 JULY 4 JULY

Serpesl lesllttl. See above- A Crasbe* UFO? On this night in 1947, 6ree« corn daice. At this time ofyear, Keeping deafh al hay. This day in 1826
an unidentified flying object crashed the Seminole Indians of Florida was the fiftieth anniversary of the
in the desert near Roswell. New perform a "green corn dance" to birth of the United States. John
Mexico. Official investigators (be- honor the new corn crop The Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the
low) called it a weather balloon men of the tribe then eat the first second and third presidentsof the
But unverified reports later surfaced corn, marking the start of the new nation, died that day. Both
that four aliens —one alive and Seminole new year. men had suffered serious illnesses
well—were found in the wreckage for some time, yet relatives reported
that they had apparently willed
themselves to live to see this mile-
stone in the history of the country
they had helped to shape.

JL

ft
 A pair offestively painted bullocks draw a cart
bearing pots of snakes through the streets of a
village in India during a Naga Panchami pa-
rade. The man dressed in white at the rear of This modern rendition of a traditional Japanese
the cart displays one of the sacred reptiles folk cutout depicts the legendary Tanabata
while controlling Its movements with a stick. lovers returning to each other on the backs of
magpies. According to the tale, the birds took
pity upon the two heavenly beings, who were
separated by a raging river, and bridged
the intervening torrent with their own bodies.

'

\ USt for He emtiSl. On this date in Victims of a kingly killer, on July 6, 1933, Tanabala Slar Festival. Each year on this Parading lor healln. on this day in the
1906, a sixteen-year-old South two small skeletons that had been day, Japanese families mark the Portuguese town of Tomar, 600
African schoolgirl named Clara discovered in the Tower of London reunion of two celestial lovers girls parade through the streets

Germana gave her priest,

Celle
Father Erasmus Hoemer, a hand-
written pad she had supposedly
made with the devil. Over the next
two months, the formerly quiet girl
reportedly exhibited many classic
signs of demonic possession, in-
cluding barking like an animal,
struggling with invisible foes, levi-
tating, and speaking in the voice
Satan. Not until a team of priests
and nuns performed the rite of
exorcism two months later was
Germana nd of her tormentor.
more than two centuries earlier (above) by tying personal pleas and balancing on their heads tall
underwent a modern technical children's writing samples to bam- flower- bedecked pillars made of
examination. As had long been boo fronds. Tradition holds that the bread (below). Carefully preserved,
suspected, they were identified as prayers will be answered and the the bread is said to prevent illness
almost certainly the remains of two children 's writing will be improved. for the rest of the year.
—
princes one the rightful king of
—
England consigned to the fortress
by their uncle Richard 111 in 1483.
Rumored to have been murdered by
of Richard's orders, the boys reported-
ly haunt the ancient prison's so-
called Bloody Tower.
 A Welcome Visit from (he Dead

Every summer, according to Japanese
the spirits of the dead return to mingle with
the living during the three-day Bon Festival.
Many people make special trips home for the
holiday so that all family members both the
ancestors and their living descendants may
participate in the happy reunion.
To prepare, families clean household
shrines and the graves of relatives, then fill
both sites with offerings of herbs, flowers,
and food. On the evening of July 13, family
members gather at graveside to greet ances-
and escort them home, illuminat-
tral spirits
ing the night with lanterns and torches like
those in the cemetery scene at right.
That night and for the rest of the festival,
belief, families feast and celebrate, laying a place at
meals for their deceased houseguests and
including the departed in all conversation.
Most also spend some time in solemn medi-
— tation, acknowledging the debt each owes to
— the ancestors. Outdoors, revelers gather at
night in parks or squares to join in the tradi-
tional Bon dance, a gladsome affair intended
to greet and comfort the dead souls.
As the Bon Festival draws to an end, the
living hosts light farewell fires and set out
lanterns to illuminate for the spirits the way
home to their graves. In some areas, families
also launch miniature boats equipped with
tiny lanterns to cheer the spirits and speed
their return to the other side.

9 j
ILLY 10 ILLY 11 JULY 12 JULY

A do 's psychic summons, on this night A ICW drc$S lot a jo4de$S. Every year at A pHZZlIn i parade Of plants. On the Sun- A (DOS! lorfttilOUS day. Legend tells that
in 1904, English adventure story this time, ancient Athenians cele- day following July 5 in Douai, the archangel Gabriel revealed this
writer Henry Rider Haggard awoke brated Panalhenaea, a festival for France, the local Fete de Gayant day as one of the luckiest of the
moans. He
uttering preternatural Athena, their patron goddess. Once festival concludes with a parade of year. On July 12, healing, planting,
had been dreaming, he said, that every four years —on this day, the wickerwork giants (below). No one house building, traveling, and even
his daughter's black retriever, Bob, sixth of the celebration — they pre- knows the origin or purpose of this waging war will supposedly proceed
lay dead near a body of water In sented Athena with a brilliant new ceremony, which remains a mystery without a hitch Children born on
the morning they determined that robe First they paraded it through even to those who participate. this date will be wealthy, and stu-
the dog was indeed missing, and the city streets, then they dents who commence their
three days later Bob was found mounted the Acropolis, work today will become great
dead, floating near a small dam. where priests draped the scholars. Also, anyone who
Haggard believed that his uncanny garment over the statue of begins a new job on July 12
dream had resulted from a psychic the goddess at the Shrine will enjoy great success.
cry for help from the animal. of Athena.

_.
 JULY

Japanese Bu Festival. See above nysliiyinj wheal circles, on this night in Saint SWilhln'S Day. On this day is cele- Voodoo pilgrims ol Saul d'Eau. At this time
1 988, five circular impressions brated the feast of Saint Swithin, a in Haiti, thousands of the voodoo
emerged in a wheat field near Sil- bishop of Winchester who died in faithful seek healing or good health
bury Hill, a large mound of earth AD 862. Legend has it that tenth with a pilgrimage to the holy waters
created by ancient Britons in south- century monks tried to move his ofSaut d'Eau, a waterfall (below)
west England. A few days later, five body to a place of honor but were where Erzulie Freda, the voodoo
more circles appeared in the same prevented by forty days of rain. Ever of love, is said to have ap-
spirit

field (below), and within eight since, the weather on Swithin 's day peared twice in the 1 800s.
weeks, forty-six other circles has been said to forecast whether
showed up infields within seven the next forty days
miles. Although crop circles else- will be fair or rainy.
where have proved to be hoaxes,
these remain unexplained.
Spurs Ikal ietcalci" a platjt m the \ holiday l«r carpentry The patron FallTal tf ISlS. Worshiped as one of the dp l»r cipcclail mailers, on July 20
summer of AD 869. according to saint of Chinese carpenters and nine major Egyptian deities, the is celebrated the Christian feast of
Japanese legend, the Emperor builders, Lu Pan was born on this goddess Isis was also the object of Saint Margaret, an Italian virgin
Seiwa successfully rid the city of day in 606 BC, according to Hong a Roman cult, which on this day who was martyred in AD 278 for
Kyoto of an epidemic by displaying Kong tradition. Tales of the skilled held a festival in her honor. The refusing to marry a wicked Eastern
sixty-six spears in front of his impe- carpenter's feats are legendary: One celebration, observed in the city of potentate Her girdle was at one
rial shrine. So grateful was Seiwa to account has it he repaired the
that Rome well into the fourth century time preserved in a Pans church,
the gods for the end of the pesti- very pillars of heaven when they AD, commemorated the annual where women go on this day to
lence that he began parading the were in danger of collapse. To flooding of the Nile River, which pray to Saint Margaret to ease the
spears through the streets every honor his memory. Hong Kong deposited fertile soil along the river- pains of childbirth.
year, a custom continued to this carpenters and builders pay a spe- bank, turning what would other-
day in the city's July 1 7 Gion Festi- cial visit to Lu Pan 's temple at noon wise have been desert land into a
val. The spears now through
travel on his birthday. During the rest of fecund planting ground To the
the streets in large sapling-lopped the year, workmen offer feasts to ancients, the rich inundation was
shrines like those above. Dozens of the revered carpenter whenever a nothing short of a miracle that was
musicians accompany the grand new building is completed. provided by Isis, the benevolent
procession, which is led by a boy universal mother.
dressed as a Shinto priest.

62
 Leo: July 23-Augusl 22
Symbolized by the Lion, the king of beasts, learn to temper their strong will with social
Leo begins its reign of zodiacal influence on responsibilityif they are to fulfill the noble

July 23. Proud, confident, and daring, Leos goals of which they are capable.
tend to view themselves at the center of Even the most mature Leos, however, still

things, like their ruling planet, the Sun. (Be-
cause the ancients viewed the sun as a plan-
et,astrologers still call it one.) Leo is also
associated with fire, a dynamic and trans-
forming element that, along with the Sun,
imparts great vitality and energy to people
born under the sign.
Indeed the Sun's influence, according to
astrologers, gives Leos a keen sense of their
own strength and consciousness. They are
likely to —
be leaders or at least to see them-
selves that way. For despite their tremen-
dous potential for honesty, generosity, and
courage, their powerful egos can lead them
into an exaggerated sense of self that engen-
ders vanity, greed, and tyranny. Leos must
crave recognition and admiration. Accord-
ingly, they stand out in occupations that
enable them to be the center of attention,
such as politics and the performing arts.
Comedian Lucille Ball, actor Robert Redford,
and singer Madonna were all born under the
sign of the Lion.
Faithful and giving, Leos make wonderful
partners — when they can curb their tendency
to dominate. They express themselves sin-
cerely, loathing hypocrisy, and they savor all
the richness that life holds. Their unbridled
enthusiasm for the world's finer things, how-
ever, inclines them toward extravagance:
Astrologers have dubbed Leo one of the
most spendthrift signs of the zodiac.

—
21 JULY 22 JULY 24 JULY

nt fliyai NCW Tear. For the Maya of * monslf r ll loch NCSS. The first record- A historic seanee. On this date in 1855, A monk's lolly mortilicallons. a fourth-
Central America, each day, year, ed modern sighting of the Loch British poets Robert and Elizabeth century Cilician teenager experi-
decade, century, and millennium —
Ness monster allegedly pictured in Barrett Browning attended a seance enced avision in which he had
had its own god To determine the 1 977 photograph below took — conducted by the famed medium become an ascetic. Accordingly, the
which deity was in control, the place on this date in 1930. Three Daniel Dunglas Home at the resi- young man joined a monastery.
Maya maintained a solar calendar boys said they were fishing from a dence of London solicitor John However, he practiced such severe
of 365 days and a sacred calendar boat when an animal more than Rymer and his wife. As the evening self-abnegation that he was asked
of 260 days, a system depicted in twenty feet long rushed toward wore on, the Brownings reportedly to leave. Undaunted, he embarked
part on the glyph below. Every them and then veered off. Since witnessed a number of mysterious upon a life of solitary austerity that
^fifty-second solar New Year, which then, the monster has been occurrences, including the mani- eventually led to his living atop high
W might fall in any season, was con- glimpsed by thousands of people. festation of several disembodied pillars as a means of escaping
sidered dangerous, for the gods —
hands one pair of humanity. Though these aeries
might then abandon their burdens which placed a wreath afforded him no shelter, he rarely
and bring time to a dead stop of clematis on Mrs. descended. Remarkably, he lived to
Browning's head. the age of sixty-nine and is thought
to have died on this day. He was
canonized and is known as Saint
Simeon Stylites—from the Greek
stylos, for pillar
 Return to (he Underworld

Every year, the Hopi of northeastern Arizona
observe a cycle of dances and ceremonies in
honor of the kachinas. living supernatural
beings believed to aid the tribe in its eternal
quest for survival. The kachinas are said to
have accompanied the ancestors of the Hopi
people when they first emerged from the
underworld onto the surface of the earth.
Although the subsequent fate of the
kachinas varies from story to story, one
legend holds that the kachinas deserted their
people when the Hopi began to take for
granted the blessings they received. Before
the kachinas returned to the underworld,
This Hopi doll represents the Hemis kachina,
however, they taught a few faithful young
1
men how to perform some of the rituals. If
the details of the ceremonies were rigidly
observed by men with good and pure hearts,
then the spirits would return to earth to
possess the worshipers. The vital blessings
of rain and well-being would follow.
The Niman dance held at about this time
of year marks the end of just such a visit
from the kachinas, an annual affair that
begins six months earlier in February. At that
time, Hopi villages throughout the arid mesa
hold a special celebration to welcome the
kachinas back to earth. Other ceremonies
are performed over the next several months,
as men wearing kachina costumes and
masks participate in group dances that begin
at sunrise and end at sunset, interspersed

a spirit that brings mature corn to the people.
Although the Hopi tribe is matriarchal, the
men are the exclusive conduits for the kachina
spirits. Accordingly, they create effigies such
as this one to give to their female relatives
as a means of sharing the kachinas' power.
with prayers for rain and a good harvest.
Small kachina figures like the one at left also
play a role in the rites As the sacred cycle
culminates, participants perform the final
Niman dance as an elaborate farewell to the
kachinas on their return to the spirit world.

V.

27 JULY 28 JULY

A Mill's N<" ICTtlafC. /u/y 25 is the Birlk (I Jllj. One of the most influen- Pinllleei S SCTei lira. Today marks the Rikski Bdodban. or Nihil PiinWna sib-
feast of Saint Christopher. Today's tial of the twentieth
psychiatrists feast of Saint Pantaleon, a fourth- lings in northern India celebrate
Catholics know the saint as the century, Carl Gustav lung was born century Venetian doctor who foiled this holiday at the end of July and m
patron of trawlers, but European on this date in 1875 in a small six attempts on his life His execu- the beginning of August As a sign
worshipers of a thousand years ago Swiss village A student of Sigmund tioners —who reportedly sought to offamilial unity, the women tie
may haw thought of him quite Freud, lung is best known for his kill him simply because he failed to —
rakshis amulets or woven strips of
differently In those days, when controversial theory that buried charge his patients for his serv- colorful yam —around their broth-
early Christians were challenging deep down in each person 's psyche ices —
tried burning, drowning, ers' wrists. In return, the brothers
the beliefs of older polytheistic is a vast, inherited repository of submersion in liquid lead, attacks give gifts to their sisters and prom-
religions, many peasants fused two images and impulses that Jung by wild beasts, putting him to the ise to protect them. On this day as
faiths into one. In the Flemish parts called the collective unconscious. In sword, and breaking him on the well, many believers honor Varuna,
of Belgium, for instance, they trans- part because of his work on this wheel, all without success. Only the Vedic god of the sea, by throw-
ferred the powers of Thor, god of shared reservoir of ideas, lung was their seventh torture, decapitation, ing coconuts into the ocean. For
f,
thunder, rain, and farming, to fascinated by paranormal topics all was able to end Pantaleon's life. this reason, Raksha Bandhan is
Christopher They prayed to the of his life, among them alchemy, also known as Narial Pumima, or
saint on this day as they once had mediumship. and witchcraft. "Coconut Full-Moon "
to the thunder god—for protection
of their crops against storm-
wrought destruction

64
 A Rife for fhe Passing of Summer
Though still seasonably hot, the month of maiden was dressed in white and
August signals summer's demise with its seated on a hilltop, perhaps repre-
shortening days and lengthening nights. The senting a long-past spirit of the
ancient Celts marked this time with a festival wood. Villagers climbed the slope in
called Lugnasadh, in honor of Lug, the god a procession and laid offerings of
of light and of the declining sun (right). Lug- blackberries, acorns, and crab
nasadh also celebrated the early harvest. apples in her lap. A dance and a
When the Christian feast of Loaf Mass, or procession home followed.
Lammas, took Lugnasadh's place, similar while Lammas is still celebrated
themes prevailed. Until the 00s, early grain
1 1 in some British country churches,
was baked into loaves offered at mass on Lugnasadh has enjoyed a revival in
this day. Another Lammas rite owed even recent years. Observed by present-day
more to pagan roots: Well into the mid- Wiccans as one of eight annual sabbats,
1900s, Scottish farmers ceremonially cut Lugnasadh commemorates the first fruits

handfuls of corn to wheel around their heads
in praise of the harvest god. In another rite,
farmers threw sickles in the air. From the
position of the fallen sickles, it was believed
that they could predict who would marry,
grow ill, or die before Lammas came again
Lammas was also a time to celebrate the
harvest of wild foods. In medieval times, a
of the harvest, the witches' closeness to
the earth, and their oneness with all life.
In this modern illustration of an ancient Celtic
myth. Lug— the god of light who is celebrated
at Lugnasadh —slings a stone at the deadly
Cyclopean eye of his grandfather in a symbolic
battle between the forces of good and evil.

29 JULY 30 JULY 31 JULY

Manila aid He 4ra#«l. For generations, An adopted patron, on this day. the 4 medium IS born. Influential mystic
the French city of Tarascon has Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia and medium Helena Petrovna Bla
held a festival on this day in honor paddle their canoes to an island in vatsky (below) was born in the
of Saint Martha of Bethany. Legend the middle of a lake that has been Ukraine on this date in 1831. Bla-
has it that the city was built on the sacred since pre-Christian times. vatsky credited entities she called
spot where the saint captured a They pitch birch bark wigwams on the "spirit masters" with writing
dragon called Tarasque by binding the shore and camp therefor sever- her classic text Isis Unveiled.
him fast with her girdle. To com- al days,performing a year's worth
memorate that feat, a dragon float of marriages and christenings But
like the one below is carried they also honor the Catholic Saint
through Tarascon; onlookers touch Ann, introduced to them by mis-
the dragon to gain good luck. sionaries two hundred years ago.
* ill \»tfi U\t rt*t. In the eleventh Bdnishinj Ike UltfMI. On this day in \ healing SCOfllSb lOCk. Every August UFOS 01 fill. On this date in 1950,
"
century, according to medieval rural Japan, people begin the har- until the mid- 1 800s, Scotland's baseball manager Nick Mariana of
chroniclers. Lady Godiva of Coven- vest season with a ritual called lame, sick, impotent, and mentally Great Falls, Montana, was inspect-
try exasperated her rich husband by Aomori Nebula. Villagers prome- ill flocked to Loch-mo-Naire (be- ing the home field before a game
pleading that he help the town's nade huge wire-and-bamboo effi- low), a lake famed for its healing when he was surprised by a flash in
poor. He told his bashful wife he gies painted with intense facial power. Gathering on the shore at the sky. As he looked up, he saw
—
would only if she rode naked expressions through the streets, midnight, the ailing pilgrims drank two unidentifiable silver objects,
through town. As visualized above believing that this action will drive some of the water, then stripped off which he was able to film with a
in a nineteenth-century painting, away sleep. The farmers need to be their clothes and walked backward movie camera stored in his car
Godiva took up the challenge. Mi- wide awake in order to perform the into the loch, immersing themselves Although the processed film
raculously, she rode unobserved — hard labor of harvesting. three times. The visitors paid Loch- showed the silver flashes clearly,
some say because grateful townfolk mo-Naire by flinging silver coins expertshave yet to confirm exactly '

stayed indoors Her chastened into its watery depths. what Mariana saw.
husband fulfilled his pledge, and
she acquired a kind of immortality.
In sporadic celebrations held on
this day for centuries, Coventry has
paraded a young woman some- —
times naked, sometimes garbed —
through town on horseback
 Defeat of a Fearsome Demon
A sworn enemy of the kindly Hindu creator
Each year in late July or early August Nepa- god Vishnu, Ghanta Kama wears spherical
lese villagers commemorate their triumph bells for earrings so their tinkling will drown
over Ghanta Kama, a towering demon out any mention of Vishnu's name. He carries
—
who despite the almost baby-faced inno- a club to bash his victims, and in the other
cence of the image at right committed — hand is a flask, perhaps to collect their blood.
endless acts of slaughter and depravity that
filled his mouth with blood. Answering the
people's prayers for deliverance from this
fiend, one of the Hindu gods transformed
himself into a taunting frog, who teased
Ghanta Kama into chasing him down a deep
• well. Spectators soon seized the opportunity
to stone the trapped monster to death and
then to burn the remains.
On Ghanta Kama day, children stationed
at crossroads — traditional haunts of evil
spirits —collect money from passersby for the
creation of huge Ghanta Kama effigies that
are later paraded around town and finally
burned. Meanwhile, a man of the untouch-
able class takes on the persona of the de-
mon and exacts pay of his own; to refuse
him alms is to court disease or bad luck.
When the costly revelries are over, the peo-
ple go quickly to their homes. There they
remain until dawn, lest the monster's ghost
return to seek revenge.

6 AUGUST 1 AUGUST 8 AUGUST

1 i*«4 *ay lor sea ttrpcilS. Two well- Dealt! Of a hero. Once a year, the wom- Doj days. The "dog days" of sum- Gbanla Kama Festival, see above
known sightings of sea serpents en of ancient Athens and Alexandria mer—long hot spells that strike the
occurred on this date in different mourned (he death of handsome middle latitudes around this time —
years In 1817, a large, snakelike Adonis, seen below dying of derive their name from Sirius, the
monster was reportedly seen off wounds inflicted by a boar or so — Dog Star, visible just before sunrise
Massachusetts near Gloucester Creek myth said. During the festival between July 3 and August 1 1 In .

harbor, where sightings occurred of Adonia, women climbed ladders ancient Egypt, the appearance of
over the next two and a half weeks to the roofs of their houses, chant- Sirius coincided with the rising of
Thirty-one years later, another ing, "Woe, woe Adonis. " Folklorists the fertile waters of the Nile and
serpent was reported to have believe Adonis and similar dying was cause for celebration. To the
l passed close by the British naval hero-gods represent the yearly Greeks and Romans, however,
Daedalus on the same date
frigate growth and death of the crops; the Sirius marked only the heat and
women's tears, others say, may disease of summer, and their dog
once have been considered days were associated with irritabili-
sympathetic magic likely ty, ill health, and even death.
to bring rain.

-' - J --
-
 An assistant helps the tightly swathed Burry-
manto a drink on a stop during his parade
through the Scottish town of South Queens-
ferry. Although the tradition doubtless harks
back to an age-old magical belief, today it is
simply an elaborate means of earning extra
cash: The Burrvman and his attendants spend
the donated money at a town fair the next day.

A\ ^ 4i i

10 AUGUST 11 AUGUST 12 AUGUST 13 AUGUST

A Slip II flat On this date in 1901 falllli Slan. Since at least AD 830, 4 splrii reveals lersdl. on this date in Bqfillllj el Mayai line. Time was finite
British teachers Anne Moberly sky watchers around the world 1873, a London newspaper report- to the ancient Maya of Central
(above) and Eleanor lourdain (be- have been amazed and delighted by ed that Florence Cook, a British America, who believed the universe
low) visited the French palace of the Perseid meteor shower, which medium celebrated for her spirit itself commenced on this date in
Versailles and apparently stepped like an astronomical Old Faithful summonings, had performed one of 3114 BC According to ancient
«
back in time. Among the long-dead appears every year at this lime her most remarkable coups to date. Mayan calculations, the cosmic
figures they encountered were Lighting up the night sky with as Wearing a black dress and bound progression of days will come to an
Queen Marie-Antoinette and the many as sixty flaming meteors an tightly to a chair, Cook was said to end on December 23, AD 2012. On
Comte de Vaudreuil, a courtier who hour, the shower takes its name have caused her alleged spirit that day, says one astrological
once lured the thoughtless queen from the constellation Perseus, guide, Katie King, to appear in commentator who has seized on
into permitting the performance of which marks the part of the sky person during a seance Skeptics the Mayan prediction, human be-
an a mi royalist play. where the shooting stars appear. noted that the ghost, though garbed ings will be liberated from earthly
in white, looked uncannily like bonds to begin a galactic —and
Cook herself. However, they could cataclysmic — voyage.
not refute witnesses' assertions that
Cook had remained confined to her
chair throughout the event.

