A Happy and Prosperous 2013! May you always have good food, good company, and a good fire.

Solstice Morn on the 22nd Floor

Whilst I was happy to spend Solstice Eve at home with my family, I had to spend the night at work. You really can't have your heathen cake and eat it two when a festival falls on a working day.

But, as you can see, it wasn't so bad. My friend and I said our prayers to the reborn sun beside my window, an hour before heading home for the super awesome 4 day weekend. Nothing fancy, though. Not even something that resembles a basic ritus. No pictures, no fire, no incense. Just us and the rising sun, and our hymns of praise. Well, I reckon if you want to praise a physical celestial being, that's all you really need. Hail the newborn Sun! He... she... ze was spectacular. 

Rejoice

For tonight, the old sun-wheel sets. For tomorrow, a new one is reborn.



Holiday posts coming soon! I'm having a 9-day week off of work. WOOOHOO!

A Syncretic Advent

Yes, I'm celebrating Advent. Of course, by Advent I don't mean the Christian one but my own. Actually, I think it's more accurate to say not the purely Christian Advent nor the pre-Christian one, but the joining of both. A syncretic Advent. After all, to go back to the ways of my ancestors and bring them into the current age, I must cross hundreds of years of Christianity. Surely, some original Christian traditions have crept into our modern Paganisms, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

In our family's cultus (which includes Catholic traditions for some of us), I have retained the lighting of 4 Advent candles to herald the coming of the Saviour (which could be Christ's birth or Dionysos' rule, depending on who you ask in our family), and a 5th white candle to mark the rebirth of the Unconquerable Sun.

In addition, I have made it into a tradition to hang symbolic gifts on the Holiday Tree every week of Advent. On the 1st Sunday, I hung 12 candy canes to represent the 12 months of the year; and this Sunday, I perched 2 ornamental birds to represent the Sun's companions, Dawn and Dusk.

What will I hang on the 3rd Sunday? We'll all have to wait and see.

Romans, Greeks, and Names

Am I Graeco-Roman or Romano-Hellene? When is one a Hellenised Roman and when a Romanised Hellene? Or does Roman, in itself, suffice? Or perhaps Philhellene?

Trivial perhaps, but I have found these questions fundamental to my identity as a multiracial polyethnic polytheist. Your help will be appreciated to figure what the heck I am or what to call myself.