Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

Book II: Rites & Rituals 107
year. Unlike most other new year celebrations, Maal Hijra is usually quiet. Muslims gather in
mosques for special prayers and readings, reflecting on the passing of time and their own mortality.
A major component is the telling of the hegira, Muhammed’s flight from Medina to Mecca.
Here are some other dates for new year celebrations in different cultures:
• In the Eastern Orthodox Church, New Year’s Day (also a celebration of the infant Jesus’
circumcision) is on January 14 (January 1 in the Julian Calendar). Many predominantly Eastern
Orthodox countries celebrate both the Gregorian and Julian New Year holidays, with the
Gregorian day celebrated as a civic holiday and the Julian date as a religious holiday.
• The Vietnamese New Year—the Tet Nguyên Ðán—is usually the same day as the Chinese
New Year.
• The Tibetan New Year, called Losar, is celebrated from January through March.
• The Iranian New Year, called Norouz, is the day of the Vernal Equinox, commencing the
Spring season.
• In the Bahá’í calendar, the new year occurs on the Vernal Equinox and is called Naw-Rúz.
• The Teluga New Year generally falls in the months of March or April, when the people of
Andhra Pradesh, India, celebrate the advent of lunar year.
• The Thai, Cambodian, and Laos New Years are celebrated from April 13-15 by throwing
water.
• The Bengali New Year, Poila Baisakh, is celebrated on April 14 or 15 in a festive manner
in both Bangladesh and West Bengal.
• The Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash, is celebrated on September 11.
• The Gujarati New Year is usually celebrated two days after the festival of Diwali (held in
mid-November).
• The Assyrian New Year, or Rish Nissanu, occurs on the Vernal Equinox on March 21,
commencing Spring.
• The Punjabi New Year, Vaisakhi, is celebrated on April 13 and celebrates the harvest.
• Hola Mohalla, New Year’s Day in the Sikh Nanakshahi calendar, is on March 14.
Lunar & Solar Eclipses
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon in orbit passes through the shadow of the Earth
cast by the sun. Similarly, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth
and the sun, and the shadow of the moon falls across the Earth in a narrow swath from west
to east. Eclipses may be partial (the Earth’s shadow only covering part of the moon, or the
moon only covering part of the sun), annular (in the case of a solar eclipse when the moon
is farther away from Earth, and a ring of sunlight shows around it) or total (when the moon
passes completely within the shadow of the Earth, or completely covers the face of the sun).
Eclipses, of course, can only be viewed from certain places—from the facing hemisphere of
the Earth for a lunar eclipse, or along the narrow band of the Earth across which the Lunar
shadow passes in the case of a solar eclipse. For exact times and viewing locations, see
NASA’s eclipse page: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
Eclipses are amazing experiences, and perfect opportunities for powerful rituals. Of
course, given the physics of the situation, lunar eclipses occur only at the full moon, and
solar eclipses only at the new moon, so these naturally lend themselves well to being utilized
for power-raising at full and dark moon Esbats. There is a palpable force in these alignments
that can energize a well-constructed Circle like charging a battery—especially one held within
a consecrated henge of wood or stone.
The most powerful ritual I ever engaged in was during a total eclipse of the sun. The
ritual took place at a full-scale replica of Stonehenge, restored on the bleak and barren bluffs
above the Columbia River in the State of Washington, on February 26, 1979. I will include
this particular ritual later in this chapter.