^1

68 »
»

A Burr-Covered Scapegoal
On the second Friday of August in the Scot-
tish coastaltown of South Queensferry, the
so-calledBurryman (left) makes his annual
appearance, matted from head to toe with
thistle burrs. Wearing an outlandish hat
made of seventy roses and a single dahlia,
the Burryman walks slowly around the edge
of the town, speaking to no one. Respectful
# townsfolk offer him donations, even though
nobody seems to know the Burryman's pur- Festival for a New Age
pose or remembers how he came into being.
Although the origins of South Queens- During the mid-1980s, art historian Jose "sacred sites" from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia
ferry's Burryman remain obscure, he is not Argiielles came to the well-publicized con- to old ruins in New Mexico (above), ready
unique; at one time there were a number of clusion that August 16, 1987, would be a and willing to be reborn. Some believed
other Burrymen in fishing villages along the very special day. The ancient Mayan and alien spaceships might appear or Jesus Christ
Scottish coast. One recent theory proposes Aztec calendars, he said, foretold an align- might return. No sensational events oc-
that the figure represents a now-forgotten ment of celestial objects on that date that curred. In fact,even the planets were not
god of fertility, perhaps associated with the would bring about a five-year period of aligned as some believed they would be. But
August fishing harvest. Another guess is that peace and spiritual cleansing in preparation the experience of traveling to distant spots
the Burryman evolved from a scapegoat for a twenty-first-century visit by other- and gathering with like thinkers proved
figure meant to carry off communal guilt; worldly beings. satisfying for most participants, some of
people threw burrs that stuck on him, the On the appointed day, hopeful New Age whom proclaimed the Harmonic Conver-
theory goes, to relieve themselves of sin. enthusiasts gathered at widely scattered gence the seminal experience of their lives.

AUGUST 15 AUGUST 16 AUGUST 12 AUGUST

Return ol Scotland's Birryman. see above Ramadan. Ramadan, the ninth month The Harmonic Convergence, see above. Feasl Oi Diana. The Roman Feast of

of Islam's lunar year, is by far the Diana honored the forest aspect of
holiest. A time of repentance that the ancient Roman goddess, seen
may fall any season, Ramadan
in below as a multiple-breasted moth-
obseived by Muslims with an ex- er figure, who according to one
traordinary fast: For the entire tradition mated with Rex Nemoren-
month, the faithful consume no sis, the King of the Wood, to let

scrap offood nor drop of water the earth bring forth fruit.
from sunrise to sunset, eating and
drinking only after dark. With the
rising of the next full moon, Ra-
madan comes to an end —a mo-
ment officially noted in some Islam-
ic countries with cannon fire and
also often celebrated with banquets.
So festive is the post-Ramadan
mood Malaysian Muslims
that
recommend this period as a time to
patch up old quarrels.

69
 AUGUST

FfiltTll (I llltry GltSlS. During the late \ lanyard VlSllW. On this day in 1965, A HSCT llsk l»r allOU. Stored in a cover Sacrlllce I* HcrcilCS. On this day, an-
summer, according to traditional a sixteen-year-old boy in New York like the one shown below, an opti- cient Romans made solemn sacri- J
Chinese belief, the spirits of the slate was listening to the radio cal disk filled with whale songs, fice tomuscular Hercules, the pa-
dead return to earth Left un tended while milking the cows in his par- speeches by world leaders, and tron god of businessmen All year
and unfed, long-haired ghosts like ents' barn According to his story, other sounds accompanied each of long, merchants set aside a tenth of
those depicted above become an- static suddenly garbled the radio the crewless Voyager space probes, their profits for the god's benefit.
gry, stealing food and bringing evil reception, and the motor on the which was launched
the first of When the very wealthy participated,
During the Hungry Ghosts Festi- milking machine abruptly quit As a from Cape Canaveral on this date in such incredible banquets were held
—
val celebrated at about this time — bull tied up in the barnyard let out 1977. Although scientists believe in the hero's honor that mountains
villagers avert such ghostly antics an awful bellow, the boy rushed to that the chance of aliens stumbling of leftover delicacies had to be
by offering food, clothing, incense, the window spy a fifty-foot-long,
to across either probe is remote, mis- heaved into the river Tiber.
models of houses and cars, and football-shaped object settling to sion planners did not want to miss
special currency like the two "hell the ground about a quarter mile any opportunity for contact with
M
bank notes" shown above Each of away. The boy said it emitted a extraterrestrials.
the offerings is burned, since flames beeping sound and gave off a pecu-
are thought to cany material ob- liar red vapor Seconds later, it shot

jects into the spiritual realm up to the clouds, where four other
people claimed to have seen it.

-<*

<l

70
RtSlf radii Byslcry. On this date in The sun enters fhe sign ol Vlr jo. see below. A gorjf Wedding Mjhl. On this evening in A Wins! Shaped UFO. A man and woman
1623, Parisians awoke to find plac- 1669, young Janet Dairy mple was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were
ards promoting a secret "Brother- married David Dunbar, heir to
to strolling on this night in 1951 when
hood of the Rosy Cross" posted all the Scottish estate of Baldoon, they obsetved a strange flying ob-
over the city. In the posters, mem- despite her own love for an impov- ject. It was shaped like a wide
bers of the mysterious brother- erished suitor. According to legend, inverted V with soft blue-green
—
hood who quickly became known the wedding guests were horrified lights outlining its contours. Twenty
as Rosicrucians —offered "to bring later that night by screams from the minutes later, some three hundred
our fellow men out of the error of bridal chamber. Rushing to the miles to the east, a group of college
death. " Condemned by Church scene, they found the bridegroom professors in Lubbock, Texas, saw
officials as satanic, the movement half-dead of several stab wounds the same thing, and for the next
vanished from public view as quick- and the bride completely insane; two weeks there were dozens of
ly as it had appeared. Despite ru- she died within the month, al- sightings of the UFO in the vicinity
mors of Rosicrucian activity in though her would-be victim recov- of Lubbock Some people claimed
France, England, the Netherlands, ered. Local tradition holds that that the lightswere merely reflec-
and Germany, details remain dis- Janet Dalrymple still haunts the tions in the hazy sky, but many
puted or altogether missing. ruins of Baldoon castle (above), others were convinced that they
plagued by the memories of a bro- were looking at the running lights
ken heart and a murderous rage. of an alien spacecraft.

Virgo: August 23-Seplember 22

On August 23, the Sun enters Virgo, sign of
the virgin. Astrologers say that the symbol
refers not so much to chastity as
perfection, for Virgoans are unequivocal
perfectionists.
Compulsively organized and meticulous,
meet high stand-
natives of Virgo strive to
ards using their fine-tuned and enormously
practical minds. They love learning and have
keen business sense, and their favorite task
is to rescue order from the jaws of chaos. In
the process, however, they sometimes be-
come bogged down because of a tendency to
pay too much attention to detail.
Virgoans are worriers. High-strung, they
experience chronic bouts of anxiety and
depression. They are often overly concerned
with personal hygiene, which sometimes
results in a host of psychosomatic ailments.
In their tidy and structured lives, Virgo
it does to natives find little time for romantic entangle-
ments. They rarely tolerate the disarray of
feelings that passion engenders, and any
prospective mate must satisfy rigorous re-
quirements in order to gain their approval
Often, Virgoans prefer to remain alone,
free to engage in pursuits they consider
more worthwhile than sentimental dalli-
ances. They are not homebodies, rejecting
domesticity in favor of work with a great
deal of mental stimulation. Virgoans shine as
scientists, statisticians, gardeners, inspec-
tors, craftsmen, secretaries, doctors, and
nurses. Well-known Virgoans include Ger-
man epic poet Goethe, former U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson, and actress Raquel Welch.
26 AUGUST

A f4 Is Un. On this day, Hindu Wtrsklp al Ike Clrcis lulais. m late Oralis ll Ike Olympics. World-class Keeping wtlckes call. At various times
worshipers celebrate the periodic August, the ancient Romans held a sporting events today, the Olympic of the year, the Yoruba people of
rebirth of Krishna, the blue-skinned festival in honor ofConsus, god of Games once served a religious Nigeria celebrate Gelede, a rite
eighth incarnation of the god the grain stores, which were re- purpose as part of the late August meant to control old women past
Vishnu who
born again every
is plenished from the harvest at about harvest rituals of ancient Greece. the age of childbearing. Traditional-
time the world needs to be set nght this time. As sacrifices to Consus Some have theorized the contests ly considered witches, such women
Celebrants attend midnight services were made at an underneath
altar began as a race like the one depict- are thought to be subdued by the
where a statue of the baby Krishna the floor of the Circus Maximus, ed above, intended to choose the dances of men wearing masks like
is hailed with cries of "Vijay!" or games in his honor were held in fittest champion to protect the spirit the one below.
"Victory!" To welcome the infant the stadium itself. Mules and horses of the harvest during the hard win-
deity, some worshipers then bathe were decked with garlands and ter months. Then as now. winners
a small image of Krishna and tuck given a day of rest, traditions that were hometown heroes. But due
him into a silver cradle. were later observed on the Christian reverence had its limits: When one
feast of Saint Antony's Day. town erected a statue of its three-
time boxing champion, jealous gods
supposedly struck it down.

2
f-
Bringing in (he Ceremonial Sheaves

During the harvest season of August and here, known in the British Isles as corn dol-
September, agricultural societies often hold or kern babies. No child's toy, the corn
lies
special rites to celebrate the beginning, or dolly was a sacred talisman; its name may
"first fruits," of the process as well as the derive from the word idol. Often kept in a
final reaping. Lammas (see August
a 1) is farmer's house until January, the dolly would
typical first-fruits ceremony for grain; anoth- then be plowed back into the field to work
er example is the Japanese practice of offer- its magic on the next crop.

ing the first rice to the gods. Folklore specialists believe that such corn
Because traditional agricultural societies dolly rituals may have descended from cere-
had no guarantee that the growing season monies in which real animal or human sacri-
would return, the cutting of the last plant of fices were made to appease the great Corn
the crop occasioned more anxiety than joy. Spirit. As late as the 1850s, the Khond peo-
Early Europeans believed that the spirit of ple of Bengal, India, are said to have made
the grain — the life force that would infuse human sacrifices to an Indian earth goddess,
next year's harvest — resided in the last stalk, Tari Pennu. After a victim was dismembered
which was often cut down by several reapers and roasted, a shaman figure ate part of the
who shared the responsibility. charred flesh. The remains were then scat-
r Once down, the stalk was in many cases tered over a plowed field, bringing future life
fashioned into figures like the two shown out of sacrificial death.

31 AUGUST

lar?ttl-(lae finals, see above. A jhoslly masquerade, on this day in

the Nigerian capital of Lagos, mas-
queraders called Eyos prowl the
streets. These costumed demons
are concealed in white robes and
brandish long sticks; they are rep-
resentatives of individual families
and symbolize authority. People
crossing the path of an Eyo must
remove their hats and shoes as a
sign of respect. If someone offends
an Eyo, the demon will probably
The Eyo's
lash out with his stick.
ritualwalk was once thought to
serve the purpose of cleansing the
spirits of a family.

73
 The Power behind (he Masks

livery spring, after dried maize seeds

had been sown but before green shoots appeared, ancient Aztecs gathered
for a festival called Tlacaxipeualiztli. Like most of their important ceremo-
nies, this one centered on human sacrifice; but the process was particularly

gruesome even by Aztec standards. A victim, usually a war prisoner, was

taken to the temple, where the priests cut out his beating heart while he was
still awake and struggling and offered it to Xipe Totec, god of springtime (at

/7°/?{ and below). That was just the beginning. Next they made deft cuts

around his arms, legs, neck, and back and carefully skinned him. Then the
warrior who had captured the prisoner donned the bloody skin and a mask
made from the face and performed a dance beseeching the gods for new
life. He wore the grisly garb for twenty days, till it rotted away from him. For
the Aztecs, this ritual generated magic: Just as the warrior burst through the
cracked skin of the dead victim, so would the maize plants imitate him and
sprout through the golden shells of their seemingly dead seeds
Although few approached the hideous grotesquery of these Aztec
masks, since earliest times people have marked the progress of the year and
sought to boost nature's bounty through seasonal masking rituals. A sam-
pling of masks used in these festivals, some of which are still celebrated,
appears on the following pages. Some masks supposedly enabled partici-

pants to tap the forces of the gods to encourage plentiful crops. Others were
worn to honor spirits of certain animals so they would allow themselves
A -

to be caught. And some masks were thought to

encourage general good fortune. They
all served to channel cosmic power from
the supernatural to earthly beings,
ostensibly giving . humans the
means to control nature and to
ensure their own
 »• <k.

A&

'

This statuette and the greenstone mask at left

both portray the Aztec deity xipe Totec, also
called the Flayed Cod, wearing skin stripped
from a sacrificial victim. The mask was probably
not meant to be worn, but like the statuette it does
symbolize the violent spring ritual in which an
Aztec warrior donned a mask of human skin.
Inan early-summer ceremony, whalers of northern
Alaskan Inuit villages once donned symbolic wood-
en masks such as this one, and breast gorgets like
the wing-shaped object behind the mask, to cele-
brate the end of whaling season. They danced from
door to door, inviting the community to feast on
prized whale meat. The ritual was designed to
propitiate the spirits of the great mammals—essen-
tial to the survival of coastal Inuits—so that
the
whales would return in abundance the next year.

i <

— '-^J*

'»• fir 13*

.

To celebrate Che yam harvest, the Abelam tribe

of Papua New Guinea adorns giant yams with
masks like the one above, which measures
almost afoot in width. For the Abelam, who
believe yams have souls, the ritual acknowl-
edges the huge tubers as their spiritual rela-
also supposedly frees the supernatural
tives. It
power of the large yams and encourages growth
of common yams, the Abelam's staple food.
+*

During the winter ceremonial season of the

Kwakiutl Indians of the Pacific Northwest,
masked dancers impersonate various mythical
beings, including a wild-haired female giant
named Dzonokwa, depicted here. Despite a
reputation for devouring small children, forest-
dwelling Dzonokwa supposedly grants wealth
and good fortune to families that please her.
Dancers sporting cornhusk masks such as
this one perform every year during the mid-
winter ceremony of New York's Seneca Indi-
ans. The masks symbolize the Husk Faces, a
race of supernatural beings associated with
the life-supporting crops of corn, beans,
and squash. Their presence is believed to
augur well for the coming growing season.
 In autumn, as the growing cycle comes to an end and the shimmering heat
of summer turns to eerie dusk, people around the world harvest their crops
and store away the food that will see them through the winter. At once a
season of plenty and the harbinger of deathly winter, autumn is marked by a
wealth of rituals, beliefs, and uncanny occurrences, some of them chroni-
cled in the pages that follow.

The sapphire Septem-is

Many fall rites recognize both aspects of the season, celebrating its

ber's birthstone The material abundance while also trying to preserve the harvest spirit through
blue gem symbolizes
truth, sincerity, justice, the approaching lean winter months. Until recently, European reapers ritu-
and constancy and it — ally burned the last sheaf of wheat, suggesting the remnant of an earlier
was once believed to
cure mental illness. practice of animal or human sacrifice to the agricultural deities, while British

farm hands teamed up to cut down the last stalk of corn together, so that no
one person would bear the misfortune brought on by killing the Corn Spirit

believed to live within it.

As the fall nights grow longer, people's thoughts turn naturally to un-
known spirits of darkness —deities of the underworld, powerful ghosts of
dead ancestors, and myriad other supernatural beings — including those
October's birthstone is half-humans who are believed subject to horrifying transformations, such as
the opal The iridescent
werewolves and vampires. Many old folk beliefs suggest that the normal
stone was once used in
divination: If an opal protective barriers between our world and the next break down at this time
was brilliant, it promised
a project's success; if
of year, putting the living at risk. As a partial measure of protection, a num-
dull, it assured failure ber of autumn rites and ceremonies supposedly guard against dangerous,
roving spirits of many kinds.

On Vampire Night in Rumania (see November 29), for example, custom

calls for hanging garlic on doors and windows, to keep the vampires from
entering. Among the Celts, the dead themselves were thought to visit during

Samhain, a festival which began at sunset on October 31. On this night,

from which the modern holiday of Halloween descends, the Celts built huge
Ancient tales told that bonfires on hilltops, wore masks and costumes to ward off footloose ghosts
topaz, November's
and demons, and put out offerings of food for the dead. No ritual, however,
birthstone, rendered its

wearer not only invisible can prevent or even slow the approach of winter. As the sun itself dims and
but fireproof The yellow
.

jewel also helped win

the days shorten further, autumn's one-time plenty is forgotten and the sim-
friends and lovers. ple quest for survival replaces the eerie ambiguities of fall.
 Blltb Oi Zoroaster. A Persian prophet Dm I

and mystic who lived in the sixth fas;

1

century BC, founder of the religion

that bears his name, Zoroaster
(left) was born on this day. Zoroas-

tnanism teaches that the world is <

caught in a constant battle between

good spirits, or ahuras, and evil lol

spirits, known as daevas or divs. Sfff

Zoroaster prophesied that the good

would eventually triumph.

Zoroaster, known by some as Zarathustra,

writes in his study in this fifteenth-century Flem-
ish painting. The prophet declared the ex-
istence of a single god, whom he called Ahura
Mazda (or Ohrmazd), meaning wise lord.
 The Rising Sun of Changing
To mark the coming of age of a pubescent
Arizona's White Mountain Apache may
girl,
celebrate a Sunrise or Coming Out Ceremo-
ny, often at this time of year. During the
four-day-long rite, the young woman ritually
becomes Changing Woman, a legendary
Apache heroine who survived a great flood
and magically gave birth to Son of Sun and
Child of the Water. The girl's transformation
Kneeling upon a buckskin pad, a fourteen-
year-old Apache girl dances during the
Sunrise Ceremony that marks her passage
into womanhood. Her godfather (far
left) directs the dance with an eagle feath-
er, and next to him, her father guards the
sacred cane that will be hers for life.
Woman
into Changing Woman, the tribe members an is believed to enter the young woman, to
believe, not only ensures a long life for her; remain with her for life.
it also blesses everyone present A godmother guides the girl through the
For the Sunrise Ceremony, the girl dresses ceremony of prayers, singing, dancing, story-
in a traditional buckskin blouse and ankJe- telling, and feasting. The girl makes four
length skirt. She wears one eagle-down circular runs, each wider than the one be-
feather on each shoulder, to help her fore, representing the four stages of life
through the rigorous dancing and running of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old
the ceremony, and a third in her hair, to age. Later, she lies face down on a deerhide
serve as guide and protector. She carries a rug so her body can be molded into the right
specially decorated cane, a symbol of long shape for life by the godmother's massaging
life, which she will keep as long as she lives. hands and feet. The girl's parents bless the
Perhaps most important, she wears a disk of pair by sprinkling pollen over them, when
abalone shell on her forehead; as the rising the ceremony is over, theyoung woman
sun's light strikes the shell on the first day of remains holy for four more days, receiving
the ceremony, the power of Changing Wom- further instruction about life from her elders.

'2 3 4
SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 5 SEPTEMBER

EICVCR lOSl days. In 1751, the British The Exeter incident. Early on September Apache Sunrise Ceremony, see above. Magnificent ruins. On this date in 1871,
Parliament abandoned the Julian 3, 1 965, two police officers and German explorer Karl Mauch dis-
calendar — then eleven days behind other witnesses reported a brightly covered Great Zimbabwe, the mys-
the solar year—and adopted the lit, eighty-foot red sphere hovering terious stone ruins of an ancient
more accurate Gregorian calendar near Exeter, New Hampshire. The African fortress city in the country
used on the Continent. The morn- sighting was never explained. now called Zimbabwe.
ing after Wednesday, September 2,

1751, Britons awoke to Thursday, During Akwambo, the

September 14 Amid disputes over
wages and rents, many people
demanded their eleven
Some said that the Glastonbury
Thorn, a tree noted for blooming on
Christmas Day, repudi-
ated the new calendar
p by flowering eleven
days late.
Clear fhe palb. Ganesha Chalurfhi. This Hindu festival—
Path Clearing Festival, Ghana's the date of which changes on the
Akan people symbolically clear a Western calendar — honors Ganesh,
days back. path to the village well. A priestess the beneficent elephant-headed god
(below) then offers libations to the of luck and prosperity Worshipers
god of the well. parade decorated clay images of
Ganesh to a river, a lake, or the sea
and gently drown them (below).
Then they take home soil from the
water's edge, to ensure plenty.

Tfcdr cliHran l\—4 Thesnua. an
ancient Incan festival designed to
ward off the deadly illnesses of the
Southern Hemisphere's spring, got
under way each September with the
start of the rainy season After a day
offasting, the Incas drew small
amounts of their children's blood
and mixed it with corn meal They
ate this paste, rubbed it on their
bodies, and smeared it on their
thresholds, to repel disease-bearing
evil spirits The festival culminated
when the Inca, or emperor, wield-
ing a feathered lance, sent four
noble Incas running north, south,
east, and west to rout the evil spirits
from Incan lands.
*
Mary's Flying Collage
In AD 326, the Roman Empress Helena made cottage, and carried it to a village in what
a pilgrimage to Palestine to celebrate the later became Yugoslavia. But the angels
Christian conversion of her son, Constantine grew concerned that the house was neglect-
the Great. While she was there, she reputedly ed there, and three years later they moved it
discovered the Holy House of Nazareth, again (left), this time to the Italian town of
home of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the Loreto on the other side of the Adriatic.
house in which the Virgin had been born. Regarding the appearance of the cottage
Helena recognized it, she said, by a certain as a miracle, the people of Loreto encircled
"holy dread" it inspired in her. She had the the house with a wall and made it a holy
house enveloped by a basilica, and pilgrims shrine. It is also recorded that they sent a
flocked to visit it. deputation of sixteen men to Nazareth
Almost a thousand years later, in 1291, whose mission was to find proof that the
the armies of Islam were about to fall upon cottage came from there. They discovered
Palestine. In order to protect the Holy House, that its dimensions matched the empty
says Catholic tradition, angels descended foundations where the Holy House had
from the heavens, picked up the small stone stood, and that an inscription there stated
SEPTEMBER Kj SEPTEMBER 9 SEPTEMBER
Birth tl TfeetStpfcy. On this night in When iitrls transported Ike H«ly Bouse. CRryttRliemin Day. By an ancient
1875, Madame Helena Petrovna See above Chinese custom, chrysanthemum
Blavatsky and her salon of occult- wine is drunk on the ninth day of
ists agreed to form an organization the ninth moon, to ensure long life
for the study of arcane knowledge This is done in honor of T'ao Yuan
The next day they formally founded Ming, a Chinese poet who favored m
the Theosophical Society. Henry the chrysanthemum above all other
Olcott, seen below with Blavatsky. flowers because it blooms alone in
was president, but Blavatsky was a frosty autumn. After his death, the
prime mover in the Theosophical Chinese made him the god of the
Society's work of spreading occult chrysanthemum. Ancient Japan set
lore and ancient wisdom the same day aside as Choyo-no-
Sekku, or Chrysanthemum Day, an
important festival day on which the
shogun received visits from his
feudal lords. Modern Japanese
celebrate Choyo-no-Sekku with
competitive chrysanthemum shows.
L
that the house had mysteriously vanished.
Around the cottage at Loreto, the Catholic
Church magnificent church of
later built a
white marble. Over the centuries, thousands
—
of pilgrims including more than fifty
—
popes have visited the Holy House. Because
Loreto possesses what it believes is the
house in which Mary was born, the town's
biggest festival occurs on September 8, the
date observed as her birthday. Despite mod-
ern scholars' doubts about the truth of the
Holy House tradition, the little cottage en-
dures as a cherished shrine. At its door, a
plaque proclaims, "Let those who are impure
tremble to enter into this sanctuary. The
*m
whole world has no place more sacred."

10 September 11 SEPTEMBER 12 SEPTEMBER 13 SEPTEMBER

lorn Daicc. see below. f drbralinii a pardon. For three days A pumpkin Kin(|. Every year at about Egyptian Ml Souls Day. The ancient
starting on September 1 1, members this time, Parisians used to gather Egyptian goddess Neplhys, or Neb-
of the Nichiren sect of Japanese at the central market for a curious thet (above), whose headdress is

Buddhism pay homage to their ritual. La Fete du Roi Potiron or — made up of the two hieroglyphs of
founder, Nichiren. This outspoken King Pumpkin's Day—featured a —
her name a basket (neb) placed
thirteenth -century priest so angered giant pumpkin fitted out with a on the sign for a palace (het) — is a
government authorities he was
that paper -and -tinsel crown. Revelers protectress of the dead. On this day,

arrested and sentenced to behead- carried the overgrown vegetable fires were lit in her honor.
ing. But when lightning struck near through the market on a throne,
the execution site, officials reduced while vendors jokingly paid their
the sentence to exile on a nearby respects. Then, without further ado,
island. Freed from exile on Septem- everyone set about carving the
ber 12, 1271, Nichiren spent the pumpkin for use in a traditional
rest of his life teaching his distinct soup. This observance may have
form of Buddhism. At his annual harked back to ancient customs of
festival, Nichiren 's modern-day crop propitiation
followers shout prayers while beat-
ing fan-shaped drums.

heavy wooden replicas of reindeer antlers.

