April 3, 2007

• April 3

  Megalisia:  This is a Phrygian festival in honor of Cybele, the Magna Mother (Great Mother) that was adopted by the Romans.  The story goes that a Sibylline oracle advised the Romans to bring the meteorite which represented Cybele from Phrygia to Rome as a way to end the 2nd Punic War.  In 204 BCE the Cybele was placed in the Temple of Victory.  The following harvest was great and the war ended the next year. 

  The Romans celebrated Megalisia on April 3 with a parade in which the image of the Cybele was carried through the streets in a chariot drawn by lions, her animal.  Her priests danced along side her image throwing flowers everywhere and gashing themselves in her honor. 

  Lucretius says :with bronze and silver they strew all the paths of her journey...and snow rose blossoms over her."

  This is from Rufus, Anneli  The World Holiday Book Harper SF 1994 from The School of the Seasons website. 

  As an aside, it is believed that the Phrygians were among those migrating peoples known as :Sea Peoples" who destroyed the Hittite Empire.  They originated in the Danube area and migrated into Thrace.  Later they crossed the Dardanelles settling in and around Troy.  Eventually the spread over western Anatolia.

  The Phrygian Kingdom comprised a confederation of peoples which ruled from central Anatolian plateau.  They established themselves as a strong and powerful kingdom around the 8th century BCE when they became a noticeable political and military power.

  For your further edification, the Cybele rules fertility, forests, mountain, bees, androgeny, fortresses, turrets, bulwarks, city walls, holy madness, religious ecstasy, untamed nature, single motherhood, building with stone and reproduction of wild plants and animals.  She is the matron of eunuchs, transvestites and the trans-gender community

  Her worship is a mystery region that originated in Asia Minor then spread through Europe to North Africa.  Her feast days include June 23, a spring festival from Mar 15 to 27 and April 3.  This info mostly comes from www.open-sesame.com/cybele

  Birthday of Washington Irving:  He was born in 1783 in New York City near the end of the Revolutionary War.  His parents, Scottish-English immigrants, were great admirers of General George Washington and named their son after their hero.

  Irving had many interests that included writing, architecture, landscape design, traveling and diplomacy.  He is best known as the first American to make a living solely from writing.

  In 1809 using the pen name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, he wrote "A History of New York" that describes the lives of the early Dutch settlers of Manhattan.  This where the NYC basketball team got their name, the NY Knicks.

  In 1828 the Spanish elected Irving to the Real Academia de la Historia.  And in 1830 he received a gold medal in history from the Royal Society of Literature in London.  In 1842, having been trained as a lawyer, President Tyler appointed him Minister (Ambassador) to Spain.

  In 1832 Irving established his home Sunnyside in Tarrytown.  He never married or had children.  Instead he shared his home with his brother, Ebenezer, and his 5 daughters.

  On November 28, 1859, on the eve of the civil Ware, Washington Irving died at Sunnyside surrounded by his family.

  Information taken from www.hudsonvalley.org

  Feast Day of St. Isodoire, Bishop of Seville:  He was born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560 and died April 4, 636.  His two brothers were both bishops and his sister was a saint.

  He is the Patron Saint of the Internet because of his compilation called Etymologies, an encyclopedia of all the knowledge ancient as well as modern of his time.  In it many fragments of classical learning are preserved which otherwise would have been hopelessly lost.  Like the Internet, his sources and explanations were not always accurate but his desire to proved the most extensive information was.

  At the 4th National Council of Toledo, St. Isidoire influenced the bishops to establish seminaries in their cathedral cities hoping that the resources of education would counteract the growing influence of Gothic barbarism.  The 8th great council of Toledo styles him "the excellent doctor, the late ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man, given to enlighten the latter ages, always to be named with reverence."

  Artemis the Savior:  This is a Greek lunar festival which takes place on the 6th day of Mounichion which honored Artemis Soteria, Artemis the Savior.

  The story is told that an enemy force set out for Magaera during the time of the Persian War.  Knowing themselves to be outnumbered and out armoured, the Megaerans prayed to Artemis for help.  That very day a mysterious woman appeared on the road to Megaera and was captured by the Persians.  She successfully bargained for her life by offering to guide the army through the forested hills during the night so that the Persians could mount a surprise attack.  However, once deep in the woods with paths leading in all directions, the woman disappeared leaving the Persians a full day's march from Megaera and unsure of which way to go.  Aretmis then sent her animals to torment the Persians  causing them to panic and uselessly expend their arrows.  When the Persians finally arrived at Megaera, they were exhausted and out of arrows.  The Megaerans handily routed the enemy.  In gratitude to Artemis, they built a huge temple in her honor.

   

   

   

   

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