Could the Graces Bless Us with Joyful New Beginnings!
The start of something is an augury of the entire thing.
RJ Stewart and Anastacia Nutt, Janus Meditation
Blessings to you for the Tarot Yr of Power (or is it Justice?), which final got here calling in 2015. I’ll be writing rather more about this within the coming week.
However meantime, at this time is a really magical day, stuffed with lore and customized.
As I wrote yesterday, all the things you do on this present day has magical implications for the approaching 12 months. So don’t throw something out (even the trash), or lend cash or pay payments.
Should you should carry one thing out, make sure to deliver one thing else in first, ideally the coin or money you hid outdoors final evening!
Since no matter we do on this present day shall be repeated all year long, I prefer to make New Yr’s Day an supreme day, and perform a little of all of the issues I most need to take pleasure in within the coming 12 months.
As an example, it’s good luck to do a little bit of labor on the primary day of the 12 months, so long as you take pleasure in and are profitable at no matter it’s. However greater than a token quantity of labor at this time could be very unfortunate.
Additionally, I’ll not be doing any laundry at this time, lest somebody I like be ‘washed away’ (die) within the upcoming months. The extra cautious warn in opposition to even washing dishes, which is simply nice with me.
Naturally, I’ll put on one thing new, to make sure that new garments shall be coming my manner within the new 12 months, and, similar to my mama taught me, I shall be talking solely candy phrases.
A Little Historical past
New Yr’s, as we now have a good time it, comes from the Romans, who moved the New Yr from Spring Equinox to January in 153 BCE and celebrated with six days of carousing and rejoicing, ending simply because the Twelve Days of Christmas do, on January 6.
They obtained drunk, wore disguises, and stored their tables laden with meals all evening lengthy to make sure a lot within the coming 12 months (and maybe to appease the Fates).
The traditional Romans additionally gave one another small items (referred to as strenae) on this present day, symbolic of fine luck for the brand new 12 months, like cash with the faces of the God Janus on one facet and a ship on the opposite (for He was thought-about the patron of ships and commerce). The fashionable Roman ritual is a plunge within the icy Tiber River.
The English archbishop Boniface, visiting Rome in 742 C.E., complained about how the Kalends of January have been celebrated in Rome with “dancing within the streets, heathenish cries, sacrilegious songs, tables laden with meals and ladies carrying amulets and providing them on the market.”
Subsequently, to considerably dampen the passion, the Roman Catholic Church declared this the Day of the Circumcision. The much less mentioned about this dour determination, the higher.
New Yr’s Across the World
In England, gloves and pins have been the normal New Yr’s items up till the nineteenth century. In France, kids give their mother and father handmade items with a want of “Bonne Année!”
Meals eaten on New Yr’s Day all the time has significance, because it additionally impacts the standard of the approaching 12 months. In historic occasions, the Romans gave associates a glass jar stuffed with dates and dried figs in honey, together with a bay leaf department, so the approaching 12 months could be candy and full of fine fortune.
All through Japan, making ready and serving particular New Yr’s meals are essential rituals. This sacred meal is shared with the kami (spirits) in addition to relations.
Rice is without doubt one of the most essential meals served. It’s specifically ready and shared with the ancestors and the Gods, like Toshigami, the slightly fierce Yr God, who every household hopes will smile upon them, bringing success for the approaching 12 months.
Hoppin’ John
One of many most well-known magical meals to be eaten on New Yr’s comes from the American South. Hoppin’ John is an outdated favourite dish that was a staple of slaves within the antebellum Carolinas, the place African bean stews (additionally discovered within the Caribbean) met the native American rice business and got here deliciously collectively.
Probably the earliest look of the dish by the title Hopping John was in an 1847 cookbook referred to as The Carolina Housewife. Nobody is aware of for certain how the title originated, however one affordable suggestion is that it’s a corruption of the French-Caribbean phrases pois à pigeon, or pigeon pea, a relative of the black-eyed pea, and which might be pronounced “pwah-ah-pee-john.”
Each Southern cook dinner (and cookbook) I know has a recipe for Hoppin’ John, however there are three primary substances that by no means differ (until you’re a vegetarian). The black-eyed peas (generally area peas or crowder peas could also be substituted) are essentially the most essential symbolic meals. In lots of cultures, beans and different legumes are thought to deliver good luck due to their resemblance to cash (which suggests the promise of wealth).
The rice is for fertility (which is why we throw rice at newlyweds with such gusto). And naturally, most aged Southern recipes require that fatback, ham bone, or bacon is used to taste the stew, since pigs are fortunate and cooking up a pig in a pot is an indication of prosperity. Often, simply to make sure loads of further folding money, collards or mustard greens are additionally served on the facet.
Whereas these days, yow will discover Hoppin’ John recipes which can be all stylish and gussied-up, with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black beans, or made with a flowery rice pilaf, I feel that plain and easy is the true spirit of it. It’s simply a mixture of cooked rice, black-eyed peas, and a few type of seasoning (pork, for those who eat it).
As a vegetarian, I skip the ham hocks. However I’ve discovered that authentic Ben’s Wild Rice® (learn the substances fastidiously – some varieties have hen flavoring), simmered with black-eyed peas, served with sides of greens and cornbread makes a nourishing, satisfying meal that has introduced loads of luck to our desk. And as a bonus, I received’t set the tone of the approaching 12 months by having to spend a lot of time within the kitchen.
Blessings of Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia
Thanks, my expensive reader, for subscribing to my publication, for all of the beneficiant feedback you’ve supplied in my “Luminous Sparks,” and particularly the encouragement you ship, which I treasure greater than I can categorical.
As we cross the edge of this New Yr, I name upon the Three Gratiae (Graces) who’re the three Goddesses who have been all the time invoked in historic occasions to make sure success at new beginnings.
Could the Graces illuminate all the times of this 12 months for you.
Could the Gods of a lot bestow upon you extra and finer abundance than you may think about.
And will peace, prosperity, and concord embrace all the times forward, for ourselves and all our relationships.