Ancient Reindeer Gliosis
There is no other dance like it in all the
folkways of Europe. It begins at the crack of
dawn each year on the Monday after Wakes
Sunday, the first Sunday after September 4,
as the costumed dancers gather outside the
village church at Abbots Bromley in Stafford-
shire,England. All male, they include a fool,
Robin Hood riding a hobbyhorse, a man
dressed as Maid Marian, a bowman, two
—
musicians, and six deer men wearing
Throughout the day the group wends its
way through the village and neighboring
countryside, stopping at intervals to perform
the Horn Dance for waiting crowds. Toward
evening, the men return to the village center
for one last dance, then return the antlers to
the church until the following year.
The fact that reindeer have been extinct
in Britain for a thousand years suggests that
the Horn Dance was a festival of ancient,
pagan times and was perhaps intended to
ensure fertility or good hunting.

85
 Barney Hill displays a sketch he made of
the UFO he and his
wife (seated) said they
encountered In 1961. He points out a dou-
ble row of windows through which, he
said, he first saw the unearthly beings. The
drawing at right of an alien with broad
eyes and slitlike nose was based on a de-
scription the Hills gave under hypnosis.

14 SEPTEMBER 15 SEPTEMBER 16 SEPTEMBER II SEPTEMBER If

Mill F raids rrtflTD UiirnHt. Early on Tkc Star *l Bdllefeca. As the sun set in ItfallllS CfplillOl. Today is the feast Tit ElCISilia. This ancient Greek festi- m\
this day in 1224. Francis ofAssisi the west on this date in the year of the Breton Saint Comely who is val, renowned for its secret rites, or
had a vision of a six-winged seraph 7 BC, an unusually bright body rose thought to have created the Carnac mysteries, honored Demeter, god-
carrying an image of Jesus on the in the east This brilliant "star" was megaliths by turning hostile soldiers dess of agriculture. Tradition relates
cross. Immediately the monk found formed by the rare conjunction of to stone Comely is also patron of that Demeter taught the secrets of
in hisown hands, feet, and side the Saturn and Jupiter, the planet of horned animals; on this day Bret- growing crops to the Eleusinians for
fivewounds of the crucified Christ — kings, in the constellation Pisces — tons lead oxen through his shrine their when her daughter,
kindness "

stigmata he is said to have borne the Fishes This fact has led some at midnight for blessing. Priests Persephone, was abducted by Ha-
the rest of his life. astrologers to suggest that Septem- turn a blind eye to the huge beasts des, lord of the underworld.
ber 15 is the true birth date of lumbering through the church.
Wf Cr»M )?. On this date in AD 312. Christ and that the Jupiter-Saturn

just before a battle, the Roman conjunction was the Star of Bethle-
emperor Constantme I reportedly hem observed in the east by the
saw in the sky a cross inscribed "In three wise men, or Magi
hoc signo vinces" — "By this sign
you will conquer. " Commemorating
his vision and the victory he won
that day, Constantine instituted the
Feast of the Holy Cross.

Lighting the way with torches, Persephone

(right) returns from the underworld to
her mother, Demeter, In this fifth-century-
BC bas-relief. Demeter holds In one hand
the staff she used in her search for her
daughter. In her other hand she carries
sheaves of wheat, symbolizing her gift
of thanksgiving upon Persephone's return.

86
 Losf Hours on a Lonely Road
On the night of September 19, 1961, Betty
and Barney Hill (far left) were headed home
to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from a Ca-
nadian vacation. They later related that
while driving on U.S. Route 3, they saw a
bright starlike object moving across the
southwestern sky. Barney pulled off the road
several times to let Betty study the object
through binoculars. They decided it was
some kind of unusual airplane.
Suddenly, the Hills' account went on, the
large, disk-shaped craft flew toward the
couple's parked car, stopping just above the
deserted road in front of them. Barney took
the binoculars and got out of the car for a
18 SEPTEMBER
Pijll t ICCd to il earthwork. Eachyear
for two gala days in September,
Britons Jlock to the site of the Uff-
—
inglon White Horse a colossal
figure of a galloping steed cut into
the pale clay of a Berkshire hillside.
They come to take part in a over the peak. Great rejoicing and
centuries-old tradition called Scour-
ing the White Horse. The principal
objective of the gathering is to
eliminate the weeds that would
otherwise obliterate the horse's
silhouette. But when the chores are
completed, participants stay on
hand for a festival of games and
athletic competition.
closer look. He was astonished to see, be-
hind the portholes of the hovering craft, five
to eleven humanlike figures moving about. "I
don't believe it! don't believe itl This is
1 tale: On that lonely road in September of
ridiculous!" he yelled to Betty.
Barney ran back to the car and the Hills
—
sped home or so they thought. But at home,
the pair found they had "lost" more than
two hours' time between their encounter
with the UFO and their return home. What
had happened during those hours?
The Hills had no answer to that question
until several years later, when
they consulted
a prominent Boston psychiatrist about Bar-
ney's nervousness and insomnia and Betty's
19 SEPTEMBER
A couple's story oi a strange encounter.
See above.
nightmares — problems that had begun after
the Hills saw
the UFO. Under hypnosis, each
spouse recounted a terrifying and incredible
1961, they had been taken into the strange
spacecraft and subjected to a sometimes
painful physical examination by beings from
another world.
Although skeptics consider the Hills' story
pure fabrication, similar tales of alien abduc-
tion have surfaced around the globe, leading
some UFO investigators to hypothesize that
may be conducting genetic
the creatures
humans, perhaps to create a
studies of
human-alien hybrid.
20 SEPTEMBER 21 SEPTEMBER
Solar birthday. Living south of the A day Of divination. In some countries,
equator, Incas marked the spring people seek to predict the future on
equinox on or near this day. They this, Saint Matthew's Day. An old
waited silently in the dark at a adage avers, for instance, that if the
mountaintop temple for the golden weather is fair today, it shall contin-
rays of the sun, their god, to flash ue to be so for four weeks. And
German girls once made fortune-
feasts, animal sacrifice, and divina- telling wreaths on this day. Some
tion occupied the rest of the day. were straw, some evergreen. In the
dark, each girl chose one: Green
meant a happy marriage and good
health, whilebrown foretold sick-
ness and unhappiness.
 Libra: September 23 October 22
The period of the astrological year known as to make people feel comfortable and happy,
Libra begins September 23. Because it occurs affirming their own sense of self-worth by
near the autumnal equinox, when day is reaching out to others.
equal to night, Libra is symbolized by the They also battle for social justice, as their
Scales, representing balance and harmony. scale symbol suggests, using graceand
Libra is associated with Venus, the planet charm compromises from oppo-
to exact
named for the Roman goddess of beauty. nents. But because they become so emotion
According to astrologers, people born during ally involved in the lives of others, they may
i
Libra desire beauty in all aspects of life, appear meddlesome and judgmental. They
particularly in their social interactions. Hu- mean well, but they are unable to keep thei
man relationships are paramount for Li- distance — for fear of being alone.
brans, who cultivate each new friendship As a result, Librans are so extroverted
with care and respect. They toil indefatigably that they do not know themselves particular

22 SEPTEMBER 23 SEPTEMBER 24 SEPTEMBER 25 SEPTEMBER

The »ISCl Ol aulUM. Astronomically, fall itit sun enters (be slf ol libra, see above An annual autumn, ancient
reblrll. In Happy days lor Mia. For roughly two
commences around September 22 Egyptians marked
the approach of weeks period of the year, at
in this
on a day that has exactly twelve planting season by commemorating a lime determined astronomically,
hours of daylight and twelve of the death and rebirth of the god the people of India celebrate Durga
darkness and is known as the equi Osiris (below) with music, dancing, Puja in honor of the ten-armed
nox, from the Latin for "equal and ceremonial plantings. goddess Durga, the Divine Mother
night. " Some cultures called this of the Universe. In Indian tradition, i
day the Witches' Thanksgiving; Durga conquered the thousand-
ancient Celts called it Mabon, to headed king of demons, Mahisa-
honor Queen Mab of the fairy peo- sura. The festival is a time of joy,
ple. In Japan, the autumnal equinox when children express their respect
is a holiday called Higan, meaning for their parents, and adults settle
"other shore. " or heaven. On this quarrels with fiends and neigh-
day, the sun due west, where
sets bors. At Durga Puja, many families
Buddhists believe heaven lies. To hold their annual reunions and
honor the dead, Buddhists visit celebrate family life.

cemeteries and pray for the souls of

departed ancestors.

.
* I
ly well. They neglect adequate con-
to give
sideration to their own
thoughts and needs,
bending instead to the influence of others.
And when forced to make an independent
choice, natives of this sign frequently suc-
cumb to indecision and vacillation.
Famous Libransinclude actress Angela
Lansbury, television host Johnny Carson,
singer Bruce Springsteen, and former presi-
I —
dent Jimmy Carter whose Libran diplomacy
and pacifism facilitated the 1978 summit
meeting that led to a peace treaty between
Egypt and Israel.

26 SEPTEMBER 22 SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER

Glorityln* Got and apples. The real The loon Fesllval. see below. Birth Of tonfUClUS. The great Chinese Michaelmas, or saini Michael's Day. Many
—
lohnny Appleseed John Chap- philosopher and moral teacher customs are associated with
—
man was born on this day in Confucius (above) is believed by Michaelmas, the day Christians set
1774. As a young man, Chapman some to have been born on this aside to honor Saint Michael, chief
suffered a blow to the head that date in 551 BC of the archangels who chased the
resulted in what he believed to be a devil Lucifer from heaven. InEng-
vision of heaven. God's home, he Yum Kippur. This solemn day of rest, land, for example, people used to
reported, was distinguished by an prayer, fasting, and ritual purifica- refuse to pick blackberries after this
abundance of blooming apple trees tion ends the Ten Days of Penitence date, believing that the devil, who
Following this epiphany. Chapman that begin with the Jewish New had landed on a prickly blackberry
made it his mission to plant apples Year, Rosh Hashanah. And like that bush when he fell from heaven,
and preach the Christian scripture. Yom Kippur occurs on
holiday, cursed the berries and spit or uri-
He wandered the American prairies movable dates determined by moon nated on them each autumn on
sowing seeds and reading from the phases. In ancient times, a scape- Michaelmas. On the Scottish island
Bible In the process, he earned a goat, a symbolic sin bearer, was of Saint Kilda, families still bake
place in American folklore. turned out into the desert to carry and eat a special cake on this day
away the sins of the people. to ensure Saint Michael's protection
in the coming year.

~
Ladies' Treats for (he Hare in (he Moon
One of the most joyous events of the Chi- rites are carried out by the ters of different kinds of fruit
nese year, the Moon Festival, or Chung- women of each family. In their and thirteen "mooncakes,"
Ch'iu, falls on the full moon of the eighth courtyards, they arrange a spe- small, spicy, circular cakes to rep-
month of the Chinese lunar calendar the — cial altar on which they place a pic- resent the thirteen months of the lunar
autumn harvest moon. As the climax of the ture and sometimes a small figure of the year. Some offer beans, said to be a favorite
growing season, the Moon Festival is a time Moon Hare, a creature that, in Chinese my- of the Moon Hare. The women light incense
to givethanks for a bountiful harvest. thology, inhabits the moon. When moonlight and, one by one, approach the altar and
Because the moon in Chinese thought fills the courtyard, the ceremony begins. The bow. Then the picture of the Moon Hare is
symbolizes the female principle of yin, the women set offerings —
on the altar five plat- burned to free its soul to return to the moon.
 Goal of a Sacred Journey

According to one classical formulation, the

faith of Islam requires of its followers five
and
things: belief, prayer, charity, fasting,
pilgrimage.To fulfill the last requirement,
every Muslim must make at least one pil-
grimage to Mecca, where the prophet Mu-
hammad was born. According to the Koran,

In this 1901 photograph, Muslim pilgrims

stand barefoot around the cloth-draped shrine
called the Ka'ba in the holy city of Mecca. Most
pilgrims wear only two simple white sheets, as
a reminder that all are equal before God.

30 SEPTEMBER 1 OCTOBER 2 OCTOBER 3 OCTOBER

A Slir'S lilt UKr iCllk. On this date in PII»rlin»|C l« ICtCi. See above Tiaiks It Ike iiftis. in 1672, Pope Reunion Will Ike its. Atabout this
1955. James Dean died at the age Clement X proclaimed this date lime, the Cherokee nation once
ity-four in a car crash, but Guardian Angels Day. an occasion celebrated its Cementation and
the handsome, brooding actor lives for people to give special thanks to Propitiation Festival, in which men
on as a supernatural cult hero. the angels like the one below and exchanged the clothes they were
Some thirty thousand fans gather for the protection such celestial wearing to symbolize human union
each year in Fairmount. Indiana. guardians provide. with Cherokee deities Celebrants
where Dean grew up and is buried, later immersed themselves in run-
tomark the anniversary of his ning water to wash away unseen
death Many believe he speaks to barriers to the gods.
them. One says he told her through
her Ouija to go to a certain road,
then briefly appeared there "in his
East of Eden outfit. " Another heard

Dean's booted feel "walking back

to his grave " Police shooed away
eight academics holding a seance
on the grave. But Fairmount likes
the visitors' money and has made
the anniversary a three-day festival.

<

Islam's holy book, this pilgrimage, or
must be timed so the pilgrim is in Mecca on
the seventh day of the month of Dhu'l-
hajj,
—
hijjah a date that varies from year to year
on Western calendars. Once a Muslim has
completed the hajj, he or she may assume
the title Hajji, pilgrim, a mark of high honor.
—
Before reaching Mecca a city still forbid-
den to —
non-Muslims the pilgrims must
bathe, pray, and don special garments. When
they enter the city, they head straight for the
Ka'ba, the veiled shrine at left. Said to have
been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael,
from whom the Arab people descended, the
Ka'ba has been gradually repaired until only
—
one of its building blocks the Black Stone,
in its eastern —
corner is believed to date
from Abraham's day. Each pilgrim walks
around the Ka'ba seven times, striving to
touch or kiss the Black Stone, as did the
prophet Muhammad when he rededicated
to the service of the one god, Allah.
After paying their respects to the Ka'ba,
pilgrims pass on to the small domed Mosque
of Abraham and drink from the sacred Well
of Ishmael nearby. According to tradition,
this well sprang miraculously from the sand
to save Ishmael and his mother when both
were abandoned in the desert.
Pilgrims then climb the holy hills of Safa
and Marwa, journeying between them seven
times and stopping only to recite prayers.
the eighth day of Dhu'l-hijjah comes
so-called standing, in which hundreds of
thousands of worshipers gather on the near-
the
]
by Plains of Arafat to stand and pray from
it noon to sunset. After nightfall, each pilgrim
collects seventy pebbles from the desert. The
stones are later thrown at three ancient
pillars that represent the evils of the world. A
finalanimal sacrifice ends the hajj.
Some pious travelers, however, go on to
the city of Medina, where Muhammad fled
when Mecca disowned him, to pray in the
Mosque of the Prophet. Muhammad wrote
that one prayer recited in this mosque has
more effect than a thousand prayers said in
On any location other than the Ka'ba in Mecca.

.
_
4 OCTOBER 5 OCTOBER 6 OCTOBER 2 OCTOBER

Al ildcil karfCSl During the Jewish

rile.
harvest festival of Sukkolh, which
takes place at about this time, wor-
shipers eat their meals in outdoor
booths, built from tree boughs. A
time of renewal and thanksgiving,
Sukkolh also includes a special
prayer for rain
Dances wllh ihe corn goddess, in Lithua- A god wakes up alter a long nap. A hybrid religious leslival. on this day,
nia, the reaping of the last sheaf of See below. fifteenth-centuryGerman peasants
grain at about this time is marked launched Kermesse, a week-long
by the Nubaigai celebration. On holiday that blended Christianity
some farms, workers dress the last and paganism. First, they visited a
sheaf—called the Old Woman in — remote spot where the year before
women's clothes and dance with it they had buried a sacred symbol —
for good luck. Nubaigai often ends sometimes a Christian icon, some-
as a full-blown festival, with food times a pagan one. Digging it up,
and drink, dancing, and games. they mounted it atop a gaily deco-
rated poleand marched it to town.
Days of games, feasting, dancing,
irreverent hymn singing, and other
antics followed. At week's end, the
townsfolk donned mourning garb
and returned the Kermesse symbol
to the earth for another year.

Vishnu's Bed of Snakes

Each autumn in Nepal, Hindu worshipers of

the great god Vishnu hold a nine-day reli-

gious festival honoring their transcendant

protector and redeemer. The celebration,
one of the most auspicious of the Hindu
year, includes Haribodhini Ekadasi the day, —
in Hindu tradition, when Vishnu wakes from
his annual four-month rest on a subterra-
nean bed of snakes, a scene vividly depicted
in the seventh-century statuary at left.

To mark the god's awakening, the faithful

bathe sacred waters, chant Vishnu's name
in
1,008 times, and make secret and thus —
—
more truly charitable offerings of alms by
hiding them in unripe pumpkins. Should
Vishnu's worshipers fail to honor him at this
time, tradition holds, they risk rebirth as
crowing roosters or human mutes.
8 OCTOBER 9 OCTOBER 10 October OCTOBER *

A bl<ti tut fa escape (ram rslcrtais drill JUiClS ll Ike Strict Ull«l. On this day in A panic. The An alien abduction, on
riiu.il this date
See below. 1 989. the Soviet news agency Tass two-week Festival of in 1 973, Calvin Parker and
reported that a banana-shaped Light held in mid- J Charles Hickson were by their
UFO carrying giant "humanlike" October in the Brazil- ^ own account abducted from
aliens and a tiny robot had landed ian city of Belem Pascagoula, Mississippi, and
in the city of Voronezh The strange includes a penitential ',
taken aboard what was
beings allegedly took a walk, then parade of lens of \ apparently a spaceship
boarded their craft again and disap- thousands of wor- j There they later claimed to
peared into space. shipers, many of rrA have been examined by
whom go barefoot j eyeless, gray-skinned crea-
and carry heavy : tures, one of which is de-
weights for their sins. r : picted at left in a sketch
I based on their description

Climbing above II All

Midway through autumn, the Chinese celebrate Chung

—
Yeung, the Festival of High Places a holiday that commemo-
rates the legendary scholar Huan Ching. According to tradi-
tion, Huan Ching, who is said to have lived in the village of
Joo-an more than 2,000 years ago, was warned by a sooth-
sayer to take his family up into the hills on this day to avoid a
disaster that would devastate the village below. After passing
on the warning to others, Huan Ching and his family fled into
the hills. When the refugees returned, they found that every
living creature left behind had mysteriously died.
In modern times, families recall that escape on Chung
Yeung Day by flying kites from local hills or mountains, as in
the scene at left. The kites, which are thought to carry away
impending evils, often take the form of such good omens as
bats, fish,and butterflies. The traditional accompanying pic-
nic includes chrysanthemum wine, which Huan Ching sup-
posedly took with him when he fled, and special cakes that
are said to bring good luck and career advancement when
eaten in high places.
 ——

.12 OCTOBER 13 OCTOBER 14 OCTOBER 15 OCTOBER

nan The notorious Brit-

IlC Wltitfesl Great wonders in Portugal, see below. InfragalacliC fraternity. Today is Inter- Cat-and-mouse with a mo while flying
Crowley
ish occultist Aleister planetary Confederation Day, spon- over Japan on this date in 1948, the
(above), the so-called wickedest sored by the UFO-enthusiast Una- crew of a U.S. Air Force F-61 Black
man in the world, was bom on this rms Foundation The purpose of the Widow night fighter picked up a
date in 1875. A member of several event is to recognize the other mysterious aircraft on radar. The
secret sects and founder of one planets with which Earth shares the unidentified craft was flying at
called the Silver Star, or Argenti- Milky Way galaxy. about two hundred miles per hour,
g mini Astrum, Crowley roamed the but each time the Black Widow
world preaching his own form of attempted to close in on it, the
"magick, " based on sex and drugs intruder accelerated abruptly,
(He added the "k" to distinguish his reaching speeds of perhaps twelve
occult ceremonies from stage mag- hundred mph. Then the strange
ic.) Crowley, who summed up his craft would slow down again, as if
philosophy in four words, "Do what challenging the jet to give chase.
thou will, " was plagued by scandal On one pass, the crew reported
throughout his adult life and died seeing the silhouette of a "rifle
bankrupt in 1947. bullet, " twenty to thirty feet long.
The frustrated crew could gather no
other information.

The Miracles a( Fafima

On May 13, 1917, three Portuguese children

tending sheep near the town of Fatima saw a
beautiful woman they identified as the Virgin
Mary. Veiled in a white cloth bordered in
gold, the mysterious figure told ten-year-old
Lucia dos Santos, nine-year-old Francisco
Marto, and seven-year-old Jacinta Marto that
she would return to meet them on the thir-
teenth day of each of the next five months.
Fifty villagers accompanied the children
on June 13, appointed date, but the
the first

adults heard only whispering noises as Mary

supposedly appeared. The crowd grew to
5,000 on July 13, when Lucia said the Virgin
told her to pray for peace. Prevented by the
government from returning on August 13,
the children came back on September 13
—
with a crowd of 30,000 some of whom saw the sky. Spinning and throwing off colored the children, including a forecast that the
falling flower petals that vanished in midair. flames, the disk dived toward the crowd only future SovietUnion would cause great trou-
On October 13, a full 70,000 pilgrims to stopand soar away. ble but would
later be converted to Catholi-

some of them shown here with Jacinta Nor was that the end of the Fatima story. cism. Some believe that prophecy began to
turned out for the Virgin's final visit, when During her visits, the Virgin Mary had appar- come true in August 1991 as the Communist
allpresent observed a huge silver disk in ently shared a number of predictions with party lost power after a failed Soviet coup.
16 OCTOBER 12 OCTOBER 18 OCTOBER

* priVHtlllal escipt. On this night one FtWl Itr IkC frii. On this date falls the ItCHMflMll. During this ancient Sticky pickles and a a popular
god ol lack,

year in the late 1 640s. British trader Japanese Shinto ceremony known Greek festival held during mid- event in Tokyo annual fair
is the
Sir John Gayer found himself alone as the Kanname-Sai, or God- October, women retrieved pig car- known as Bettara-lchi, held on this
in the Arabian desert, confronted by Tasting Event, in which the first casses from snake-filled chasms date near the shrine ofEbisu, one
a savage lion Recalling the biblical fruits of the year's rice crop are into which the dead swine had of the seven Shinto gods of luck #1 •

story of Daniel, who was miracu- offered to the sun goddess and earlier been thrown. Mixing the Streets near the shrine are lined
lously preserved after being thrown other imperial ancestors. rotten flesh with seed, the women with stalls where people buy good
into a den of lions. Sir John prayed prayed to the grain goddess Deme- luck pieces and religious images,
fervently for similar protection, and ter for abundant crops. but the favorite items are sticky
the lion stalked away Back in pickled radishes called bettara that
England, the grateful knight estab- are sold tied to straw ropes. Mis-
lished a fund at London's Church of chievous youngsters traditionally
an
Saint Katherine Cree to pay for run among the fairgoers, swinging
annual sermon about his escape. the pickles at their friends and
The "Lion's Sermon" has been shouting "bettara, bettara" —sticky, f I

preached on or about the anniver- —

sticky in playful warning.
sary ofGayer's ordeal ever since.

-ff/
 " —

. Scorpio: October 23-November 21

The season of Scorpio begins on October 23. imagination, a strong sense of purpose, and flames then reborn from them — reveals their
Long considered the darkest and most an ability to see projects through. Newscast- survival instinct: Although their troubles may
treacherous sign of the zodiac, Scorpio is er Dan Rather and Charles, Prince of Wales consume them, Scorpios eventually rise
—
ruled by Mars god of war and Pluto, god — both natives of the sign could be said to — triumphant from the pyre.
of the underworld. demonstrate this kind of Scorpio grit. Astrologers say the sign of Scorpio rules
Those born under this sign are said to Scorpio's three symbols shed light on this the genitals, and those born during its sea-
have the tendency to be resentful, inflexible, complex sign. The first, the scorpion, repre- son experience their sexuality intensely. For
i secretive, and prone to jealous obsessions. sents Scorpios' capacity for cruelty. The some Scorpio natives, sex is sheer eroti-
They experience virtually uncontrollable eagle, on the other hand, with its keen vi- —
cism to be strictly denied or heartily em-
unconscious urges. Their more positive at- sion, symbolizes Scorpios' trenchant percep- braced. For others, intercourse verges upon
tributes, say astrologers, include a gifted tiveness. And the phoenix sacrificed to — spiritual enlightenment.

