The Magical New Yearby Rocky Berlier
In many world traditions, there are numerous celebrations, rituals, rites, festivals and ceremonies designed to honor or celebrate the passage from one year to the next. This is typically a specific day set aside to symbolize the birth of a new cycle. Today we call this New Year’s Day.
In the calendar used by a large portion of the world today, New Years is celebrated on the first day of January. However, from a historical perspective this is a fairly recent (re)occurrence, which borrows itself from an earlier Greco/Roman tradition celebrating the twin headed god Janus – of which the month of January gets it’s name.
Janus was the keeper of the “Portals of Heaven.” The idea of a gate or doorway to symbolically represent the passage from one year to another was integrated into the worship of this god. His twin heads, symbolize the ability to look back on the past year as well as to look forward to the year to come.
The integration of cross-cultural – as well as ancient – beliefs and celebrations into modern celebrations led the ancient historian William Prynne (c.1632) to write:
“If we compare our Bacchanalian Christmases and New Year-tides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we shall finde such affinitye between them… that we must needs conclude that one be the very ape or issue of the other.”
Even in his day, it was understood that the yearly celebrations, to which we give honor, draw their very breath from an earlier time and for a complex variety of reasons.
The Vernal Equinox and the Winter Solstice points carry a long history as the markers of celebrations for renewal and rebirth throughout a wide range of world cultural traditions which span China, Europe, and through the Americas.
Astrology (or astrotheology – the attribution of divinity to astrological concepts) plays a prominent role in the development of these celebrations. Indeed, the understanding of the very existence of these astronomical points was borne from the rigorous observations of ancient astrologers. Understanding the seasonal changes was at the very heart of mankind’s survival as well as our continuing ability to flourish through synchronization with it.
At the Winter Solstice, the Sun moves the furthest south it will travel in the course of any given year. On the day of the solstice, the Sun appears to stand still. This stationary period can last as much as 3 days and is believed to be the source of many stories, legends and tales, which embody the mysterious number 3. For example, Jonah’s 3 days in the belly of the whale (considered by many scholars as a solar myth), or Christ’s decent into hell for 3 days. These writings either knowingly or unknowingly pay homage to this winter solstice phenomenon.
The 3 days of this station is also why Christmas (the Christian celebration of the birth of the “Son of God”) is celebrated after the third day following the winter solstice. In actuality, Christmas is the 4th day from the solstice, however, it marks the first full day of northward movement. In other words, a rebirth!
The solstice is also the point at which the daylight hours have reached their shortest duration giving us essentially the “shortest day of the year”. To the ancients this station became a symbol for the elder darkness of death, whereas it’s return symbolized the birth of an infant of promise.
The imitative magic of the midwinter fires (such as the yule log) was one way to call back the Sun, but it wasn’t the only means available to deliver the “infant of promise” out of the darkness. Just as flame can cleanse and destroy, so the behavior of man can speed up the process of purification needed to bring the new out of the old. The seasonal excesses of Christmas and New Year – two faces of the same rite - have fundamentally this purpose.
These rituals, rites, ceremonies, celebrations, and festivals are some of the many ways that people have chosen to acknowledge the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. Most notably are rituals which “cleanse” or “sweep away” old spirits of the past year and invoke the “good spirits” to enter and bless the year with good fortune and fertility.
This time of year is an excellent time to consider “cleansing” one’s home both, physically (through house cleaning) and spiritually (through ceremony or ritual). Starting the new year with a fresh home environment and inviting “positive energy” to your home is a way to actively participate in the co-creation of the year to come.
Incense, smudge, candles and oils are useful tools for both spirit cleansing and invoking positive vibrations to protect your home and encourage positive growth for your family and loved-ones.
Vision Quest offers an incredible collection of spiritual cleansing tools as well as free handouts which describe thoroughly how to conduct your own spiritual cleansing ceremony for the new year. May your New Year be blessed with love, happiness and prosperity.
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