With
Chinese New Year upon us, this may be a good time for a word on lunar
calendars. Many pagans, timing rituals
as they do by the Full and New Moons, are apt to mark time using a lunar
calendar. The specifics of the calendar
can take several different forms. The
Chinese lunar calendar, for example, begins with the New Moon closest to their
equivalent of Imbolc, which means it can occur in either January or February.
English
author Robert Graves virtually invented the so-called Celtic tree-calendar in
his landmark 1948 book, The White Goddess. Beginning with the winter solstice, Graves divided
the year into thirteen months of 28 days each, plus one intercalary day (two on
leap years). While this calendar has the benefit of fixed dates, I personally
don’t see it as “lunar”, as it’s independent of the lunar phases. Still, this system has been popularized by
Llewellyn Books through their calendars, so many solitary pagans use it to mark
time.
An
interesting variation on this is the calendar presented by Canadian
hedgewitch Jean Kozocari. In her 1994 Book of Days, Kozocari and others proposed a fixed 13-month
calendar beginning at Samhain, the pagan New Year. Graves’ tree-months (Birch, Rowan, Ash, etc.)
were still kept, but shifted to the revised New Year, with Birch beginning in
November. This still doesn’t work for
me, though it may for some.
My
personal preference, which I’ve been using in my Almanack since I began using
it in the mid-nineties, is a lunar calendar beginning with the New Moon closest
to the Winter Solstice. Over the course
of the year this works out to be about 12-1/2 lunar months, so the last
(Ruis/Elder) lunar month of one year is often the same as the first
(Beth/Birch) of the new. A number of
published calendars use this system.
Beginning
this month, I’ll list both the Graves’ tree month dates and the Winter Solstice
“lunar month” dates, both as an exercise and for those of you who prefer the
system of Graves and Llewellyn.
February Events:
Note these events are listed for information purposes only. Dates and
locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed
anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MST.
Feb 1-2: Traditional Imbolc.
Feb 2,
7:00 am: Groundhog Day Pancake Breakfast
at Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre, south of Crossiron Mills. Balzac Billy
prognosticates at 8:10 am.
Feb 4,
7:30 pm: COGCOA Coffee Cauldron. http://www.cogcoa.ab.ca
Feb
7: Birthday of Margarian Bridger
(1957-2016), founder of Evergreen Tradition.
Feb 10, 5:23
pm: Full (Snow or Quickening) Moon.
Penumbral lunar eclipse.
Feb 11,
10:00 am: Calgary New Age Craft Market
at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall.
Feb 14: Valentine’s
Day.
Feb
18: Luis/Rowan tree month begins,
according to Robert Graves.
Feb
19: Dances with Witches. Info: Calgary
Pagan Network on Facebook.
Feb
20: Family Day (Alberta).
Feb 25,
7:00 pm: Heathen Meet and Greet. Info: Calgary Heathens on Facebook.
Feb 26, 7:58
am: New Moon. Nion/Ash lunar month
begins.