20 OCTOBER 21 OCTOBER 22 OCTOBER

liglMl Mart. On this date in 1967, 4 Irasii premonition on October 21, Purifying fire$. Japan's Hi Matsuri, or Swallows leave Caplslrano. since 1 798,
former rodeo rider Roger Patterson 1966, half a million tons of coal Fire Festival, is celebrated this night swallows have flown south at this
reportedly spotted a huge, apelike waste slid onto a school and other in the village of Kurama, near Kyo- time from nests near the former site
figure in the wooded highlands of buildings in Aberfan, Wales (below, to. Through streets ablaze with of California's San Juan Capistrano
} northern California Believing it to left), killing 1 40 people. One victim, bonfires, people carry flaming mission, destroyed by an earth-
be the legendary humanoid crea- nine-year-old Eryl Mai /ones (be- torches like those below in a fren- quake in 1812. Local tradition
ture called Bigfoot, Patterson low), had apparently foreseen her zied procession offire, considered a holds that the birds come and go
reached for his home-movie cam- fate. The previous morning, Eryl purifying element. The brilliant with remarkable regularity, leaving
era. The resulting twenty-four feet told her mother she had dreamed parade ends at a shrine where at on this date —Saint John's Day—
offilm is considered the best evi- the schoot could not be found, midnight, it is said, the gods de- and returning on Saint Joseph's
dence yet that Bigfoot does exist. because "some- scend to earth. Day, March 19. Capistrano has
thing black had recently become too crowded for
come down the birds, who have moved on to a
all over it. hospital six miles away.
 Halloween's Old, Dark Roofs

Across northern Europe and the British Isles,

the ancient Celtsonce celebrated Samhain,
or "summer's end," on the last night of
October After bringing in their cattle from
pasture to spend the winter under shelter, «l
the Celtic people held a great fire festival to
mark the beginning of winter and to remem-
ber the dead. On this night, which was also
their New Year's Eve, the Celts believed that
the spirits of dead loved ones might return to
warm themselves by the hearth; families left
their doors unlocked and set out food and
drink for their otherworldly guests.
Witches, hobgoblins, and other malevo-
lent beings were also expected to be at large,
and people danced around bonfires kindled
—
to keep evil spirits at bay and to encourage
the dimming sun not to go out entirely. But if
Samhain was a night of spiritual apprehen-
sion and danger, it also offered glimpses into
the future. Myriad methods of divination,
purporting to reveal who would marry, who
would prosper, and who would die in the
coming year, were considered effective only
on this fateful evening.
In the ninth century, the Church Christian-

24 OCTOBER 25 OCTOBER 26 OCTOBER 21 OCTOBER

X line 01 kill* llllk. In Germany, the IK SkMBikCr Mills. In the third centu- LCI tbere fc€ eartk. According to the By tradition,
Ealing magical apples.

third Sunday in October is Kirmes, ry, Christian brothers named calculations of seventeenth-century unmarried men and women in
a holiday that evolved from the Crispin and Crispinian traveled Anglican archbishop James Ussher, Cornwall purchase brightly polished
Renaissance Kermesse festival from Rome to the French town of chronological references through- apples known as Allan Apples on
(October 7). Chiefly a church festi- Soissons to work as cobblers and to out the Bible imply that God created this day and sleep with them under
val today, Kirmes was once a turn- preach the Gospel Legend has it the earth on October 26, 4004 BC. their pillows. Before dawn, each
^
ing point in the agricultural year that angels helped the brothers must wake up and eat the fruit
With the fall harvest complete and make shoes for the poor by deliver- soundlessly, then go outside and sit

the seeds for the winter crops sown, ing leather to their shop at night. under a tree. The first person to
the farmers were, for a short time, Arrested and sentenced to death for pass by is thought to be the apple
purely at the mercy of nature. They their beliefs, the pious brothers eater's future spouse.
could do nothing more to prepare coolly survived four execution at-
for the future except put their faith tempts before consenting to be kit

in a higher power. At Kirmes, they beheaded The Roman Catholic

gave thanks for the old year's church later canonized the brother
bounty while praying for good martyrs as the patron saints of
fortune in the new. shoemakers and set aside this date I
as their feast day.

She few ft*

FittoftWt"

ssSssssbrs
"^^ssl-^ niiifV; -T^™**" r?_
siw
 — "

ized the old Celtic New Year by proclaiming Olla —

it All Hallows' or All Saints'
berI). The previous day, October 31, thus
became known on the calendar of Christian
festivals as All Hallows' Eve, or
Despite the change in nomenclature, howev-
er, many old Samhain customs were still
observed on this date.
Well into the late 800s, in parts of Wales1
and Scotland, families continued to gather
around bonfires on All Hallows' Eve for a
ceremony in which each person threw a
marked white stone into the flames. If any
stone could not be found among the ashes
the next day, it was feared that its thrower
would die during the coming year. Young
people bobbed for apples afloat in tubs of
water; if a maiden caught one, she would
most likely an old Celtic god. Many of
Day (see Novem- those going abroad on this night lighted their
way with a jack-o'-lantern, a carved turnip
set aglow by a candle burning within; in Irish
Halloween. tradition, a fellow named Jack wanders end-
lessly between heaven and hell, carrying a
turnip lantern lit with a piece of coal thrown
to him by the devil.
Many Halloween customs crossed the
Atlantic with nineteenth-century Irish immi-
grants to the United States, as evidenced by
—
the American jack-o'-lanterns carved from
New World pumpkins rather than Irish tur-
—
nips at far left. As old beliefs faded in the
new country, however, the use of spells and
divinatory charms dwindled. Guising and
begging, now called trick-or-treating, were
left to the children, who still go from door to

sleep with it under her pillow in hopes of door on Halloween night, asking for the food
dreaming of her future husband. offerings that in ancient times were lovingly
To frighten away countryfolk
evil spirits, prepared for the dead.
in Ireland, Scotland, and the north of Eng-
land dressed in robes and masks, a custom
known as guising, before venturing out of In a nineteenth-century engraving (right) of a
doors. Irish guisers often trooped from farm Samhain ritual, a Celtic priest harvests mistle-
to farm demanding edible tributes to Muck toe from a tree to keep ghosts at bay.

28 OCTOBER 29 October 30 OCTOBER 31 OCTOBER

lislahcn Utilities. Today is the feast 4 dream fulfilled. On this date in 1929, A Martian invasion. Long before the Death of a magician, on this date in
day of Saints Simon and lude, two the devastating stock market crash UFO sightings of the post-World 1 926, stage magician Harry Hou-
of Christ's apostles who have been described in the headlines below War 11 era, a radio play based on dini (shown below vjith rabbits and
incorrectly identified with Christian ushered in the Great Depression — H C. Wells's novel War of the birds used in his act) died of perito-
villains of similar names People and fulfilled a prophecy by Ameri- Worlds and produced by Orson Although the legendary escape
nitis.

often linked Simon with Simeon
known in Italy as a goblin and
lude with the traitor Judas The
proximity of their feast to All Souls'
Day contributed to the mislaid
diabolical associations. Yearly rains
on the saints' day are thought to
have altered history by interfering
with well-laid plans.
— can seer Edgar Cayce. That March, Welles (below) created panic on this and conjurer was a skeptic
artist
— a stockbroker had asked Cayce to date in 1938. Fleeing listeners, who had exposed several fraudulent
interpret a dream in which a bull convinced that Martians had invad- mediums, he had promised his
followed a woman in a red dress. ed New Jersey, had to be coaxed wife, Bess, that if his spirit survived
Cayce said the red dress meant into returning home. death he would try to send her a
danger for the rising, or "bullish, message in their secret code. Bess
market and predicted a "great attended seances for many years in
"
disturbance in financial circles. hopes of receiving the message,
which never came.

1 *JL 5"*5 n'E^J-StrS — rr; Rocks Markets.

—.r^L . •-» «— " j, in. r- TT. . ,~

_-* M0OJB00
»***
All Mills' Bay. In AD 835, the Catholic 411 $Mb' My. Having honored the lull Alllll Festival. At about this time llSdltf Mill II Brilall. The children of
church proclaimed this All Saints' souls already in heaven on Novem- each autumn, the Inuit people of England once enjoyed "lawless <

Day. a time to commemorate the
holy men and women who had
passed on to their heavenly re-
wards As centuries passed, howev-
er, the day never shed completely
its identification with the pagan
festivals that had preceded it
fires blazed to light the souls
of the
dead toward hea\'en. and church
a safeguard against
bells tolled as
ber I. Catholics dedicate this day to
the memory of those who haw
yet attained a place with their
er On All Souls' Day. Catholics
around the world attend church,
pray, and visit the graves of loved
Bon- ones. In parts of England, children
go "souling" from house to house,
asking for the small soul cakes that
are traditionally set out for the
North America observe holiday
not festivities culminating in a tug-
Mak- of-war competition with mystical
implications. Two teams take their
places at opposite ends of a seal-
skin rope: the Ducks, who were
born in summer, and the Ptarmi-
gans, who were born in winter.
According to tradition, the outcome
forecasts the weather The winter
nights" on May Eve and Halloween.
In the Puritan seventeenth century,
however, this tradition was moved
to the eve of Guy Fawkes Day, in
honor of a historical mischief-
maker who was convicted of plot-
ting to kill the king and blow up the
Parliament building. Called Mischief
Night, the evening became an occa-
sion for cheerful pranks, such as <

evil. Spanish-speaking countries,

In
the feast came to be called the Day
of the Dead Families remembered
their departed by strewing the
graves with mangold petals /above)
and offering fax'ohte foods
dead. In Sicily, children leave their will be mild if the Ducks are victori- taking gates off their hinges and
shoes outside the windows and ous, but the season will be harsh if smashing bottles outside the win-
doors, hoping that the souls of the Ptarmigans prevail. The contest dows of nervous householders.
departed family members will fill is said to represent the struggle Historians see in this custom rem-
them with candy and toys. between light and darkness nants of a pagan festival honoring
the Lord of Death.

98
 The Nary Celestes Mysterious Voyage

On November 7, 1872, the American cargo found wallowing, only slightly damaged,
vessel Mary Celeste set sail from New York midway between the Azores and Portugal in
City for Genoa, Italy, bearing 1,700 barrels of the North Atlantic. The captain, Benjamin
raw alcohol. A month later, the ship was Spooner Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and their
two-year-old daughter, Sophia, were miss-
ing, along with the crew of seven men.
The fate of the Mary Celeste's passengers
and crew has never been resolved, although
for a time investigators suspected a mutiny.
Indeed, the lifeboat was gone, and the ship's
instruments were missing or broken. Howev-
er, sea chests belonging to the crew were
still on board, and the skipper was reportedly

well liked by his men. Some people have

blamed the disappearances on the Bermu-
da Triangle phenomenon, which is said
to wreak havoc with navigational
instruments and which has
_ - beencited as the cause of
many mysterious vanishings off
the eastern coast of the United States.

Tuniinj Ike Devil's Boulder, under an old According to James

The birth Of Noah. \ Ship Vanishes. See above. An allempl on Aider's on this date in
life,

oak tree in the Devon village of —

Ussher a seventeenth-century 1939, a bomb wrecked the speak-
Shebbear, England, lies a large archbishop in Ireland who pub- er'splatform of a beer hall in Mu-
reddish rock known as the Devil's lished what he believed to be an nich minutes after Adolf Hitler had
Boulder According to local folklore, accurate chronology of biblical departed the area. Six days earlier,
the devil long ago flung this one- —
events this day marked the birth Swiss astrologer Karl Ernst Krafft
ton rock into the village square. of Noah, the man chosen by God to had warned of unusual peril to the
And every year on this same repopulate the earth in the after- German leader in the week to
evening, young men gather to fulfill math of the great Flood follow. Security men investigat-
a centuries-old custom. Heaving ed Krafft as a possible accom-
and prying with poles and crowbars 'ice bombing, but
in the
' (above), they turn the boulder, they later found it prudent
moving it slightly, and thereby to hire him to chart the
reinvoke the magic that brings future for the Nazi party
them peace and prosperity.

99
 The Day of (he Fairies

Each November, the people of ancient Ire- the villains usually deposited a fairy change-
land observed Lunantishees, a day given ling in place of the missing child. The Irish
over to the celebration of fairies. Little is also believed that every family or clan had its

known about the festivities that marked this own private banshee, an ancestral ghost
occasion, but it is clear from the stories that who could be heard weeping on the days
survive that fairies loomed large in the Irish leading up to a death in the family.
folklore, as they do in the customs and be- Beliefs about fairies have been equally t

liefs of many other cultures as well. Tradi- diverse in places outside Ireland. In Czecho/
tions involving fairies and woodland nymphs Slovakia, for example, chance meetings with
are deeply rooted in the history of religion wood nymphs or banshees were thought
and mythology. to bring peril of madness. In Scotland
The fairies of old were plentiful and won- fairies were regarded more kindly: They
drously varied in their attributes. Their race were daoine sithe, or "men of peace."
included brownies, goblins, mermaids, lepre- But even these gentle souls were
chauns, pixies, elves, flower sprites, bogey- often kidnapped by the devil in
men, and gnomes. In some
light-hating Highland lore. English tradition
stories the fairies were but a few inches tall; held that the fairy world was not
in others they were imposing creatures of inaccessible to humans. It was
larger-than-human stature. Although these believed that if two
elusive beings differed greatly in appearance, people chanced to
most of them wore green — the better to step together into a
conceal themselves in the woods. fairy ring —
a round
In general, Irish fairies have been charac- patch of bright green
terized as mischievous rather than malicious, —
grass the entire fairy
but a few have been accused of such evil universe would be reji
acts as stealing human babies. In those tales, dered visible to them

NOVEMBER 10 November

Loy KralktlJ. On this day in Thailand, DttCantS tfrCM. On this night in HirlllBiS. Citizens of ancient Greece Ihf Hailian Yarn Festival. When the yam
people fashion tiny boats, called 1619, French mathematician Rene and Rome observed the feast of crop ready to be harvested, the
is

krathongs. from banana and lotus Descartes was disturbed by a vivid Vinalia on this day, honoring Bac- farmers of Haiti honor their ances-
leaves.When nightfalls, they load dream in which he perceived that chus, the god of wine. By medieval tors who brought yams from Africa
the boats with candles, incense, science and philosophy should be times, the Catholic church had to the West Indies. As part of their

coins, and gardenia flowers, then one and the same. In the course of tamed the feast to some extent by observances, the Haitians seek
setthem adrift on a river, making his lifetime, he would cement his drawing it into the Christian calen- good fortune for the next year's
wishes as the vessels drift away. reputation by developing a rational, dar. Since that time, the day has crop by offering bowls of cut-up
Tradition holds that if the candle in scientific approach to philosophy. been called Martinmas in honor of yams to their forebears, starting
a krathong stays lit until the boat is Saint Martin, patron of vintners and with those relatives who have died
out of sight, the wish will come tavern keepers. Tradition teaches most recently. Offerings are then
true. In Thailand's larger cities this that the weather on this day pro- made to the household gods before
practice is carried out as part of an vides a clue to the harshness of the the yams are thrown into a pot,
elaborate river festival (below). coming winter: A bright and sunny cooked with fish, and eaten.
Martinmas bodes for icy weather,
but frost before this date means a
•
mild winter ahead.
t •

An Indian girl decorates a courtyard floor

with a kolam, a ritual design painted In
rice paste and earth pigment. Such deco-
rations are thought to bring good fortune
during the annual festival called Dtwall.

[ ft

Ml

13 NOVEMBER 14 NOVEMBER

A jreal dttr simr. on the night of Rilual demands. Among the Alaskan Seven-FIVt-Three.For the annual festival DiWall. Each year at about this time
mNovember people
13, 1866, day marks the start
Inuit tribes, this ofShichi-Go-San in Japan, children the people of India celebrate Diwali,
throughout Europe witnessed a of the Asking Festival, an annual who have attained their seventh, the Festival of Lights. This vibrant
dazzling meteor shower. "The sharing of the wealth. On the first fifth, or third birthdays follow their five-day event marks the Hindu
heavens seemed alive, " wrote a night, youths go door to door solic- parents to a Shinto shrine to offer New Year and is considered an
reporter for the Times of London iting for food for a huge community thanks for their continued good auspicious time to honor Lakshmi,
"It seemed as if a mighty wind had feast. The next night, everyone health. At the end of the ceremony, goddess of wealth and prosperity.
caught the old stars, loosed them gathers to ask one another for gifts the priests drop "thousand-year" To ensure that Lakshmi will feel
from their holdings, and swept of personal property. It is consid- candies into the chil- welcome in their homes, celebrants
them across the firmament " Al- ered bad manners to refuse a re- dren 's bags, which scrub their houses and light an
though the journalist who made quest, so at the end of the evening have been decorated array of candles.
Athese observations understood the people go home laden with their with good luck
natural phenomenon that had neighbors possessions.
' signs (below).
caused the display, some of his
contemporaries were firmly con-
vinced that the meteors were trans-
port for celestial visitors.
 A Past Life Revealed

On a November night in 1952, Virginia

Tighe, a twenty-nine-year-old mother of
three in Pueblo, Colorado, was under hypno-
sis for an experiment in regression when she
declared that she had lived in Ireland more
than a century earlier as Bridget "Bridey"
Murphy. Her hypnotist, Morey Bernstein,
induced further trances at later dates in
which Tighe described nineteenth-century
Irish life in remarkable detail. She named
shops she allegedly had frequented in Belfast
and used colloquial terms for everyday
items, such as "platters" for potato cakes.
Questioned under trance about the long
interval that passed between her two lives,
she told of being in "a place of waiting
where everybody waits," until she "passed
into another existence."
Tighe had apparently never visited Ire-
land, and Bernstein professed to be equally
lacking in knowledge of that country. Inves-
tigators later corroborated much of what
Tighe had revealed under hypnosis, making
hers one of the most tantalizingly believ-
able tales of reincarnation. J^L

NOVEMBER

Srndlnj IkC WlllCT irGS. On the first day A Ilikf-MieiYeMf UN. On this night in lahdhlkl. At about this time each

of the tenth month of the Chinese 1 an air force pilot /lying over
948, November, the native people of * I

—
calendar around mid-November Andrews Air Force Base in Mary- Hawaii mark the start of their har-
by Western lights—families in some land spotted a glowing white object vest season, Makahiki. Rituals and
parts of China observe the last of crossing the sky He turned to in- celebrations commence when the
three yearly festivals of death. Fol- vestigate but found that the object cluster of stars called the Pleiades
lowing the ancient belief that the swerved abruptly away. A series of becomes visible, inching its way
dead need protection from the chill dogfight twists and turns ensued in along the horizon. According to
of winter, they make paper gar- which the pilot attempted to put the tradition, war is forbidden during
ments and pack them along with a object between his craft and the this season, and special reverence is

little money in parcels labeled with lightof nearby Washington, DC due to the god Lono.
the recipients' names The parcels With every attempt, however, the
are "delivered" through burning, UFO evaded him, showing remark-
which symbolically sends them to able maneuverability. Ultimately,
the world of the ancestors. the UFO escaped, but witnesses on
the ground corroborated the pilot's
description of a wingless, oval
object with a solitary light.

102
 November 22-
Sagittarius:

December 20
The period of the astrological year that falls
under the sign of Sagittarius begins on No-
vember 22 and runs through December 20.
The symbol of this ninth sign of the zodiac is
the Sagittarian Centaur, an archer who is
half man, half horse. The Centaur represents
the harmonious union of the physical and
spiritual components of human beings. Sag-
ittarians, astrologers say, have the potential
to meld the two elements
People born under the sign are said to be
idealistic, optimistic, and enthusiastic. Ruled
by Jupiter, they take on the confidence and
sense of justice of that Roman king of the
gods. Insatiably curious, Sagittarians detest
sameness, constantly questing after new
experiences Their zodiacal sign is thought to
rule the hips and thighs —parts of the body
essential to movement—and astrologers say
that Sagittarians walk the globe driven by an
insatiable wanderlust. If they are not free to
roam, they often turn inward, plumbing the
depths of their imaginations. In either case, With boundless zeal and sanguine
their they tend toward exaggeration, carelessness,
however, the journey itself usually proves outlook, Sagittariansmay launch into more and tactlessness. Famous Sagittarians in-
more fulfilling than the destination, which projects than they can finish. And, in their clude singer Frank Sinatra, cinematographer
frequently disappoints them. well-meaning but blundering expansiveness, Woody Allen, and actress Jane Fonda.

21 NOVEMBER 22 NOVEMBER 23 NOVEMBER 24 NOVEMBER

\ Hd'S lllial TlSll. Every year at
time, a Mayan festival lasting sever-
al days culminated in the anticipat-
ed descent from heaven by the god
Kukulcan. By way of preparation,
the Mayans fasted, burned incense,
this 4 predicted assassination, on November
22, 1963, President John Fitzgerald
Kennedy was assassinated on a
Texas Six months
street in Dallas,
earlier, American astrologer Leslie
Mclntyre had warned in a maga-
The lesdVal Ol smiths. On this day, the Good luck rakes. In late November,
people of England remember Saint Japan celebrates Ton-No-lchi and
Clement, who was martyred by begins preparations for New Year. A
drowning, having been tied to an token of this festival is the kumade
anchor. He thus became the patron (below), a bamboo rake adorned
of ironworkers, who marked his with good luck symbols to help its

made offerings offood,
banners of colored feath-
brilliant
ers.But on the day of the deiy's
supposed arrival, pious work gave
way to joyful merrymaking.
and created zine article that certain astrological day with elaborate rituals. Histori- bearer "rake in" good fortune
configurations indicated "personal ans believe that the feast
danger to our head of State" at probably falls on the date
about this date. of a much earlier rite for
the wizard-blacksmith
of the Saxon gods.

103
 "

\& (I AqiarllS ktfllS. By late Novem- BiUh InlfilliM rile. Each autumn at Gijeswarl lain On the tenth day of the Birth 91 William BlakC. The great English 4^ i„

ber in 1967, the cast of the newly
opened rock musical Hair was
proclaiming to packed houses the
"dawning of the Age of Aquarius "
A new era of peace, understanding,
and happiness had been projected
by many astrologers.
about this time, fifteen-year-old
boys in the Basari villages of Sene-
welcomed to
gal are ceremonially
manhood. Before making this pas-
sage, the youths undergo many
months of preparation and various
tests of their ingenuity and adapt-
ability. At one point, they must fend
for themselves for several days in
the bush without provisions carried
waning moon November or
in late poet, painter, engraver, and mystic
early December, Buddhists and William Blake was born on this day
Hindus of Nepal hold an annual in 1757. Blake declared that he was
honor of the powerful
festival in always guided in his work by un-
mother goddess Gujeswari. All day seen spirits who "dictated" to him
long, devotees bring offerings to the the contents of his poetry. Of his
temple of the deity, which was built visionary poem Milton, he said, "I
around an ancient spring in the may praise it, since I dare not pre-
Katmandu Valley There they pray tend to be other than the Secretary,
before the kalash, a sacred water the Authors are in Eternity. " He 4

from home. They must also observe vessel made of red clay. In the rejected the rationalism and materi-
a month of total silence, while evening, celebrants cany a copy of alism of his century, arguing that
going about their business in the the kalash in a musical procession truth could be found only in the
villages. When the time for adult- that winds its way through the imagination. "To me, " he said,
hood arrives, however, they can neighboring towns. "this world is all one continued
sing, dance, and show off their vision offancy or imagination.
strength among the other men in
their communities.

104
1
 Patron Sainl of Scotland—and Love

The Roman Catholic church designated No-

vember 30 as the feast of Saint Andrew,
who— like his brother Peter—was a fisher-
man and one of the original Twelve Apos-
Andrew was said to have been crucified
tles.
inGreece on an X-shaped cross like the one
shown here. Somehow he supposedly was
buried in Scotland and became the patron
saint of that realm. To this day, the feast is
celebrated there with parades and local fairs.
Andrew was renowned for his gentle and
loving manner, so it was perhaps not sur-
prising when traditions arose that made
Saint Andrew's Day into a special time for
love omens and charms. In Czechoslovakia,
young women performed a ritual in which
they pulled sticks at random out of their
woodpiles. A crooked stick, custom dictated,
forecast marriage to a hunchback; a straight
one promised a husband who was slim and
tall. In Hungary, the favored method for

divining one's mate was to pour melted lead

through the handle of a key and catch it in a
glass of water. The shape assumed by the
cooling metal would supposedly reveal the
occupation of the husband-to-be.

