Hello everyone, this is Casimir back once again with a new article on folklore and history from around the world. I would be remiss if I did not touch on Spring festivals from history, many of which still are celebrated today. Note from Mynogan: We were going to post this in March, but it appears that I forgot to hit the “publish” button. Please accept our apologies.
Humanity has always had a very understandable fascination with the Solstices and Equinoxes. We built festivals around them to mark these days of importance on our pale blue dot. Spring festivals held a particular importance to humanity, offering a restoration of hope against the dark chill of winter (we folk who live in the midwest know that spring is no protection from winter). These celebrations range from the destruction of an effigy of winter, the warming of a god, the ascension of a king, or the praising of a dragon and ritualistic cleansing. I’m going to talk briefly about a few from around the world.
I’m going to begin with the celebration of Nowruz. This historically Iranian celebration has its basis in the religion of Zoroastrianism and the ancient Iranians’ mythical king Jamshid. The winters are harsh everywhere, ancient Persia was no different from that. The folklore tells of a winter that was going on without end, threatening to wipe out the world. To defeat the winter, Jamshid built a throne covered in beautiful jewels and commanded daemons to raise him high into the air, where he shone like the sun, saving the world from freezing. All of the creatures of the world showered him in jewels and proclaimed him the New Day or Now Ruz. The celebration is of the life giving nature of the sun. Today, of course, the traditions have changed, though some things still echo the ancient times. Now, Nowruz is a time of gathering together, renewing after the winter, and welcoming in the new days of spring. If you’d like to know more about the origins of Nowruz, I recommend reading the essay The Legend of the flood in Zoroastrian Tradition by Mahnaz Moazami.
Going east again before going west, the next tradition I’m going to talk about is the Zhonghe Festival. This is a festival from China that is celebrated on the second day of the second month of the Chinese Calendar. Its name means “dragon raising its head”. As the dragon was believed to be in charge of rain, an obviously important part of agriculture. This festival took place at about the time that insects began to awaken and the arrival of the first rains of spring. The festival was held to ensure a good harvest, and the Dragon King, Tu Di Gong was also worshiped, in hopes of inviting the dragon to bring rains for a plentiful harvest..Herbs known to have insecticidal qualities were also burned at this time in the home to help clear away any pests. The festival is still today celebrated in many similar ways; the perfumes in particular still remain, though instead of killing insects they now are for good fortune and tradition. I was woefully unable to find a source on the Zhonghe festival that I found acceptably scholarly enough. If anyone knows of a good scholarly source, or would be willing to lend a bit more informed information that could be added to the comments I would be eternally grateful.
Going West again, we look upon the Celebration of Hilaria. It is a celebration of Cybele and her consort Attis. Attis is a fertility god, and a god of vegetation in particular. He, like the plants of the world, was known for his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection the spring. Hilaria is the celebration that brings about his resurrection, and the verdant Spring. According to the myth, Attis was dying, left exposed on a river in the cold. Attempt to save and warm him, Cybele wrapped him in wool and wreathed him in violets, these representing the pine, which stayed green and had been adorned with early flowers by the goddess, bearing witness to the unfortunate dying of Attis. When the goddess was unable to bring him back, she mourned and committed self mutilation, only then a miracle happened, and Attis was restored to life. The Romans celebrated Hilaria in a manner that symbolized the struggles of the gods. A pine was wrapped in wool and violets, ritualistic mourning, and self mutilation was performed. Then a day of joy happened, and Hilaria was celebrated properly, as opposed to the mourning of the first few days of the celebration. If you would like to read more about Hilaria I recommend reading The Cults of the Roman Empire, by Robert Turcan, as well as the contemporary account by Sallustius in his The Gods and The Cosmos.
Last, but not least, though definitely having the least information is the burning and drowning of the effigy of Marzanna. Marzanna is the Polish name for the Goddess of winter, death, and dreams. Historically, the death of Marzanna represented the coming of spring and the arrival of the spring goddess Vesna. The burning and drowning of the effigy of Marzanna continues to this day all across eastern Europe. The ritual changes from place to place, but regardless it ends in the destruction of the goddess’s effigy and the arrival of spring. The drowning of Marzanna is perhaps representative of her descent into underworld, only to be reborn for the next year’s winter. The destruction of the effigy was attempted to be banned, converted, and otherwise changed by the Catholic Church a hilarious amount of times. Given that it is still called the effigy of Marzanna, you can see the effective the Church’s efforts had. You can find more information of pre-christian Slavic folklore in Saxo Grammaticus on Slavic Pre-Christian Religion: The Relevant Fragments from Book XIV of Gesta Danorum (Sielicki’s History Singles) arranged by Stanislaw Sielicki.
This is all that I have for today though. I know that I only touched upon each of these a little bit, though I will tell you I plan on reading Sielicki’s Saxo Grammaticus and will be certain to write a review of it for you all to read. Until that point though, I hope you have enjoyed our discussion of mythology folklore, and history on History with The Skald’s Circle. If you’d like to know more, or perhaps discuss it with me I’m always more than willing. Also, if you have something you would like us to research, please let us know! If you learned something new, give us a like, and let us know, we really appreciate being noticed… Until then, I’ll be back next week with another fascinating topic. This is Casimir, signing off, and remember, always check your sources very very carefully, our culture, and our history depends on it.