30 NOVEMBER

Jf Vaaplrc Nlgkl. On t/i;s night in Ruma- PrlCSl and WilCtl? In November 1634,
nia, stngoii,or vampires, are said to Father Urbain Crandier, a sexually
rise from their tombs and seek out and politically indiscreet French
their former homes. Women hang cleric, was arrested on trumped-up
garlic on doors and windows to charges of bewitching a whole
keep out the evil beings If the convent of nuns. The evidence
vampires fail to find unprotected —
against him a letter purportedly
victims, some say, they fight among signed by demons was clearly a —
themselves before returning to their forgery, but the priest's enemies
graves for another year. saw to it that he was burned alive
 Heralding (he New Year
"Man," wrote British classical

scholar Gilbert Murray, "longs for a new life, a new age,

with young gods, not -
stained by the deaths and impuri-
ties of the past." Since earli- est times, people have sought to

satisfy this deep-rooted yearning for re-creation by celebrating the New Year.
Observed on varying dates in different lands, New Year festivals mark the
pivotal point where time is deemed to begin anew, and the world and individ-

uals alike can emerge pure and pristine — if the proper steps are taken.
First, celebrants must banish the past's malicious spirits and accumulat-

lh a swirling blur of vibrant colors, Buddhist monks expel the sinister spirits of the past with their Black Hat Dance. Masks, such as that of the skull-
 ed evils to prevent their infecting the coming year. Next come rites of purifi-
cation, followed by positive acts to ensure an auspicious future. Sometimes
participants are unaware they are following ancient mystical practices: Few
Westerners, for instance, realize that their New Year horns and fireworks
were once meant to drive away evil spirits.

But some old rituals survive in their full significance. An example is

Tibetan Buddhism's new year, known as Losar, a five-day festival that often
The vigor of that celebration evidence that such Tibetan men sound huge horns to scare evil
falls in early February. is
away from the new year (above). Indoors, houses
annual rites of renewal still have a powerful grip on human feelings. are swept to rid them of dust-lurking demons.

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festooned god Mahakala (top), are often worn during this dramatic Losar ritual —a reenactment of the conflict between good and evil.
Sporting yellow coxcomb hats worn for religious festivals, Tibetan
monks in India erect an ornate wooden model crowned with a skull-
like head on which they will confer the sins and evils of the past year.
When this sacrificial object is later set ablaze during the purification
ceremonies of Losar, the faithful believe their faults are burned up
with the effigy, enabling them to enter the new year untarnished.

"Victory to the gods," shout Losar celebrants as they hurl fistfuls

of powdered grain known as tsampa into the air, a purifying ritual
thought to cast away evil and attract good luck. In some Tibetan
households during Losar, family members are rubbed with a ball of
tsampa dough. According to tradition, the dough ball extracts any
troubling physical or spiritual pains or ailments, so that the person
being rubbed can begin the new year with a clean bill of health.
 a Losar ceremony intended
In
topromote good fortune in the
coming year, Tibetan Buddhist
monks living in India splash
white barley beer known as
chang into overflowing chalices
as an offering to the gods. Cele-
brants believe another means
of securing an auspicious fu-
ture is drinking directly from a
—
source of water a river, lake,
—
spring, or pond at sunrise on
the first day of the new year. At
home, Tibetans drink warm
chang to celebrate Losar, an-
other custom that is thought to
draw favor to the infant year.

A smiling monk distributes

strips of cloth blessed by the
—
Dalai Lama the holy leader of
—
Tibetan Buddhism to an eager
crowd of the faithful during
Losar festivities. Because the
sacred scraps are thought to
bring good luck, many Tibetans
wear them around their necks
or display them in their homes
for the rest of the year. Marking
the front door with a swastika,
the ancient mystical sign of
luck and eternity, is another
tradition believed to lure favor-
able fortune to one's house as
the new year commences.
Above the glowering eyes of the Bodhanath stupa, an ancient
Buddhist shrine in Nepal, banners printed with prayers in praise of
the gods dance in the wind, which is believed to carry the messages
to heaven. Every year near the end ofLosar, Buddhists replace
the prayer flags that stream from temples, houses, and even trees
throughout their lands. Offering a prayer flag at this time is thought
to ensure a propitious year for the donor and the donor's family.
 Winter
Winter in the northern lands is a season of contradictions —a fact reflected
in the unusually varied festivals and mystic happenings illustrated in the

pages that follow. While the last dead leaves cling to windblown branches,
life stirs anew in seeds under the frozen earth; with nights at their longest,
the sun begins its slow but inevitable return. And, as the season wears on,
the tedium of chill and damp gives way to joy at the turning of the year

Turquoise is December's toward warmth and light.

talisman. Legend tells In ages past, people escaped winter storms to warm themselves by
that the stone protects
one from injury in a fall smoky fires, listening to the sagas of heroes, gods, and other uncanny be-
by attracting the force of ings. Winter itself became a storm god, or a series of ice and snow spirits,
the impact to itself.
while the sparkling ice transmuted into fierce Norse frost giants and other
frost spirits. In northerly climes, such spirits were feared and respected, hon-
ored with regular sacrifices to protect livestock and early plantings.
Still more fearsome entities —ghosts and evil spirits— have traditionally
found the dim chill of winter a congenial time to stalk the earth; appeasing
them or driving them away has been an important aspect of winter festivals

since the time of ancient Greece. Many Chinese winter ritualscommemo-

January's birthstone is rate the dead, as does the European assumption that family ghosts may re-
the garnet, a symbol of
turn on Christmas Eve.
constancy. Worn to a
wedding, it is said to For all the attention to the dead, however, some winter holidays cele-
attract a husband; as a
brate the impending return of life with feasts and revelry that are unmatched
gift, it wins the affection

of the recipient in other seasons. In the fourth century, a Greek writer named Libanius de-
scribed the city of Antioch's winter festival in terms reminiscent of a modern
Christmas. "There is food everywhere, heavy, rich food, and laughter. A pos-
itive urge to spend seizes on everyone," he wrote. "The streets are full of
people and coaches, staggering under the load of gifts. Children are free of
the dread of their teachers, and for slaves the festival is as good as a holi-
day." The joyous mood of that ancient Greek feast time appears in winter

Amethyst is special to the festivals the world over, from the colorful dragon floats of the Chinese New
month of February The de
Year parades to the extravagant costumes of Carnival dancers in Rio
ancients believed that
the purple stone prevent- Janeiro. Such rites offer continuing proof that not even winter's gloom can
ed intoxication and
guarded against poison,
quench the human spirit or obscure the certain knowledge that spring and
pain, and plague. new life will one day reappear.

113
Advent—Making Ready for Christmas
Advent, the season of the Christian
first
ecclesiastical year, contains the fourSundays
immediately preceding Christmas, tradition-
ally represented by the four candles on
wreaths like the one above. In past times, it
was observed with great austerities: Fasting
was ordained, church organs remained silent
for the first two Sundays, and marriages
were prohibited throughout the period.
Folk customs did not always match the
Church's severity. In Rome, the last days of
Advent were celebrated by Calabrian piffe-
rari, bagpipers who swarmed through the
city, playing at shrines of the Virgin Mary.
Their music was meant to recall that of the
shepherds who, according to tradition, visit-
ed the baby Jesus and played such pipes.
During Advent in Normandy, farmers sent
their children, armed with flaming torches, to
drive away pests. Only children younger than
twelve were believed innocent enough to
perform this service, which involved setting
fire to bundles of hay, lighting piles of straw
placed under trees, and chanting to banish
mice, caterpillars, and moles.
In other regions. Advent was a time for a
girl to divine the name of her future hus-
band. Taking a number of onions, she carved
on each the name of a fancied spouse, then
placed the onions near the fire. The name
engraved on whichever onion sprouted first
was the boy she would marry.
Poor women in some parts of England
carried a pair of dolls during the last week in
I Advent, one dressed as Jesus and one as
Mary. Everyone to whom they showed the
dolls was expected to contribute a halfpenny,
or risk a dose of bad luck.
114
 "

4 DECEMBER 5 DECEMBER

# Wkirlllg ll prijwr. At about this time Riles lor the Good Goddess, on this day, Theosophy meets (be arts, wassily Kan- Flight 19 disappears. On this day in

ofyear, Turkey celebrates a festival the vestal virgins of ancient Rome dinsky was born on this date in 1945, fourteen crew members in

of whirling dervishes, Sufi mystics conducted secret ceremonies, from 1866. An influential modern paint- five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers like
like the one shown above who which males were barred, for Bona er, the Russian Kandinsky blended the ones shown below took offfrom
open themselves to the Divine with Dea, the Good Goddess. When a the mysticism of Rudolf Steiner, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a
their spinning dances. rash young man named Publius Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and training flight; none were heard
Clodius tricked Julius Caesar's wife Annie Besant into a new theory from again. Some investigators
•age I* at anclcnl tree. Around this Pompeia into allowing him near the of painting that incorporated speculated the crew members were
dale, Buddhist pilgrims pay their ceremony in 61 BC, his discovery "thought vibrations" and "spiritual victims of the Bermuda Triangle.
respects to the world's oldest docu- caused a great scandal. Tradition atmosphere" in ways that only Others believed them snapped up
mented tree (below, behind fence), has it that Caesar divorced Pompeia those who were spiritually initiated by a UFO. In May 1991, treasure
planted in 288 BC as an offshoot of at once, not because he thought her could fully understand. hunters using sonar discovered five
the tree under which the Buddha guilty but because "Caesar's wife Avengers on the seabed several
attained enlightenment. must be above suspicion. miles off the Florida coast, but
further investigation showed they
were not the missing planes.

115
 :

In this ivory carving, hunters arrive at a hole in the ice with the
bladders of sea mammals dangling from poles. They stab and
sink the organs, thereby allegedly freeing the animals' spirits.

6 DECEMBER

Tit erlilMl Saila tins. Nicholas a Rtyal Mr HtCt spirit. On December 7. A Wddftt S Mill day. Japanese Shin- An America! Ilrsl. On this day in 1 792,
fourth century bishop in Turkey 1918. LI David McConnell left toists celebrate the birth of their sun the first formal cremation of a colo-
reportedly sawed three girls from Scampton. England, to ferry a plane goddess, Amaterasu (below), on this nial American —statesman Henry
being sold into slavery by their to a nearby base Shortly before day. According to ancient mytholo- Laurens — took place in South Caro-
destitute father He anonymously 3:30 pm.. his roommate. U Lar- gy, the goddess dwells in a heaven- lina Today, cremation is still the
gave them three bags of gold, thus km. heard McConnell say. "Hullo. ly realm much like japan But there exception in much of the Western
enabling them to marry honorably boy!" and looked up to see him at is little harmony in her blessed land world, most likely because of an old
Because legend says he also the door "Back already*" Larkin because she does not get along taboo. Early Christians associated
brought back to life three murdered asked "Yes." McConnell said, "had with her brother, the moon god, the act with paganism and feared itdjt

schoolboys, he is considered a a good trip " He left Minutes later who also lives there The feuding might impede resurrection and
patron ofyouth. This day of his another officer came by, seeking pair sit with their backs to each eternal life. In Great Britain, howev-
death is remembered in many Eu- McConnell; Larkin said he had just other, creating, say the Shintoists, er, more than half those who die
ropean countries as Saint Nicholas left the room. They later learned the division between night and day are now cremated.
h festivals (above) in which McConnell had died in a crash sixty
children receive gifts in accord with miles away at 3:25 p.m. around —
their behavior during the year. the time Larkin spoke with him
Through a Dutch abbreviation, The case became noted for the
Sinterklaas, he became Santa veracity of the witnesses
Claus, the jolly benefactor who
brings Christmas gifts to children.
 Rites oi fhe Arctic Night
Among Inuit of the far north, hunters idled
by the prolonged darkness of the Arctic
winter traditionally held December ceremo-
nies to propitiate the souls of the animals
they had killed in the preceding year. At
Saint Michael in Alaska, in a common build-
ing called the kashim, hunters would under-
a go five days of purification rites involving the
inflated bladders of all the animals they had
killed that year —
seals, whales, walruses, and
DECEMBER
Tlr Bladder Festival, see above.
Guadalupe's Holy Protector
In 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared
lupe, near Mexico a woodcutter
City, to
named Juan Diego, an Indian convert to
Catholicism. She asked him to tell the bishop
of Mexico City to build a shrine on that spot,
so she could protect the poor Indians of the
land. When the bishop asked for proof, the
Virgin appeared again to Juan Diego, bidding
him fill his rough blanket with roses he
would find growing out of season. When he
opened the flower-laden blanket before the
polar bears. At the end of the five days, un-
der the full moon, the men would cut a hole
in the sea ice about a quarter mile from
shore and the next day would thrust the
consecrated bladders into the frigid water.
On returning to the village, they would be
greeted by all the people around a bonfire.
After the men had leaped through the flame,
they would return to the kashim for a
sweat bath and contests of strength.
final
11 DECEMBER 12 DECEMBER
A Idle U
1 I IriO ill omens. On this day in fire and Water. The Zoroastrian festival the dark of winter
Sainf Luela'S Day. In
1825, Russian poet Alexander ofSada is celebrated in Iran at in Sweden, this day is celebrated
Pushkin had planned to visit some about this time with a huge bonfire as a festival of light. (The saint's
friends in Saint Petersburg. As he built near a body of water. Kindled name is derived from the Latin
made ready however, first
to go, as the sun sets, the blaze represents word for light.) The eldest daughter
one rabbit, then another scooted the victories of light over darkness of each family, dressed in white and
across his path. The animals por- and of good over evil. crowned with pine twigs festooned
tended bad luck, Pushkin believed, with candles (above), brings coffee
but he was reluctant to cancel his to her parents in bed. She is later
trip. He headed out of town, only to accorded a place of honor at break-
have a black-clad priest cross in fast in a brightly lit room.
front of his carriage —a third fore-
boding of doom. Frightened, Push-
kin turned for home,and he later
learned that two of the friends he
had intended to visit had been
hanged m a political upheaval.
bishop on December 12, an
image of the Virgin appeared
on it. The bishop had a chapel
in Guada- built, and the blanket picture
has hung there since, except
during a flood in 1629, when
the archbishop took a boat to
the church and brought the
picture back to his cathedral.
The end of the flood was credit-
ed to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Today worshipers flock to the
chapel (right) on the anniversary
of the picture's appearance.
117
 «

14 DECEMBER 15 DECEMBER

Hopl rllCS Ol WlnlCT. The Hopi of what is TbC YnleiHC UdS. These mischief mak- lirdih ol Hlldejard ol Blnjrn m 1 1 79,
now the southwestern United States ers are thirteen impish creatures after a long of visions and faith
life

celebrate the return of life to the
world with Soyal. a month-long
ceremony beginning on the new
moon before the shortest day of the
year. The major rites, usually eight
days before the solstice, include a
celebration of creation and rebirth
dedicated to Spider Woman and
Hawk Maiden. To ensure the return
of the sun, a failed mock attack is
made against the holder of a sun
shield like the one below, dramatiz-
ing the sun's eventual victory over
winter darkness
who visit Icelandic homes, one healing, Hildegard of Bingen, de-
each day from December 12 picted in the medieval illumination
through Christmas Eve. Descend- above, died in her cloister at Ru-
ants ofOryla the Ogre in Icelandic pertsberg in Germany She had
mythology, the Lads were once cured and counseled pilgrims from
considered cannibals, but they are across Europe, and on the night
now viewed more benignly as gift- she died, the stars were said to
bearing spirits friendly to children have formed a cross, a sign that the
Their remaining tendency to mis- heavens accepted her gladly
chief, however, is reflected in the
Lads' individual names, which
range from Sausage Sniffer and Pot
Scraper to Window Peeper.

118
 Capricorn: December 21-January 19
Capricorn begins on the first day of winter,
as life is enmeshed in a struggle for survival.
Ruled by Saturn, the planet of rationality,
and Uranus, the planet of will power, natives
of Capricorn tend to a cool detachment that
allows a supremely logical view of reality.
Capricorn's totem is the goat, an animal
that may be domesticated and tethered, or
may roam freely on mountain peaks. Natives
of the sign who feel shackled by responsibili-
ty are aloof and austere plodders, flawlessly
reliable but seldom cheerful. Capricorns who
blaze their own trails, however, cultivate a
resiliency and black humor that help them
f achieve their goals.
Capricorns have plenty of ambition, as
well as great powers of concentration that
allow them to keep their eyes on long-term
success despite the distraction of brilliant
fleeting victories. Obstacles never deter
them, at worst only slowing their climb:
Stubborn as their animal totem, Capricorns
are willing to suffer privation and sacrifice as
they follow their dreams.
Those born under this sign risk isolating
themselves from others because of their
solitary nature, and they may end up reach-
ing the pinnacles of success only to find
themselves alone. Ultimately, however, their
attitude toward other human beings is often
one of indifference. Somewhat dispassionate
in their relationships, they may disappoint
lovers who seek caring interaction. And
although they command the respect of their
peers, they rarely inspire affection.
Celebrated Capricorns include actress
Mary Tyler Moore, boxer Muhammad Ali,
but and singer David Bowie.

V_

I O DECEMBER 19.™. mn3 DECEMBER m1 December

Greeting It tear irolners. in traditional TbC JjOddfSS Oi SUCCeSS. On the third day Halcyon days. Contrary to the season's The sun enters fhe sign oi Capricorn.

Latvian homes, this winter festival of the Saturnalia, Romans celebrat- typical blustery weather, the weeks See above.
hails the return of light and the ed Opalia, in honor of Ops, the wife before and after the winter sol-
birth of God, called Diev The her- of Saturn and the goddess offertili- —a period known as the halcy-
stice
alds of the solstice are the Four ty and success. on days —are supposed be calmto
Brothers Ziemassvetki, celestial and tranquil. The name is derived
beings bearing gifts Latvians deco- from the legendary halcyon, a bird
rate their houses gaily in prepara- sometimes identified with the king-
tion for Ziemassvetki and lay in fisher,which the ancients believed
many different kinds offood for on the ocean, bearing
built its nest
the feasts that accompany the its young in the winter. To preserve

four-day celebration the brood from the severity of the

season, the halcyon was said to
calm wind and waves with its song.

When Slaves Became Their Masters' Masters

In ancient Roman
times, people put away
work and war a brief time every Decem-
for
ber during Saturnalia, a week-long festival
honoring the god Saturn (left). Because the
autumn plowing and sowing were done,
bringing the year's agricultural work to a
close, countryfolk were particularly joyous
during Saturnalia. Even in the city, howev-
er, Saturnalia was a period of complete
relaxation and uninhibited merrymaking.
No public business could be transacted, courts who Some have specu-
issued comic orders.
and schools were closed, wars were suspend- lated that this figuremay have been the relic
ed, and all feuds were held in abeyance. of a darker ceremony in which a young man
Throughout this period between the death was selected to rule briefly in the king's
of the old year and the birth of the new, a stead, only to be sacrificed on an altar at the
kind of chaos reigned. Slaves wore their winter solstice to ensure the return of spring.
masters' clothes and sat at their tables; mas- In Rome itself, another symbolic act the —
ters waited upon slaves, who could berate exchange of special wax tapers called cerei —
them as they wished. In the eastern prov- was believed to ensure the return of light
ince, lots were cast to choose a mock king after the winter solstice.
 ——

The Many Faces oi Christmas

Although it now celebrates the birth of Jesu:

Christmas has its roots in holidays far more
ancient and retains strong traces of pagan
festivals incorporated as Christianity spread:.
across Europe and the world. Before the
fourth century, December 25 in Rome was
the date of the Mithraic Dies Natalis Invicti
Solis — Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The
cult of Mithras was the leading competitor to
Christianity in Rome; followers of Mithras
who is shown at far right sacrificing a bull
god with the sun and his
identified their
birthday with the winter solstice. The early
Church converted the birthday into one more
suitable for Christians to celebrate.
Dies Natalis Invicti Solis was a purely
religious holiday, more important to priests
than to the masses. Christmas, however,

22 DECEMBER 23 DECEMBER 24 DECEMBER 25 DECEMBER

Wilier StlSlltt. For ancient farmers, FallTil lor 1 Ovine Ucsl The Kalash, an f hhslmas Eve thOSfS. Like other Europe- Christmas Diy. See above
dependent on the sun for their vay isolated in be in the high valleys of cms, the Finns still associate ghosts
lives, the shortest day of the year, the Hindu Kush. dress in their finest with Christmas Eve, one of the
which occurs at about this time, (below) to celebrateChaomos, a longest nights of the year As
was a day of celebration: Hence- week long festival honoring the shown below, many set out candles
forth, days would grow progressive- demigod Balomain, who counts the at the graves offamily members to
ly longer To ensure that this annu- Kalash each year and carries their light the path of ancestral spirits as
al shift out of cold and darkness did prayers back to Tsiam. their mythi- they make their annual visit home
in fact come to pass, the farmers cal ancestral home
performed ceremonies designed to
induce the sun to return Sympa-
thetic magic played a large role in
these rites and survives in the prac-
ticesof tribal cultures and witches
Dances, chants, sexual license,
elaborate miming, and verbal for-
mulas all had their part Bonfires
were often used to encourage the
sun and to drive off evil.
 soon took on aspects of the Saturnalia festiv- always brought luck to the house
ities, and as Christianity spread, other folk where it was burned.
traditions and pagan rituals found their way Christmas incorporated many
into the celebration. One particularly durable other pagan customs. Holly and ivy,
solstice festival was Jol (Yule), a feast cele- for instance, sacred to the ancient
brated over northern Europe in honor of
all gods Saturn and Dionysus,
—
Jolnir another name for Odin, chief among were believed to have magic
the Norse gods. power against evil. Even the
Since Odin was the god of intoxicating Christmas tree (far left),

drink and ecstasy as well as the god of which came into common
death, Yule customs varied widely. Odin's use only in nineteenth-
sacrificial beer became the specially blessed century Germany, is per-
Christmas beer mentioned in medieval laws; haps a throwback to a
fresh food and drink were left on tables after great tree from
Christmas feasts, to feed roaming Yuletide Norse mytholo
ghosts. Even the bonfires of old survived in gy that was
the tradition of the Yule log, a selected tree named Ygg-
trunk that varied in size and type but that drasil.

2$ DECEMBER 22 DECEMBER 28 DECEMBER 29 DECEMBER

IW» Oil. Bahamians celebrate

rare lays Guarding against poisoners, on this date A gathering ol gods,on Ta chiu, a mraeleollhellghls.H(7nuWca/i, the
the Junkanoo festival on this day is celebrated the Feast of Saint festival of peace and renewal cele- Jewish Festival of Lights, which is
and January I with music, cos- John, who safely drank poisoned brated at about this time, Taoist observed during this period, com-
tumes, and dance. In the era of wine after making the sign of the temples in Hong Kong combine to memorates the rededication of the
slavery, the two Junkanoo days cross over it; some seek protection summon gods and ghosts
all their Temple in Jerusalem after the ex-
were among very few times when against poison by drinking blessed to one place, where people make pulsion of the Syrians in 165 BC.
slaves were not required to work. wine on this day. offerings. At the end of the festival, The Syrians had profaned the Tem-
Their revelry harked back to their priests read a list of names of all ple by erecting heathen altars with-
African origins, and the name of 4 Warrior goddess. The birth of the the people in the area. The list is in. After it was purified and the
the festival may derive from the Norse goddess Freya was celebrated attached to a paper horse and set perpetual flame was relit, only one
French "gens inconnus, " or "the at this time. Often depicted astride a afire, so the names rise to heaven jar of sacred oil remained, enough
unknown, " a possible reference large cat (below), she gathered to with the smoke. for only a single day. But, miracu-
to the elaborately made up and her palace warriors slain in battle. lously, the flame burned for eight
garbed marchers who parade ac- days. Jewish families observe the
companied by the music of drums, eight-day festival of Hanukkah by
bells, whistles, and conch shells lighting one additional candle each
through the predawn darkness. night on a special candelabrum
called a menorah.
30 DECEMBER 31 DECEMBER

4 Slrilft Uirdsa. The offices of a lapaiescitmtn. on the eve of the PanlCkOl IllClltallSlS. Convinced that itiim. This date marks the
Cosmic
British charlatan named Simon new year, straw-clad young men the world was about to end as the birth of Inanna,Sumerian queen of
Format), born on this day in 1552, called Namahage (below) descend first millennium drew to a close, heaven and earth.
consisted of a room for wart read- on the villages of the Oga Peninsula frightened Christians throughout
ing and breast massage, one for in northeastern Japan. Representing Europe gathered to pray for mercy
marital guidance, and one for the spiritsdetermined to drive out mis- on this day in AD 1 000 Some of
practice of magical arts. It was fortune and ensure a rich harvest them even undertook pilgrimages
likely in the last chamber that For- for the coming year, the bellowing to Jerusalem to attend the Second
%
man began his treatment of a demons storm from house to Coming of Christ Life returned to
knight reportedly plagued by house, searching for children, sin- normal, however, when the day
worms in the nose.Convinced that gle women, and young bhdes "Are passed uneventfully.
the parasites were demons in dis- there naughty children here' Does
guise, the doctor administered a the new bride sleep late in the on this day
4i auspicious inaigiraflM.
so-called demomfuge medicine He morning'" the Namahage demand in 1967, Ronald Reagan (below)
then rubbed the knight down with to know. Householders appease the was sworn in as governor of Cali-
heavy stones and. at midnight, demons with sake, and with a final fornia at sixteen minutes past mid-
immersed him headfirst in a stag- outburst, they depart A Namahage —
night a time that some believe was
nant frog pond According to all follower collects donations of mon- chosen for him by an astrologer. «'l
reports, the treatment worked. ey and rice cakes.

:
v;

(
 How January l Became New Years Day
Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians twelve months and to establish a pattern for
proclaimed the start of a new year on the the next twelve through good conduct.
autumnal equinox, September 22, early Friends reconciled their differences, adver-
Greeks observed the occasion first at the saries suspended litigation, and people ex-
winter solstice, December 21, later at the changed visits and gifts.

summer solstice, June 21. It was not until Many of these old Roman customs sur-
153 BC, with the reformation of the Roman vive in Europe and Latin America, overlaid
calendar, that the first day of a new year was with new superstitions. In many places the
observed on January The day and the
1 . person to enter a house on New Year's
first

month were dedicated by the Romans to the Day is thought to determine the luck for the
god Janus (left), commonly shown with two coming year. Bad luck is believed to accom-
faces, one regarding the year gone by and pany a woman, particularly one with fair or
the other looking toward the year upcoming. red hair;tall, dark-haired men are in great

In Rome, the beginning of the new year demand as "first-footers," supposedly bring-
was a time to expunge the ills of the past ing assurance of a happy year to come.

3 JANUARY 4 JANUARY 5 JANUARY 6 JANUARY

Sletplig pripkcl. On this date in 1 945 Homage lo a sic liar ligure. At about this Twelfth Nighl. Twelfth Night heralds Day The Feast of the Epipha-
Of glory.

American psychic healer Edgar
Cayce died Known as the "sleeping
prophet, " Cayce recited more than
fourteen thousand diagnoses and
predictions while in a trance.
collapsed in late 1 944 and in
reading for himself was told to rest
"until he is well or dead. " Cayce
soon had a stroke that ended
life at age sixty-seven.
Iter daicinlTo ensure fertility for the
tribe's women,the Pueblo Indians
time ofyear, some Koreans perform
a ceremony called Chilseong-je, or
Sacrifice to the Seven Stars. Con-
vening at midnight, they present an
He offering of white rice and clean
a water to the seven stars that form
the constellation known
Major, the Great Bear In the Kore-
his an pantheon, the god who rules
Ursa Major also has a hand in
human affairs, so the people hope
to earn good will by propitiating the
constellation.
the end of Christmastide and the ny celebrates three manifestations
eve of Epiphany, but its celebration of Christ's glory: the Magi's venera-
recalls pre-Christian traditionsof tion of the infant Jesus in Bethle-
reversing social rules. In medieval hem; his baptism in the Jordan
Europe, each cathedral ordained a River, and his miracle at Cana,
bishop and archbishop offools in turning water into wine.
as Ursa parodies of real ceremonies; priests
danced and sang obscene songs; Winter's fright. In Austria, costumed
deacons played cards on the altar; villagers (below) celebrate Sche-
and worshipers jumped about the menlauf a noisy festival of march-
church, enjoying the ritual breach es, dances, drumming, and bell-
of religious taboos. ringing — to scare winter away.

of the southwestern United States

don deer headdresses (below) and
perform ritual dances.
 Fatal Encounter with a UFO
On January 7, 1948, an unidentified flying Thomas Mantell radioed that he was climb-
object was
spotted streaking through the sky ing to 20,000 feet for a closer look. It was
over western Kentucky, near Godman Air Mantell's last message; hours later his body
Force Base. One observer described the was found in the wreckage of his plane.
strange shape, estimated to be 250 to 300 Rumors spread that Mantell had been
feet in diameter, as looking like "an ice blasted from the sky by an alien spacecraft.
cream cone topped with red." Three Air Air force investigators had another explana-
National Guard pilots flying Mustang fighters tion: He had been flying without oxygen and
(right) saw the UFO swoop over their airfield; when he climbed too high he lost conscious-
they were ordered to chase it. ness and spun to earth. Although investiga-
Climbing in pursuit, the pilots glimpsed a tors speculated that the object of the chase
huge, teardrop-shaped object that seemed was probably a high-altitude research bal-
almost fluid. Two fliers quit, but Captain loon, no one knows for sure.

JANUARY 8 JANUARY 9 JANUARY 10 January

hf murk)' IFO Slikflif. See above Retire (• Bcanircak Held, ems Presley For farm laborers in
PlOlf I rttUajf. Iroquois new year rifial. see below.
was born on this date in 1 935 and rural England and Scotland, the
died on August 16. 1977 —or did first Monday after Epiphany marked
he' Thousands of the rock-and-roll the end of the Christmas holidays
star's fans believe Elvis lives, either and the return to daily toil In ob-
as a visible or in the flesh He
spirit servance of the day, it became
was buried less than two weeks customary for workers to draw a
when three men tried to break into — —
plough or plow through the
his tomb to prove he was not there village streets and solicit donations
Supposed new tapes of his voice to pay for further festivities Fre-
and alleged photos of him have quently, threshers and reapers
been offered as proof of his surviv- carrying their tools joined the
al.And reported sightings of Elvis Plough Monday procession, which
or his ghost are common all over included a ritual sweeping with
the world. Moreover, many people brooms to drive away ghosts
who visit Elvis's grave at his home
Graceland Memphis, Tennessee,
in
seem more worshipers on
like
pilgrimage than fans

Iroquois Feast of Dreams

The Iroquois of eastern North America begin

their new year with the Feast of Dreams. As
part of the festivities, some tribe members
rampage through their villages, attacking
people and property. Their seemingly mad
behavior is said to be triggered by dreams,
and a victim's only escape is to guess the
contents of those dreams.
The False Faces, so called because they
wear elaborate masks (right) that distinguish
them as the tribe's healing spirits, also par-
ticipate in the feast. Two of them visit each
home, first rubbing rattles along the frame.
 11 JANUARY 12 JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY

Warding Oil Wllcnes. In the Scottish Hindu solstice ritual, m India, Hindus YOdeling In the Jfear. Townspeople of Pongai Festival.In the state of Tamil
town of Burghead, fishermen con- observe Makara-Sankranti, a sol- Urndsch in Switzerland, who still Nadu in southern India, the three-
tinue a once-common mysterious stice festival, by gathering to bathe use the old Julian calendar, observe day Pongai Festival ushers in the
rile whose original purpose was in sacred rivers, particularly the the last day of the year on Saint new year, gives thanks for the rainy
likely to frighten away witches. At Ganges. Singing joyous songs, they January 13. To
Silvester's Day, season, and celebrates the January
about dusk on January 1 1, the honor the approach of spring by celebrate,bands of well-wishers rice harvest. Women cook the new
fishermen gather to assemble a coloring their food with saffron and wearing elaborate costumes of rice in milk, and when it starts to
—
Clavie a barrel half-filled with tar wearing yellow clothes. sticks, moss, and other natural bubble, they call out "Pongai?" ("It

and attached to a five-foot pole. objects (above), wander through the boils!") They then sweet
offer the
Setting the tar afire, the fishermen countryside clanging bells to fright- mixture to Surya, the Sun God. The
carry the Clavie through the village en off evil spirits. They yodel greet- festival's last day honors the cattle
and deposit it on lop of a small ings at farmhouses along the way, who help with harvesting. Farmers
mound. An assembled crowd where families present them with bedeck their cows with flowers and
watches the Clavie burn far into coins and mulled wine. paint their horns, then
the night Then the charred barrel lead them in a proces-
'
is broken into pieces, which are sion. After a feast that
seized by the townspeople as evening, men try to
charms against witchcraft. snatch bundles of mon-
ey from the foreheads of
fierce bulls (below).

Upon entering, they extinguish the kitchen

fire andscatter its ashes to ensure the health
of the house's inhabitants. Then they dance
to ceremonial songs, for which they are
given tobacco; if they do not receive this gift,
the False Faces may steal food from the
kitchen cupboards
The False Faces also dance in tribal long
houses, where social and religious meetings
are held. As part of the midwinter renewal of
the tribe, they stir the ashes of the stove in
the long house and blow them onto the
bodies of the sick. 125
*
 "

15 JANUARY 16 JANUARY

il alctealcal leal. When an alleged Ippeaslii lie lire fr* During this WlSUllllf apple Irees. Villagers in Som- KilClei t*4 At the end of the Chinese
philosophers' stone (capable of month m the Tengger Mountains of erset, England, go wassailing on year, Zao Jun, the kitchen god
transforming base metals into gold) East Java, Indonesia, local Bud- thisdate to serenade apple trees (below), reports to the great lade
was brought Prague court on
to his dhists bring offerings to Betoro The custom, dating back to Celtic Emperor on everyone's actions. To Ui
this date in 1 648, the Holy Roman Bromo, the god offire believed to Britain, includes shooting guns to curry favor, householders give the
Emperor Ferdinand III tested it live in Mount Bromo, an active ward off evil spirits,and singing god sweet rice cakes, then pray as
himself According to contemporary volcano. As part of the celebration songs (above), dancing, and pour- they burn a paper image of him
accounts, in each of two separate known as Kassada, thousands ing libations over tree roots to en- Children throw beans on the roof to
experiments he used a small por- bearing food and powers come on sure fertility. simulate the sound of horses'
tion of the stone to successfully foot to the mountain; monks bless hooves, and Zao Jun rides the
convert two and a half pounds of the gifts, then lead a procession up smoke and flames to heaven
mercury to gold Ferdinand ordered to the lip of the crater At midnight,
a special medal struck to commem the pilgrims throw their offerings
orate the "divine metamorphosis. into the volcano to garner the
blessings of the fiery god.

126
 I ?J JANUARY m" JANUARY m1 January mm January

A BjrSlerlMS Wdl-HtSlCr. For many AD Irish hilly nai. On this day Catholics Salnf Agnes Day. In keeping with a Mysterious measure ol gold, on this date
years, a stranger dressed in a black remember Saint Feichin, a sixth- long-standing tradition that has in 1667, using a tincture left with
suit and hat and bearing gifts has century Irish monk whose life is largely disappeared, English girls him by a mysterious stranger, the
» Baltimore grave of poet
visited the said to have been marked by many made special cakes on this day to Dutch physician John Friedrich
and author Edgar Allan Poe early in miracles. When he was a boy, honor Saint Agnes, who was put Helvetius (above) is said to have
the morning on this date, the anni- Feichin's parents placed him in bed to death at age twelve for refusing transmuted a small quantity of lead
versary of the writer's birth In between them to sleep. Strangely, to renounce Christianity in third- into "the most excellent gold in the
1990, an observer saw the mystery by morning he was often found century Rome After the cakes were world. " The enigmatic bearer of the
visitor placea half-full bottle of lying on the floor with arms out- baked, each girl walked upstairs tincture, who appeared to be a
expensive French cognac and three stretched, his body taking the shape backwards carrying one, then middle-aged Scotsman, told Helve-
red roses at the base of Poe's grave, of a cross; a bevy of angels report- prayed to Saint Agnes. The ritual tius that he had obtained it from a

then kneel as if in prayer When he edly hovered over his head. As an was intended to trigger a dream of foreign occultist. He then began a
left, the stranger tipped his hat in adult, Feichin is said to have caused the man the girl would marry. demonstration in Helvetius's own
^ the direction of the grave. a hostile king's fortress to sponta- laboratory, but departed before it

neously burst into flames. He also was done, never to return. When
purportedly brought a dead man to Helvetius continued the experiment
life and carried Jesus Christ —dis- the next day, he produced a small
guised as a leper—on his back. measure of gold, but the means to
make more was gone forever.

/ \
• / \

Aquarius: January 20-February 18

Although winter snows may still blanket the rules Aquarius, usually transforms such
earth, new growth is beginning in the soil destructive impulses into effective activism.

• tucked beneath when the zodiac arrives at Natives of Aquarius count among their
Aquarius. In contrast to solitary, pragmatic gifts flexible, insightfulthinking and clear-
Capricorns, natives of Aquarius are outgoing eyed These traits often produce
rationality.
and idealistic. Like Capricorns, however, they which Aquarians harness to
great creativity,
value their independence, sometimes to the —
worthy endeavors the pursuit of high ideals,
point of sacrificing intimate relationships. for instance, or the quest for technological
The symbol of Aquarius is the Water innovation. Fired by vivid imaginations,
Bearer, who pours water from a vast con- Aquarians sometimes fall into thinking that
—
tainer representing Aquarians' ability to their visions of a bright future for humanity
disseminate new ideas. In fact, natives of are enough to make it so. When they learn
this sign are often vitally committed to the to translate their ideals into reality, however,
spread of change and the betterment of Aquarians can play important roles in help-
society. Astrologers ascribe this to the influ- ing to create a society that values the happi-
ence of the planet Uranus, which spurs ness and contributions of all its members.
Aquarians on to revolutionary acts that Famous Aquarians include sixteenth-century
sometimes involve wild rebellion and even astronomer Galileo, dancer Mikhail Barysh-
violence. Fortunately, Saturn, which also nikov, and actress Mia Farrow.
 HiJJj
The Chinese New Year

The traditional New Year celebration

Chinese
was and most extravagant
the year's gayest
event. The festivities began on the second
new moon after the winter solstice and con-
tinued for two weeks, until the full moon;
during that time, many shops stayed closed
and business ground to a halt.
The two-week hiatus was a welcome
respite from the frenzied commercial activity
of the previous month, when shops were
filledwith people buying holiday gifts. Since
everyone tried to greet the new year with no
outstanding debts, shopkeepers slashed
prices during the last week of the year to
earn cash to pay off creditors. Even the poor-
shopped for new shoes, since
est families to the children, and everyone went to bed. main surviving feature of Chinese New Year
walking shoes on New Year's Day
in old The day of the new year was devoted
first celebrations. People festoon their houses
would bring bad luck. to ancestor worship, and people were on and gardens with lanterns of all shapes and
On New Year's Eve, the shops were their best behavior; bad luck would follow colors (except white, the color of mourning),
locked and the streets deserted. Families any shouting, lying, or cursing. Succeeding and a dragon, the Chinese symbol of good-
gathered behind doors sealed with strips of days were increasingly festive. Friends went ness and strength, winds its way through the
—
red paper red being the color of luck to — visiting, bearing gifts; children sang for streets. The paper beast is borne on the
keep out evil spirits. At midnight, family sweet rice cakes; and roaming musicians shoulders of men and boys hidden beneath it
»
members ceremoniously kowtowed to the and actors performed the Dragon Play. (above). Watching crowds set off strings of
head of the house and his wife. Then gifts The of festivities was marked
final night firecrackers to bring the New Year's holiday
of coins in red envelopes were presented by the Lantern Festival (see January 27), the to a riotous close.

23 JANUARY 24 JANUARY 25 JANUARY JANUARY

A ghostly kiillc li Ike sky. m the wee The Alacitas Fair in

BdtVCtl peddler. Id. The Vietnamese New Year festi- Turning (he calendar In Cklna. see above.
hours of this day in 1647, during La Paz, Bolivia, honors not only the val known as Tet is replete with
the English Civil War, shepherds Virgin of La Paz, credited with good-luck rituals. Each family's
and travelers in Northamptonshire, helping Spanish conquerors win a kitchengod is said to ride to heav-
England, described a strange phe- great battle in 1781, but also en on a carp's back, some house-
nomenon. They claimed to have Ekeko, the Aymara Indians' god of holds buy a carp (below) and re-
seen in the sky an apparition of a prosperity, for whom a fair was lease it on the festival's first day.
* i

battle that had been fought two held on this day in ancient times. Offerings are made to gods and
months earlier between the forces Figures of Ekeko, a potbellied ped- ancestors to further ensure good
of the king and those of Parlia- dler burdened with food and do- fortune, and families take care that
ment The vision faded but reap- mestic articles, are sold at the fair. the year's first visitor does not have
peared on and off over the next two Ekeko can supposedly supply a an inauspicious surname such as
weeks, each time accompanied by home with everything the image Meo (cat) or Cho (dog); guests
—
the sounds of war clashing arms, carries, so a strong market exists named Tho (longevity) or Kim (gold)
solemn drumbeats, and the groans for miniature goods ranging from are warmly welcomed on this day.

of the wounded. By the time the of bread to diminutive

tiny loaves
apparition disappeared for good, —
newspapers completely legible and
some witnesses could point out sometimes carrying editorials on
participants from the actual cam- Ekeko might be able
political issues
paign in the celestial manifestation. to influence.

128
 "

Lailcri ItSllTil. The culmination of the Viking blaze. Shetland Islanders cele- 4 mystic and a scholar. Swedish scientist Celebration ol planting. The Feriae
Chinese New Year celebration, the brate their Viking heritage on the and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg Sementiva, or Feast of Sowing, was
Lantern Festival, is variously said to final Tuesday January with the
in (below) was born on this day in the first of a long series of ancient
have originated as a means to bid festival of Up-Helly-Aa. This last day 1688. Distinguished as an astrono- Roman agricultural festivals intend-
winter goodbye and welcome the of the traditional Yuletide climaxes mer, anatomist, and geologist, he ed guarantee a favorable harvest.
to
increasing light and warmth of the with the burning of a thirty -foot devoted himself to religious work at Sacrifices were made to Tellus, the
I sun, and as a fertility ceremony. All replica of a Norse longship, which the age offifty-nine. Thereafter earth, and Ceres, goddess of agri-
types of lanterns are displayed, and is escorted to the sea front by a Swedenborg recounted conversa- culture, as well as such minor
the more imaginative the lantern's platoon of men dressed as Vikings. tions he had with angels and reve- deities as the gods of plowing,
form, the more prestige for the Onlookers admire the ship until lations that he said came directly hoeing, and weeding. So concerned
family who shows Some lanterns
it. nightfall, then, in a ceremony evoc- —
from God including detailed vi- were the Romans that they might
hold special significance: Those in ative of an ancient Norse funeral, it sions of heaven and hell inadvertently overlook —and thus
the shape of little boys, for example, is carried by torchlit procession to a enrage —
a god of tillage that they
are often displayed by childless field. There the torches are hurled acknowledged in their prayers "any
couples. Also on this day, families into the ship, which explodes into unknown god, male or female.
make and
offerings to ancestors fames (above). In earlier days, the
I notify them of any sons born during festival officially ended at midnight
the preceding year. with an exorcism of evil spirits from
village homes.
 I

In a gathering that honors the goddess Sarasvati, Nepalese officials

crowd the courtyard at Hanuman Dhoka, an ancient palace in Kat-
mandu, to join the king in rites of spring. Gun salutes praise the
season, and the royal priest performs ceremonies of veneration.

ti

JANUARY FEBRUARY 3 FEBRUARY

ii praise el learning, m late January, Wardlnd *ll lire ail stem, on this day, » day lor candles. In ancient Rome, Blessing ol Ihe Throals. The patron of
Hindus in south Asia celebrate Ireland honors Saint Bridget, the Februalia festivals honored Deme- weavers, carvers, and builders,
Basant Panchami in honor of Sa- patron saint of cattle and dairy ler, who sought her daughter Saint Blaise was martyred on this
rasvati. goddess of learning The /'arming At one lime, people made Persephone with lighted candles. In day in AD 316. The saint was noted
Katmandu valley of Nepal is crowd- diamond-shaped Saint Bridget's the Christian adaptation known as for his miraculous healing of a
ed with students on this day. when crosses from straw to hang in Candlemas, which takes place on —
choking boy a cure commemorat-
Sarasvati is believed to pay an homes or barns as protection this day, lighted candles are carried ed on his feast day with a ceremonyt\
annual visit. In addition to bringing against lightning and fire. In some in procession to honor the Virgin known as the Blessing of the
food, flowers, and incense to her regions, young people still fashion a Mary. Candlemas has long been a Throats, intended to ward off the
temples, students offer Sarasvati "crios Bride" (Saint Bridget's gir- day for weather prediction — it is throat ailments of winter.
pens, brushes, and books in the dle), a loop of straw rope with four Groundhog Day in the United
hope of help on their exams. crosses attached Carrying it from States — usually based on contraries
house to house, they let neighbors Sunny weather on Candlemas
pass through it to earn the saint's portends a late spring, while poor
protection in the coming year weather promises a bright spring
and a temperate summer.
«

Brides in Ihcir Beds

As the days grew longer after the

of winter, heralding the return of new life in
the coming spring, the Celts celebrated a
darkness
2
festival called Imbolc, honoring the Earth
Mother Brigit. A protective guardian against
the forces of darkness, Brigit, also known as
Bride, was the goddess of both fire and fertil-
ity. To mark her special day, women made
dollsfrom sheaves of corn or oats clothed in
female attire, which were placed in special
baskets called Bride's Beds (right). As de-
scribed above, Christians later adopted the
holiday for Saint Bridget, patron of cattle
and dairy farming.
 Exorcising Winter in Japan

The festival known as Setsubun is a Japa- rituals. One typical ceremony

nese celebration of the exorcism of winter, at a temple in the small coun-
intended to banish evil spirits in preparation try town of Ayabe expunges
for the arrival of spring Householders walk the sins of believers during an
through their homes scattering beans into all from
all-night vigil. Priests read
the corners to drive out any demons that paper called hitogata, on
slips of
lurk there (right). To keep the devils away, which are written the names of
they mount pointed branches and sardine people who seek divine support.
heads above their doorways. The fish heads After they are read, the hito-
are said to repulse devils by their strong gata are placed in special jars and
smell, and the branches are meant to poke carried to a bridge over an icy
out evil eyes. The beans, associated with river. The priests empty the jars
good luck, are saved to be cooked and eaten into the river inan avalanche of
after the first clap of spring thunder. paper, and clumps of prayers begin
In temples and shrines throughout Japan, to drift down the dark water to the
Setsubun occasions more formal purification —
ocean and to the gods.

FEBRUARY 5 February 6 FEBRUARY I FEBRUARY

SdSlbll: Drtvilll Wilier 1WIV. See above. On this night in

SelSmlC Sensitivity. A nijjlll In the snow. For a few days at A ieslival 01 new life. As early spring
1 783, German poet Johann Wolf- the beginning of February, children arrives in China, countryfolk cele-
gang von Goethe (below) told his of northern Japan take part in a brate Li Chum, the very name of
valet that tremors were shaking the snow festival honoring the spirits which means "Spring is here. " The
earth. The servant was perplexed, that bring water to their island highlight of the day is a parade in
since he felt no quakes, but the home. Miniature shrines are assem- which everyone marches. Some
truth of his master's declaration bled in igloo-like huts, and, for one people carry small clay effigies of
was borne out two weeks later night, the children are permitted to the water buffalo —a symbol of new
when news arrived from the Medi- wait out the darkness in these life —while others bear an enor-
terranean: At the moment of Goe- temporary shelters, receiving visits mous likeness of the animal made
the's statement, a terrible quake from parents and friends. from bamboo and colored paper.
had rocked Calabria and Sicily. The procession makes its way to a
temple, where the marchers smash
the clay buffaloes and burn the
bamboo-and-paper one. The spirit
of the burning effigy is thought to
climb to heaven to plead for a
prosperous season.
TkaikS It IkC Slan. Shortly after the \l Ci<cr Birryr. Today is the feast of B»p« lor iMi ItSlUg. The new year in Healing Ike SiCk. On this date in 1858,
Chinese New Year, tradition- Saint Apollonia, a third-century Argungu, Nigeria, opens with a fourteen-year-old Bemadette
minded Chinese families celebrate Egyptian deaconess. As an elderly festival to mark the start of the Soubirous was collecting firewood
the Star Festival, a nighttime ntual woman. Apollonia was seized along fishing season Thousands of mem- near the town ofLourdes, France,
of thanks to the stars that influence with other Christians by a furious bers of the Kebbawa tribe line the when she saw a "beautiful lady" in
human destiny The master of the mob of unbelievers. They beat her banks of the Sokoto River, armed the mouth of a grotto across a
house offers a special prayer to the jaws, breaking out all her teeth, with large dippers and fishing nets. millslream It was the first of eight-

star that governed his birth, then
lights 108 small lamps on a special
altar. As the lamps burn out. each
son of the household pays honor to
his own star by relighting three of
the lamps and judging from the
brightness of the flames whether to
expect good luck or bad luck
days that follow.
and threatened to bum her alive
unless she recanted her faith in
Christ. Defiant, she refused and
leaped into the already kindled
flames before her attackers could
further abuse her Because of her
broken teeth, Saint Apollonia is
in the often depicted holding a tooth, and
some Catholics pray to her when
suffering dental problems.
As the festival begins, everyone
jumps into the river with a nearly
simultaneous splash, hoping that
fish startled by the commotion will
leap into the nets. A prize goes to
the person who catches the largest
fish, but the overall size of the catch
is an indication
also important, as
of the gods' sentiments toward the
Kebbawa people.
een visions of the Virgin Mary
which gradually led Bemadette to a
hidden spring inside the grotto. *
Pilgrims soon began bottling the
spring water, which became re-
nowned for its curative properties.
Today millions of pilgrims like
those above visit the shrine of Our
Lady ofLourdes each year to wor-
ship and to seek miraculous cures
for their ailments.
 Idpint when a new
Ike crips grow, Reverence lor Ihc dead. During the week Saml Valentine's Day. see below. 4 bloody tradition. On the Roman holi-
crescent moon appears at about of February 13 to February 21, day of Lupercalia, a group ofyoung
th:s time, the Pueblo and Hopi ancient Romans honored their noblemen gathered at the Lupercal,
peoples of the southwestern United dead, particularly their parents, a cave believed to be the den of the
States begin the lengthy Powamu during Parentalia, a festival com- wolf that suckled Romulus and
festival by planting beans in the memorated in the above statue of a Remus, the twin founders of Rome
—
kivas large buildings used for man holding busts of his ancestors. (above). After sacrificing goats and
religious rituals- While the beans Temples were closed and marriages a dog, the men smeared themselves
grow, as many as two hundred forbidden, while people visited with blood, dressed in the animals'
—
^ kachina dancers ceremonial par- ancestral tombs, leaving wine, milk, skins, then circled the old city slap-
ticipants wearing masks represent- and flowers to placate family ping people with strips of goat skin
—
ing the energy of the life force ghosts, who were thought to linger Women volunteered to be struck,
perform rituals (below) to ensure a near the tombs and might other- to induce fertility and guarantee
good crop. Meanwhile, children of wise haunt the living. easy childbirth.
the Pueblo and Hopi between the
ages of six and ten are initiated into
their kachina * societies and
given gifts by /O^. the dancers.

Pairing ON on Valentines Day

In the year AD 270, the Roman priest Valen- birds choose their mates on
tine was martyred by the Emperor Claudius February 14, the idea of Valen-
for secretly performing forbidden Christian tine's Day as a time for court-
marriages. The church later tied the pagan ship grew in popularity through
festival Lupercalia (see February 15) to Saint the Middle Ages. The day was
Valentine's feast day. also one for young women to
Since Victorian times, cards like the one divine their marriage pros-
at right have been sent to loved ones on pects, by such means as
Valentine's Day, a connection with romance watching for particular
that probably harks back to the Lupercalia birds. A robin portended
custom of pairing couples by lot. After draw- marriage to a sailor; a im
ing names, young people exchanged gifts sparrow, a happy union
and stayed partners for the rest of the festi- with a poor man; a gold-
val. Perhaps reinforced by the folk belief that finch, a wealthy husband
 —

Pisces: February 19-March 20

Pisces ends the cycle of the zodiac at about a burden and a blessing. On the negative
the same time that winter loses its icy grip side, natives of Pisces may cease to function
upon all but the coldest climes. Streams and well in the rational world, leading a dreamy
rivers swell with —
snowmelt the waters of existence that is all too often enhanced by
Pisces' ruler, Neptune drugs or alcohol. More positively, however,
Astrologers say that the Piscean symbol the tendency to escape mundane conscious-
two fish linked by a cord —
indicates a duality ness may join forces with Pisceans' artistic
inherent in the sign. For Pisces natives have creativity, finding outlets in startlingly beau-
the capacity not only to range far and wide tiful poetry, dance, or theater.
in the world but also to plumb mystical Because Pisceans are visionaries, more
depths. They tend to be emotional, intuitive, attuned than most to the mystical underpin-
—
and vulnerable traits that contribute to nings of life, they often have difficulty getting
unworldly impracticality as well as passion- along with less spiritually inclined people.
ate artistic expression. Nevertheless, their natural sympathy and f
Innate sensitivity makes Pisceans easily kindness win them many friends and make it

swayed by others, and some people born possible for them

under the sign are so receptive to outside
influences as to possess psychic powers
This gift of openness endows Pisceans with a
radically different view of the world at once
to convey their sense of
wonder wider world. Some Pisceans
to the
who have succeeded in doing so are Renais-
sance sculptor Michelangelo, poet Elizabeth
— Browning, and novelist John Steinbeck.

16 FEBRUARY 12 FEBRUARY 18 FEBRUARY

TlkeMl lUIS »l iirlli Marked by MWI »l Ike Kill YH*. On this date in A flinpsc »\»sti serial? On this date Tic sii nlen lie sigi ol Pisces.

shows, parades, and archery com-
petitions. Losar, the Tibetan New
Year, was once the greatest festival
of the year One event featured men
sliding hundreds offeet down from
the battlements of the Potala Palace
in Lhasa on ropes made ofyak
hair —
an attraction that was even-
tually ended when loo many partic-
ipants were injured In the days
preceding Losar, monks drove out
3102 BC, say Hindus, the world in 1849, a Captain Adams and his See above.
entered the Kali Yuga, the Evil Age, crew aboard the vessel Lucy and
41
the last and most sinful offour Nancy got a brief look at what they
great epochs. They believe the Kali look to be a strange, large, living
Yuga, personified by the destroyer- animal off the coast of Florida. For
goddess Kali (below), will endure unrecorded reasons their view of
for 432,000 years and end with the the supposed beast was obscured,
world's destruction Then a new but they reported seeing what they
cycle of eras will begin with Krila apparently thought was its extended
Yuga, the Golden Age of truth neck and head above the surface as
it moved through the water

the evil influences of the old year

with a Devil Dance Dressed in
.,
brilliant silks and huge, hideously
painted masks, they
danced for hours until
a sorcerer succeeded
with a spell against
the demons

«'

•
20 FEBRUARY 22 FEBRUARY 23 FEBRUARY

FtlUllf tl OK SPR. See below. Frruliu On this date in ancient Rome, An Cgg-ShapCd UFO. On this day in Honoring boundaries. Terminalia, the
Feralia —a kind of All Souls' Day— 1979, two girls sledding near their last festival of the old Roman year,
ended the week-long Parentalia home in West Yorkshire, England, honored Terminus, the god of
festival. It was an occasion for were purportedly startled by a hum- boundaries and frontiers. Neighbors
family reunions and for the worship ming sound as red and green lights met where their fields adjoined to
of Lares like the one pictured cast a glow on the snow. According drape garlands on the stone bound-
above. Lares were ancestral spirits to their later accounts of the epi- ary markers, or termini, and offer
believed to guard the home. sode, a gray, egg-shaped object sacrificesof corn, honey, and wine.
roughly the size of a compact car The stones were held to be sacred
landed on a nearby slope, then to Terminus, and anyone who

moved some yards to another loca- moved them was accursed.

tion. Moments later it flew away,
leaving depressions in the snow.
Although nobody else observed the
landing, another witness reported
seeing a similar flying object some
fifteen minutes before the girls'
alleged encounter.

Organizing (he Study oi Psychic Phenomena

On February 20, 1882, a group of prominent
philosophers and physicists banded together
with other interested people to found the
Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in Lon-
don. The purpose of the society was to sup-
port organized and systematic research into
such "debatable phenomena" as telepathy,
clairvoyance, and hauntings, with a view to
determining their scientific basis, if any.
The establishment of the SPR raised re-
search in the field to a new level, with an
founding, SPR investigators were taken in by
a clever piece of stage magic employed by
the popular hypnotist who was the subject of
the study. Not until nearly thirty years later
was the deception made known, when the
hypnotist's partner published two articles
that revealed the truth.
In a 1931 study, an SPR official Jits Italian medi-

emphasis on controlled experiments like the

one illustrated here. Even the group's trained
scientists could not always detect hoaxes,
however. During one experiment on
thought-reading shortly after the group's
um Pasquale Erto with boxing gloves to prevent
cheating during a seance. Erto, nicknamed "the
human rainbow" for the colored lights he pro-
duced in seances, was ultimately proved a fraud.
He had drawn on his chemical training, not
the spirit world, to create the dazzling effects.
 Revelry Before (he Solemn Fast

In some Catholic countries, the pre-Lenten of hours and small

Carnival is one of the year's most joyous fortunes creating gor-
celebrations. Although its timing is governed geous floats for the
by the Church calendar. Carnival incorpo- parade, in which cos-
rates such pagan elements as the chaos of tumed dancers cavort to
Saturnalia and the orgiastic rites that once the music of jazz bands.
heralded spring's arrival. The grandest Carnival
The name of the festival probably derived celebration, however,
—
from carne vale "farewell meat" for the — takes place in Rio de Janei
last meat eaten on Shrove Tuesday before ro, Brazil, where it marks
the forty-day Lenten fast. But the word, like the onset of the Southern
the festival itself, may have come from the Hemisphere's autumn
Roman cur novate, a type of cart that carried Introduced by early settlers.
divine images in Roman parades. Carnival began as a rude
Although Carnival's origins are unclear, explosion of merriment that
by the Middle Ages it was established as a saw pranksters pelting pe-
time for aristocratic tournaments and pag- destrians with oranges and
eants. In later centuries,common folk took eggs. It evolved into four days
over the holiday, which culminated on of elegant balls, elaborate In stiff competition with his car for most
Shrove Tuesday night when costumed revel masquerades, and energetic dancing. Groups garish costume, the Mardi Gras reveler
ers lighted candles and paraded through the called samba schools join in a parade, com- above drives a parade route in New Or-
leans. At right, a dazzling float makes its
streets seeking to blow out other candles peting for prizes with their fantastic cos-
way through Rio de Janeiro at Carnival.
while keeping their own burning. tumes, spectacular floats, and impeccably
Transported to the New World, Carnival rehearsed music and dancing. The samba
found more extravagant expression. In New schools offer fleeting fame to Rio's poorest
Orleans, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is a rau- citizens, whose meager savings underwrite
cous festival. Social groups spend thousands much of the flamboyance of Carnival.

1'

24 FEBRUARY 25 FEBRUARY 26 FEBRUARY 21 FEBRUARY

SklTi'S NIOI. At about this time, de- CarilMl! See above. PtnilenlUI ashes, lust after Carnival Death ol an immortal. The comte de
vout Hindus observe a holiday comes Ash Wednesday, the first day Saint Germain, who claimed he had
known as Shivaratri, literally Shi- of a forty-day period of abstinence lived for centuries and known the
• |
va's Night, a vigil that honors the called Lent meant to prepare wor- Queen ofSheba, allegedly died on
many-faceted god of destruction shipers for the solemn rites of Eas- this date in 1 —
784 although some
and renewal (below) After a day of ter. The name of the day comes say he was seen alive in the 1 900s
total fasting, without even a drink from the custom of sprinkling the
of water, believers gather at Shiva head with ashes as a symbol of Birth Ol a Visionary. Austrian psychic
shrines, where they slay awake all penance; the ashes were said to and philosopher Rudolf Steiner
night watching the flames come from the burning of Christ- (below), founder of anthroposophy,
of small oil lamps. mas greenery or a Yule log. Today was born this day in 1861. Steiner
the ceremonial ash is administered devised new methods offarming,
by a priest at a Lenten mass, by education, painting, and architec- jQ
pressing his ash-covered thumb to lure to help others achieve personal
each person's forehead. experience of the spiritual.

136
 "

« %m > • •
'

1
"
"it"

loumlnfi lor » marr>r. Among s/w'/te Leap Day. To keep his Western calen-
Muslims, day of the month
this first dar in line with the solar year,
k of Muharram begins a ten -day Julius Caesar decreed that every
festival commemorating the death fourth year would include an extra
of Hussain, the martyred grandson day, February 29. By tradition, leap
of Muhammad. For nine days the year is a time for women to pro-
faithful gather in Karbala, Iraq, to pose marriage to men, a custom
hear orators tell the story of Hus- formalized in 1288 by the Scottish
sain and his followers. On the tenth Parliament, which declared that any
day, processions f II the streets, and "maiden lady of both high and low
some scourge themselves (below) to estate shall have liberty to bespeak
recall Hussain 's suffering. the man she like.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editors wish to thank the following for their assistance: stitutoArcheologico Germanico. Rome; leffery Jerome, recteur de Recherche au CNRS. Brest. France; Patricia A.
Dr John Carlson, University of Maryland Silver Spring; In- Edgar Allan Poe House. Baltimore. Donalien Laurent. Di Paterno, First Impression. McLean, Virginia

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PICTURE CREDITS
The sources for the illustrations in this book are shown below. dondo Beach, Calif. —Tourism Authority of Thailand. 30: Qui, Paris. 52: Sir David Attenborough, London — Haga Li-

Credits from left to right are separated by semicolons; credits Michael Holford, Loughton, Essex —
Picturepoint, London. brary, Tokyo. 53. Gurmeet Thukral, Mussoorie, India. 54:
from top to bottom are separated by dashes. 31: Bodleian Library, —
Oxford Presseillustrationen Heinrich Zefa, London. 55: Bodleian Library, Oxford courtesy U.S. —
R. Hoffmann, Munich; Kunhardt Collection, Mount Kisco, —
Department of State Associated Press, London. 56: Loren
Cover: Art by Robert Soule. 6: Frank Zullo/Sipa Press, New N.Y.; photo Hubert Josse, Paris. 32: Christopher Greene, Mclntyre. 57: Fotokhronika, Tass, Moscow Mary Evans —
York. 8, 9: Von Del Chamberlain, Salt Lake City, Utah 10: from Background to Sierra Leone, Office of the President, Picture Library, London. 58: Gurmeet Thukral, Mussoorie,
c John Glover, Witley, Surrey. 99 Mark Lehner, Chi- 1 1 :
c 1 1 State House, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1980; Dumas, Col- J India— UPI/Bettmann, New York. 59: Artwork by Wang
cago, 111 —
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Mei, New York Centro de Turismo de Portugal. 60:
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Sacha. New York. 14: Michael Zeilik, Santa Fe, N.Mex. 15: Topham Picture Source, Edenbridge, Kent. 34, 35: Homer ° 1988 Colin Andrews, Andover, Hampshire; Bernard Her-
E. C. Krupp, Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles— Mike Bunn, Sykes, London; David Alan Harvey/Woodfin Camp, Inc., mann, from Haiti by Michele Montas, ° Les Editions du
Dublin, courtesy Ronald Hicks, Muncie, Ind. 16: c 1990 Bob Washington, DC; Collections/Brian Shuel, London line — Pacifique, 1975. 62, 63: Haga Library, Tokyo; Bodleian Li-
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Baten —courtesy NASA 20: Suzanne Held, Pans. 2 Jean
1 : Paul University, Greencastle, Ind.; courtesy Office Beige du Ariz. 65: Miranda Gray, Southampton, Hampshire Rapho, —
Loup Charmet, Paris c 1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc Tourisme. 37: Alinari, Florence. 38: Bodleian Library, Ox- Paris, from European Mythology by Jacqueline Simpson,
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ford D. J. Nervig, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Peter Bedrick Books, New York, 1 987; Fortean Picture Li-
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torical Monuments of England, London 23: Bodleian Li Customs by A. R. Wright, Robert Maclehose and Co., Ltd ,
Government Museum, Mathura, from Yaksha Cult and Ico-
brary, Oxford— Roger Wood, Deal, Kent 24, 25: Alinari The University Press, Glasgow, 1936. 40, 41: Robert Estall, nography by Ram Nath Misra, Munshiram Manoharlal
Florence, courtesy Musei Vatican], Eiseman Rome; Fred B. —
Colchester, Essex; Zefa, London Mansell Collection, Lon- Publishers Pvt Ltd , New Delhi, 1981— Scala, Florence,
Jr ./* National Geographic Society Muzeum Ethnogra — don. 42, 43: Ara Guler, Istanbul, Turkey, courtesy Ankara courtesy Musei Vatican!, Rome 68: Mary Evans Picture Li-
ficzne; H N. Loose, Freiburg; M Huet, Agence Hoa-Qui Archaeological Museum; Hella Pflanzer (2). 44, 45: J. M brary, London/Society for Psychical Research; Homer
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known. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc Pleasantville , (2) —
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London Ashmoiean Museum, Ox
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—
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Uxbridge, Middlesex— Taiyo Gyogyo Kaisha Ltd., from Pho- nies, Observances, and Miscellaneous Antiquities by William —
burgh Bodleian Library, Oxford. 72, 73: The Metropolitan
tographs of the Unknown by Robert Rickard & Richard Walsh, 1897 J. B. Lippincott Company, London Dienst — Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.12, side B); re-
Kelly, New English Library Ltd, London. 1980; from Aca- aus Deutschland, from German Festivals & Customs by Jen- produced with the permission of the Reference Library De-
demic American Encyclopedia. c Acrete Publishing Compa- nifer M Russ, c 1982 Oswald Wolff Ltd., London 51: partment. Birmingham Public Libraries, Birmingham — D. J

ny, Inc. Princeton. N.J., 1980. 29: c Ken Marschall. Re- c Marcia Keegan, Santa Fe, N.Mex. —
M. Huet, Agence Hoa- Nervig, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA; Michael

139
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Holford, Loughton. Essex 74 '

Erich Lessing. Vienna 75 lohn Dommer, Photo Researchers. New York; Peter New National Geographic Society Photri, Falls Church, Va
Werner Forman Archive. London/Museum fur ark s Historical Pictures. Bath.Avon — AP/Wide World Pho 121 Musei Vaticani. Rome Wal-
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North Alaskan Eskimo Whale Cull, courtesy the National Englebert. Cali. Colombia 99: Collections/Brian Shuel. Holford— Haga Library. Tokyo; UPI. New York; K. C. Den
Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian Institution. Wash London; Mansell Collection. London Leif Geiges. Slaufen. — Dooven, from Southwestern Indian Ceremonies by Tom
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Germany 100: Fortean Picture Library. Clwyd, Wales Of- — Bahti, KC Publications, Las Vegas, Nev 1970; SNS Presse .

"Crossroads of Continents Cultures of Siberia and Alas fice National du Tounsme Thailandais, 101 Mangla bild, Innsbruck 124. 125 UPl/Bettmann. New York; |oe
ka " 78. 79: Smithsonian Institution slide no 80 15613; —
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trans no 3834, Steve Myers courtesy Department of Li Bettmann. New York 103 Bodleian Library. Oxford— Haga urn of the American Indian. New York; Morihiro Oki, To
brary Services. American Museum of Natural History. New Library. Tokyo 104. 105 •
loe Viesti/Viesti Associates. kyo 126. 127: Collections/Brian Shuel, London; The Royal
York 80 Museum fur Volkerkunde. Munich 81 The Natu Inc ., New York; Topham Picture Source, Edenbridge, Kent; College of Physicians of London —
1987 Ronni Pinsler,
ral History' Museum. London 82. 83 Bill Hess/" National Mansell collection London— line art by Time Life Books from An Illustrated Cycle of Chinese Festivities in Malaysia
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Services Department. Accra. Ghana; Gurmeet Thukral. photo by Lee Boltin, courtesy Department of Library Servic Singapore, 1987; Bodleian Library. Oxford 128, 129:
Mussoorie, India 84. 85 Fortean Picture Library. Clwyd, es American Museum of Natural History; Gurmeet Thukral. Suzanne & Nick Geary/Tony Stone Worldwide, Chicago,
Wales. Peter Clayton. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire- Mussoorie, India—' Ernst Haas. New York 108, 109 Neil III ,
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;

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Wales. Images Colour Library, Leeds. West Yorkshire Thomas L Kelly New York I 13: The Natural History Mu- Wheel of the Year— Living the Magical Life by Pauline Cam
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87 Tony Morrison, South seum, London 114. 115: Bildagentur Schapowalow, Ham panelli. Llewellyn Publications, St Paul, Minn,, 1989 131
American Pictures, Woodbndge,
Suffolk 88 Bodleian Li burg, Office du Tounsme Turc. Paris — ' R Ian Lloyd. Singa Sekai Bunka Photo, Tokyo — Hulton Picture Company. Lon
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—
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ton. Essex 90 Royal Geographical Society. London— The Institution, National Museum of Natural History; R rence. courtesy Musei Capitolini, Rome — photo no 1824 D,
Bettmann Archive. Neu York Wolfgang Lauter, Munich Rowen/Photo Researchers, New York— Michael Holford. Smithsonian Institution; Private collection 134: Bodleian
91 Thomas L Kelly. New York 92: Anne Marie lauss. Loughton, Essex; Erich Hartmann/Magnum Photos. Inc.. Library, Oxford —
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brary. Clwyd, Wales 93 Syndication International. Lon —
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—
don Fortean Picture Library. Clwyd. Wales 94. 95: Bodlei of Man, San Diego, Calif, Scala, Florence, courtesy Museo wide, Chicago, III —Gurmeet Thukral, Mussoorie, India.

an Library. Oxford— Popperfoto. London. Topham Picture dell Opera del Duomo, Florence 120: 1985 Nathan Benn/ '
Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte. Berlin, '
Sipa Press,
Source. Edenbridge, Kent. Haga Library. Tokyo. 96. 97: Woodfin Camp Inc Washington, . Steve McCurry/ DC— New York

Index
Numerals in italics indicate an illustration oj Angels, 90 Balomain (demigod), 120 Bridget, Saint. 130
the subject mentioned Ann, Saint, 65 Banshees, 100 Bnggs. Benjamin Spooner. Sarah, and
Anthesteria. 19 Basant Panchami, 130 Sophia, 99
A Anthroposophy, 136 Beating of bounds, 39. 40 41 Brigit (goddess), 130
Abir. 22 Antlers. 84-85 Beltane See May Day Brocken. 32
Abraham (biblical figure), 91 Antony. Saint, 72 Bermuda Triangle, 19. 99, 115 Bromo, Mount, 126
Acropolis. 60 Aomori Nebuta, 66 Bernstein, Morey. 102 Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, 71
Adams (captain), 134 Apollonia. Saint, 132 Besant, Annie, 1 15 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 63, 134
Adams, lohn, 58 Apostles, 50, 105 Betoro Bromo (god). 126 Browning, Robert, 63
Adonia, 67 Apples, 96, 97. 126 Bettara Ichi, 94 Brslanast, 44-45
Adonis (god), 67 Appleseed, Johnny, 89 Bigfoot. 95 Buddha, 29. 41, 115
Advent and Advent wreath. 14 / April Fool's Day,26 Birthstones, 17. 49. 81. 113 Bull. 31, 120, 121. 125
Agnes, Saint, 127 Aquarius (zodiac sign), 104, 127 Bishop, Bridget, 52 Buraq, 33
Agricultural rituals, 37 Sec c;/so Harvest Ararat. Mount. 35 Bisket, 29 Burryman, 68-69
festivals Argei, 37 Black Death, 40 Butter Lamp Festival, 20
Agung, Mount, 25 Argentinum Astrum, 93 Black Hat Dance. 106-107 Byron, George Gordon, 30
Ahura Mazda (god), 82 Arguelles. Jose, 69 Black Stone, 91
Akitu, 23 Aries (zodiac sign), 23. 31 Bladders, / 16
Akwambo, 83 Arnold. Kenneth. 56 Blaise, Saint. 130 Caesar, Julius. 22. 115. 137
Alacitas Fair. 128 Ascension Day. 39, 40 Blajini (spirits), 27 Calendars Sec Gregorian calendar; Julian
Alchemy, 39, 64, 127 Ash Wednesday, 136 Blake, William, 104 calendar, Roman calendar; Sacred cal-
Alcibiades, 39 Asking Festival. 101 Blavatsky. Helena Petrovna. 65. 84. 115 endars; Solar calendars
Aliens, 86 87. 92 See also UFOs Asteroids, 57 Blessing of the Throats, 130 Calpurnia, 22
Allah, 91 Atargatis (goddess), 28 Blimp, 22 Cancer (zodiac sign), 55
Allan Apples, 96 Athena (goddess), 60 Bob (dog), 60 Candlemas, 130
All Hallows' Eve. 81. 96-97. 98 Atlantis, 22 Bodhanath stupa, 1 12 Capricorn (zodiac sign), 119, 127
All Saints' Day. 96-97, 98 24
Attis, Bombers. 1 15 Carmelites, 25
All Souls' Day. 97. 98 Augustus (emperor of Rome), 49 Bon, 60-6/ Carnival, 136-137
A- Ma (goddess). 28 Autumnal equinox, 8, 9, 12 13. 88, 123 Bona Dea (goddess), 1 15 Carp, 128 129
Amaterasu (goddess), 1 16 Boxing Day. 46 Carpenters, 62
American Society for Psychical Research, B Bread, 59 "Carrying death away," 26
54 Bacchus (god). 100 Breast gorgets, 76-77 Carter, Howard, 27
Ancilia. 19 Baldoon Castle. 71 Bride (goddess), 130 Castillo, 8-9
Andrew, Saint, 105 Ball court, 13 Bride's Beds, 130 Cat, 121

140
 9

Cataclvsmos, 51 Dasaratha (king of India), 30 False Faces, / 24- 125 Grandier, Urbain, 105
Cat Parade, 36 Day of the Dead, 98 Famadihana, 52 Granny March's Day, 18
Cayce. Edgar, 22. 97, 123 D-Day, 34 Fatima, Portugal, 36, 93 Graves, 120
Germana, 59
Celle, Clara Dean, James, 90 Fat Tuesday, 136-137 Great Depression, 97
Cementation and Propitiation Festival, 90 Death festivals. 102 Fawcett, Percy, 41 Great Zimbabwe, 83
Centaur, 103 Dee, John, 39 Fawkes, Guy, 98 Green corn dance, 58
Cerei, 1 19 Deer headdresses, 123 Februalia, 130 Gregorian calendar, 83
Ceres (goddess), 129 Demeter (goddess), 86, 94, 130 Feichin, Saint, 127 Gregory the Great, Saint, 21
Chaco Canyon, 16 Demonic possession, 59 Feralia, 135 Groundhog Day, 130
Chang, II 0-1 II Demonifuge medicine, 122 Ferdinand III (Holy Roman emperor), 126 Gryla the Ogre, 1 18
Changing Woman. 83 Demons, 20, 32, 56, 59, 89, 107 Feriae Sementiva, 129 Guardian Angels Day, 90
Chaomos, 120 Dervishes, / 14-1 15 Ferns, 56 Guising, 97
Chapman, John, 89 Descartes, Rene, 100 Fertility festivals, rites, and symbols, 32, Gujeswari (goddess), 104
Chartres Cathedral, 10 Devil. See Demons 33, 34, 37, 42, 43, 49, 50, 51, 68-69, 85, Gujeswari Jatra, 104
Cheops and Chephren, pyramids of, / 1 Devil Dance, 134 123, 126, 129, 133
Chessie, 38 Devil's Boulder, 99 Fete de Gayant, 60 H
Chichen Itza ruins, 8-9 Diana (goddess), 28, 69 Fete du Roi Potiron, La, 85 Hades (god), 86
Child of the Water, 83 Diego, Juan, 1 1 7 First-footers, 123, 128 Haggard, Henry Rider, 60
Chilseong-je, 123 Dies Natalis lnvicti Solis, 120-121 First-fruitsceremonies, 65, 73, 94 Hair (musical), 104
Choyo-no-Sekku, 84 Diev, 1 19 Fish, 128-129, 132, 134 Hajj, 90-91
Christ See Jesus Dionysus (god), 121 Fisk, Jim, 40 Halcyon days, 1 1

Christmas and Christmas tree, 120, 121 Dirigible, 22 Float, 136-137 Halloween, 81, 96-97, 98
Christopher. Saint. 49, 64 Diwali, 101 Flora (goddess), 33, 35 Hannibal, 27
Chung-Ch'iu, 89 "Dog days," 67 Floralia, 33 Hanukkah, 121
Chung Yeung, 92 Doll festival, 19 Flying Dutchman, 53 Hanuman Dhoka, 130
Church of Saint (Catherine Cree, 94 Dolls. 19, 24, 73, 114. 130 Fontinalia, 40 Haribodhini Ekadasi, 91
Ciaran, Saint, 19 Dragon Boat Festival, 54 Forman, Simon, 122 Harmonic Convergence, 69
Circus Maximus, 72 Dragon Play, 128 Four Brothers Ziemassvetki (gods), 19 1 Harvest festivals, 23, 39, 50, 65, 66, 67,
Civil War, English. 128 Dragons, 31, 54, 65, 128 Fox, Kate and Maggie, 26 72, 73, 81, 88, 89, 91, 102, 1 19, 122,
Claudius (emperor of Rome), 133 Drake, Frank, 28 Francis Ferdinand (archduke of Austria), 129, 132-133.
See also Agricultural ritu-
Clavie, 125 Dreams, 22, 35, 57, 60, 100 57 ceremonies
als; First-fruits

Clement. Saint, 103 Dreams, Feast of, 124-125 Francis of Assisi, Saint, 86 Harz Mountains, 32
Clement V (pope), 21 Druids, 55, 97 Frankenstein (M. Shelley), 30 Hawk Maiden, 1 18
Clement X (pope), 90 Dunne, John William, 35 Franklin, Benjamin, 30 Hawthorn, 57
Clodius, Publius, 1 15 Durga (goddess), 88 Freemasons, 55 Headdresses, 123
Coal waste, 94-95 Durga Puja, 88 Freud, Sigmund, 64 Heel Stone, / /

Collective unconscious, 64 Dzonokwa, 78-79 Freya (goddess), 121 Helena (empress of Rome), 84
Comets, 57 Frost,28 "Hell bank notes," 70
Coming Out Ceremony. 82-83 E Furry Dance, 35 Helvetius, John Fnedrich, 127
Confucius. 89 Eagle, 95 Hemis kachina, 64
Constantine the Great (emperor of Rome), Earth Mother, 20, 42, 51, 130 G Herbert, George Edward, 27
84. 86 Earthquakes, 131 Gabriel (archangel), 60 Hercules (god), 70
Consus (god), 72 Easter, 23, 30, 136 Ganesh (god), 83 Hermes (god), 39
Cook. Florence. 68 Easter Bunny, 30 Ganesha Chaturihi, 83 Hickson, Charles, 92
Com, 42, 65 Ebisu (god), 94 Ganges River, 125 Higan, 88
Corn dances, 51, 58 Eclipse, 6-7 Gardner, Gerald Brosseau, 53 Hildegard of Bingen, 118
Com dollies, 73 Eggs. 1 7, 23, 25, 30 Garland King, 46 Hill, Betty and Barney, 86-87
Comely, Saint, 86 Egungun, 51 Garlic, 81, 105 Hi Matsuri, 95
Com Jester, 45 Eka Dasa Rudra, 25 Garrett, Eileen, 22 Hitler, Adolf, 31, 99
Com Spirit, 73, 81 Ekeko (god), 128 Gawai Dayak, 50 Hitogata, 131
Corpus Christi, 54 24
Elijah (biblical figure), Gayer, John, 94 Hobbyhorse, 34
Council of Nicea, 30 Elizabeth (queen of England and
I Ire- Gelede, 72 Hobgoblins, 96
Crab. 55 39
land), 21, Gemini (zodiac sign), 38 Hoerner, Erasmus, 59
Cremation, 116 Enlightenment, 41, 115 George, Saint, 31 Holi, 22
Crios Bnde, 130 Eostre (goddess), 23, 30 George V (king of Britain), 53 Holika (demon), 22
Crispin and Crispinian. Saints, 96 Epiphany, 123 Geshi, 55 Holly, 121
Crop circles, 61 Equinoxes. See Autumnal equinox; Spring Ghanta Kama, 67 Holy Cross, Feast of the, 86
Crowley, Aleister, 93 equinox Ghosts, 70, 96, 97, 120, 121, 124, 133 Holy Ghost, 43, 50, 55
Crucifixion. 28 Ere ibeji, 38 Gilbert, Humphrey, 39 Holy House of Nazareth, 84-85
Crystal gazing, 39 Erto, Pasquale, 135 Gion, 62 Holy Spirit, 43, SO, 55
Cuffe, Henry, 21 Erzulie Freda (voodoo spirit), 61 Girdle, 130 Holy Week, 28, 30
Custer. George and Elizabeth. 56 Evil Age, 1 34 Glastonbury Thorn, 83 Holy Wells, 40
Cybele (goddess). 24, 27, 42 Evil eye, 28 Glyph, 63 Home, Daniel Dunglas, 63
Cyclops (Navy vessel), 19 Exorcism, 59, 129, 131 Goat, 1 19 Hope, William, 20
Explosion, 57 Godiva, t^dy, 66 Horn Dance, 84-85
D Eyes, 28. 55, 56 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 71, 131 Hot cross buns, 28
Daedalus (frigate), 67 Eyos, 73 Golden Age of Truth, 134 Houdini, Bess, 97
Dalai Lama, 1 10 Golden Dawn, Order of the, 53 Houdini, Harry, 23, 97
Dalrymple, Janet, 71 F Good 28
Friday, Huan Ching, 92
Daniel (biblical figure), 94 Fairies. 34, 100 Gorgets, 76-77 Hungry Ghosts Festival, 70
Dark day, 38 Fall equinox See Autumnal equinox Graceland, 124 Hunting rituals, 85

141
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Husk Faces (gods). 80 Kukulcan (god), 103 Marto. Francisco. 93 Nubaigai, 91

Hussain (grandson of Muhammad), 137 Kumade. 703 Marto. Jacinta. 93 Numa (king of Rome), 37
Marwa, 91
I Mary (biblical figure) See Virgin Mary o
Ibeji. 38 Lakshmi (goddess). 101 Mary Celeste (cargo vessel), 99 Observatories, 12- 13, 28
Ides of March. 22 Lammas. 65. 73 Marzenna. 24 Odin (god), 121 See also Zeus
I
llluminatj. 33 Lantern Festival. 128, 129 Masking rituals, 74-80 Olcott, Henry. 84
Imbolc, 130 Lanyi, Monsignor de. 57 Masks, 25. 72-73. 74-80. 81. 106 Old Woman, 91
Inanna (goddess), 122 Lares (ancestral spirits), 135 Matronalia. 18 Olympic Games, 72
Interplanetary Confederation Day. 93 Larkin (lieutenant). 116 Matthew. Saint, 87 Onions, 21, 114
IntiRaymi, 56 Laurens, Henry. 1 16 Mauch. Karl, 83 Opalia, 1 19
Ironworkers. 103 "Lawless nights,'' 98 May Day, 32. 33. 34, 36. 46 Ops (goddess), 1 19
Ishmael (biblical figure). 91 Leap year. 137 May Eve. 98 Optical disk, 70
Isis (goddess). 23. 62 Lemures. 35 Maypoles. 7. 32. 33
1 Orthodox Church, 30
Ivory. 116 Lemunan Fellowship. 34 Mecca. Saudi Arabia, 90-91 Osiris (god), 88
Ivy. 121 Lent, 28, 136 Medina, Saudi Arabia, 91 Out-of-body experience, 38
Leo (zodiac sign), 63 Meenakshi (goddess), 36 Overlord (secret code name), 34
J Libanius, 1 13 Megaliths, 86 Ovid. 18
Jack-in the Green. 45 Liber (god), 25 Menorah. 121
Jack-o'-lanterns. 96. 97 Liberalia, 25 Mercury (planet), 38 P
Jade Emperor. 126 Libra (zodiac sign), 88 89 Meteor showers, 68, 101 Pales (gods). 31
Jagannath (god). 52-53 Li Chum. 131 Mibu Ohana taue. 46-47 Palladino. Eusapia, 37
Janus (god). 122. 123 Light, Festival of, 92 Michaelmas. 89 Palm Sunday. 28
Jefferson, Thomas, 58 Lilies, 54 Michael the Archangel, Saint, 35, 89 Panathenaea, 60
Jesuits, 33 Lincoln, Abraham, 31 Midnight sun, 37 Pantaleon, Saint, 64
Jesus. 26. 28. 30, 43. 46. 84. 86. 114, 120, Lindbergh. Charles, 38 Midsummer Eve, 49, 56 Parentalia. 133, 135
122. 123. 127 Lion, 63 Millennialism. 122 Parker. Calvin. 92
John. Saint, 56. 95, 121 Lion's Sermon," 94 Miming, 120 Passover, 24, 30
Jol, 121 Little Bighorn River. 56 Mischief Night, 98 Past life regression, 102
Jolnir (god). 121 Loaf Mass, 65. 73 Mistletoe. 97 Patrick, Saint, 19, 22
Jones. Eryl Mai. 95 Loch-mo-Naire, 66 Mithras (god), 120. 121 Patterson, Roger, 95
Joseph. Saint, 23. 84. 95. 114 Loch Ness monster. 63 Moberly. Anne. 68 Peace symbol. 104
Jourdain, Eleanor, 68 Longship. 129 Molay. Jacques de. 21 Pelee, Mount, 35
Judas (biblical figure), 97 Lono (god). 102 "Mooncakes." 89 Pentecost, 43, 50
Jude, Saint. 97 Losar. 107. 108-112. 134 Moon god, 1 1 Perseids, 68
Juggernaut, 53 Loy Krathong. 100 Moon Hare, 89 Persephone (goddess), 86, 130
Julian calendar, 83. 125 Lucia, Saint, 1 1 Morris dancers, 36 Perseus (constellation). 68
Julius (emperor of Rome). 49 Lucifer See Demons Moselle River, 27 Peter. Saint, 105
Jung. Carl Gustav. 64 Lucy and Nancy (ship), 134 Moses (biblical figure), 39 "Pharaoh's curse." 27
Junkanoo. 121 Lug (god). 65 Mosque of Abraham. 91 Philip IV (king of France), 2
Juno (goddess). 49, 50 Lugnasadh, 65 Mosque of the Prophet. 91 Philosophers' stone. 126 '»
Jupiter (god), 24. 103 See also Zeus Lunantishees, 100 Mother Goddess, 20, 42, 51, 130 Phoenix, 95
Jupiter (planet). 86, 103 Lu Pan, 62 Mu. 34 Pied Piper, 56
Lupercalia. 133 Muck Olla (god), 97 Pifferari, 1 14
K Muhammad, 33, 90, 91 Pioneer 10 (spacecraft), inscription on, 19
Ka'ba, 90, 91
Kachina dancers, 132-133
M
Mab (queen of fairies), 88
Muharram, 137
Mukulian Empire, 34
Pisces (constellation), 86
Pisces (zodiac sign), 134
Kachinas. 64 Mabon, 88 Mummies, 26-27 Plains of Arafat, 91
Kalash. 104 McConnell, David, 116 Murphy, Bridget (Bridey), 102 Pleiades (stars), 102
Kali (goddess), 134 Mclntyre, Leslie, 103 Murray, Gilbert, 106 Plesiosaur, 28
Kali Yuga, 134 Magi, 86 Mustangs (airplanes), 124 Plough Monday, 124
Kandinsky, Wassily, 115 Magick, 93 Plowing season. 24 ..
Kanname-Sai. 94 Magpies, 59 N Plutarch. 22
Kashim, 1 1 Mahakala (god), 106 Naga Panchami, 58-59 Pluto (god), 95
Kassada. 126 Mahisasura (demon king), 88 Nagas (gods), 58 Poe, Edgar Allan, 127
Kennedy. John Fitzgerald, 103 Maia (goddess), 1 Namahage, 122 Pompeia, 1 15
Keres, 19 Makahiki, 102 Nepthys (goddess). 85 Pongal, 125
Kermesse, 91. 96 Makara-Sankranti, 125 Neptune (god). 134 Pons Sublicius, 37
Kern babies. 73 Mantell. Thomas. 124 "Nessie," 63 Ponte Rotto, 37
Kidd, James, 54 Mardi Gras, 136-137 Newgrange, 9. 15 Pontifex Maximus (priest), 18, 37
King. Katie. 68 Margaret, Saint, 62 New Year festivals. 20. 2 1 , 23. 25. 26. 29, Possession, 59
Kingfishers.
Kirmes, 96
Kites, 92
1 19 Mariana, Nick, 66
Marie-Antoinette (queen of France), 68
Marjetica, 44-45
32. 58, 63, 89. 96-97, 101. 106-112. 123,
124-125, 128, 129. 132, 134
Nichiren, 85
Potala Palace. 134
Powamu, 133
Prayer flags. / 12
i
Kivas. 133 Mark. Saint. 32 Nicholas (bishop), 1 16 Presley, Elvis, 124
Knights Templars, 21 Marriage bed blessing. 50 Nicholas, Saint, 116 34
Priest.

Kolam, 101 Mars (god). 17. 18. 19. 23. 40. 95 Nile River. 62. 67 ProjectOzma, 28
Koran. 90-91 Mars (planet), 23 Niman dance. 64 Pueblo Bonito, 14
Krafft. Karl Ernst. 99 Martha of Bethany, Saint, 65 Nirvana, 41 Puppets, 37
Krishna (god). 72 Martin. Saint. 100 Noah (biblical figure), 35, 99 Purification rituals, 37, 40. 54, 107, 108,
Krita Yuga, 134 Martinmas. 100 No Ruz. 26 117, 131

142
 7 1 7 1

Pushkin, Alexander, 1 1 Sea serpents, 38, 63, 67, 134 Sunrise Ceremony, 82-83 Vampyre, The (Polidori), 30
Pust (spirit), 44 Seder, 24 Sun shield, 118 Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 40
Pyramids, S-9. /;, 55 Seed-sowing ceremony, 32 Surya (god), 125 Vaudreuil,Comte de, 68
Seiwa (emperor of Japan), 62 Swallows, 23, 95 Venus (goddess and planet), 31, 88

Q
Queen ol Sheba. 136
Serpents, 8-9. 29
Setsubun, 131
Swastika,
Sweat bath,
1 10
1 1
Vernal equinox. See Spring equinox
Versailles Palace, 68
Qu Yuan, 54 Shakespeare, William, 22 Swedenborg, Emanuel, 129 Vesakh, 4
Shamans, 28, 73 Swithin, Saint, 61 Vesta (goddess), 18, 37, 52
R Shark, 28 Sympathetic magic, 120 Vestalia, 52
Radishes, 94 Shavuoth, 39 Vestal virgins, 18, 37, 1 15
Rain god, 34 Sheelah-na-gig (goddess), 22 T Vikings, 129
Rain goddess ritual, 34 Shichi-Go-San, 101 TaChiu, 121 Vinalia, 100
Rain People, 51 Shields, 19, 118 Tanabata Star Festival, 59 Virgin, 71
Raleigh, Walter. 39 Shiva (god), 36, 136 T'ao Yuan-Ming, 84 Virgin Mary, 36, 40, 84, 93, 117, 128, 130,
Ram, 23 Shivaratri, 136 Tarasque, 65 132
Rama (god), 30 Shoemakers, 96 Tari Pennu (goddess), 73 Virgo (zodiac sign), 70-71
Ramadan, 69 Shofar, 89 Tarot cards, 21 Vishnu (god), 30, 36. 52, 67, 72, 91
Ram Navami, 30 Shogun, 84 Taurus (zodiac sign), 31, 38, 55 Voodoo, 61
Raptures," 25 Shrove Tuesday, 45, 136 Tellus (goddess), 29, 129 Voyager (space probes), 70
Reagan, Ronald, 122 Sibylline Books, 27 Templars, 21
Reeves, John, 18
Regeneration ritual, 46
Sickles,65
Siddhartha Gautama, 29, 41, 1 15
Temple of Solomon, 21
Ten Commandments, 39
w
Wakes Sunday, 85
Reincarnation, 41. 102 Silbury Hill, 61 Tenjin, 64 Walpurga, Saint, 32
Rejoicing Day, 26 "Silly season," 49 Teresa of Avila, Saint, 25 Walpurgis Night, 32, 33
Remus, 133 Silver Star, 93 Terminalia, 135 War of the Worlds (Wells), 97
Rex Nemorensis (god), 69 Silvester, Saint, /25 Terminus (god), 135 Wassailing, 126
Rice festivals, 52. 53. 54 Simeon (goblin), 97 Tet, 128 Water Bearer, 127
Richard 111 (king of England), 59 Simeon Stylites, Saint, 63 Theosophical Society, 84 Water buffalo, 131
Robertson, Morgan, 29 Simon, Saint, 97 Thesmophoria, 94 Wedding cake, 50
Robigus (god), 32 Sinai, Mount, 39 Thomson, Charles, 55 Weishaupt, Adam, 33
Robots, 18 Sioux Indians, 56 Thor (god), 64 Well dressing, 40
Rock shelter, 15 Sirius (star), 67 Tiber River, 37, 70 Welles, Orson, 97
Rogation Days, 39 Sita (goddess), 30 Tighe, Virginia, 102 Well of ishmael, 91
Roman calendar, 123 Sitting Bull, 56 Time, theories of, 35, 68 Welschkornnarro, 45
Romulus, 31, 133 Situa, 84 Titanic (ocean liner), 29 Welti, Albert, painting by, 33
Rosh Hashanah, 89 Sizdar-Bedah, 26 Tlacaxipeualiztli, 74 Whaling season, 76
Rosicrucians, 71 Slag heap, 94-95 Tori-No-Ichi, 103 Whirling dervishes, 114-115
Rudra (god), 25 Slaves, 119, 121 Tower of London, 59 White magic, 56
Rymer, John, 63 Snakes, 58-59, 91 Tree, 115 Whitmonday, 43
Snow Festival, 131 Trick-or-treating, 97 Whitsunday, 36, 50-51
Society for Psychical Research (SPR), 135 Triple Blessing, 41 Whitsun King procession, 42-43
Sabbats, 32, 33, 65 Solar calendars, 8-16, 63 Tsampa, 108-109 Wicca, 23, 32, 65. See also Witches
Sacred calendars, 63 Solar temple, 1 Tsiam, 120 Winter solstice, 9, 14, 15, 16, 56, 119, 120,
Sacred Furrow Day, 39 Solstices. See Summer solstice; Winter Tug-of-war, 98 121, 123, 125
Sada, 117 solstice Tutankhamen (pharaoh), 26-27 Witches, 32, 33, 52, 53, 56, 64, 65, 72, 96,
Safa, 91 Son of Sun, 83 Twelfth Night, 123 120, 125. See also Wicca
Sagittarius (zodiac sign), 103 Soubirous, Bernadette, 132 Twins, 38 Witches' Thanksgiving, 88
Saint Germain, Comte de, 136 Souling, 98 Tyi Wara, 32 Wreath. 114
St-John's-wort, 56 Souls, 19, 54, 78
Salat, 33 Soyal, 118 u
Salii, 19 Spider Woman, 1 18 Uffington White Horse, 87 Xipe Totec (god), 74, 75
Samhain, 81, 96-97 Spirit masters, 65 UFOs, 18, 27, 34, 40, 56, 57, 58, 66, 70,
Sanbai-sama (god), 47 Spirit monsters, 48 71,83,86-87,92,93,97, 101, 102, 115, Y
San Juan Capistrano mission, 23, 95 Spirit of SI. Louis (airplane), 38 124, 135 Yams, 78, 100
Santa Claus, 16 1 Spirit photographers, 20 Unarius Foundation, 93 Yeats, William Butler, 53
Santos, Lucia dos, 93 Spiritualism, 26 Unidentified flying objects. See UFOs Yggdrasil, 121
Sarasvati (goddess). 130 Spring equinox, 8, 9, 23, 25, 87 United States, seal of, 55 Yin, 89
Satan See Demons Spring festivals, 27, 39 Up-Helly-Aa, 129 Yodeling, 125
Saturn (god). 118-119, 121 Standing, 91 Uranus (planet), 119, 127 Yom Kippur, 89
Saturn (planet), 86, 119, 127 Star festivals, 59, 132 Ursa Major (constellation), 123 Yule, 121
Saturnalia, 18. 119, 121, 136 Star of Bethlehem, 86 Ussher, James, 35, 96, 99 Yule log, 121, 136
Saut d Eau 61 Steiner, Rudolf, 1 15, 136 Uvani (spirit-guide), 22 Yuletide Lads, I 18
Scales, 88 Stock market crash (1929), 96-97
Scapegoats, 69, 89 Stonehenge, /J, 55 V
Schemenlauf, 123 Sukkoth, 91 Valentine, Saint, 133 Zao Jun (god), 126-127
Scorpio (zodiac sign), 95 Summer solstice, 9, 10, II. 54, 55, 123 Valentine cards, 133 Zarathustra, 82
Scorpion, 94-95 Sun, 6-7, 9, 23, 49, 56, 63, 87, 120 Valley of the Kings, 27 Zeus (god), 51 See also Jupiter; Odin
Scrying, 39 Sun Dance, 56-57 Vampire Night, 81 Zoroaster, 82
Seal, 55 Sun god, 87 Vampires, 104-105 Zoroastrianism, 82, 117

143
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