* 1/1: New Year’s Day (Gregorian Calendar).* 12/21 to 1/9: Hopi & Zuni Soyala New Year Festival of purification and renewal.
* 12/25 to 1/5: Yule--Old Anglo-Teutonic festival honoring God Freyr, Goddess Freyja, and God Balder.* 1/1 to 1/4: Tewa Turtle Dance--celebrating life and the first Creation, when Sky Father embraced Earth Mother and all life was conceived.* 1/1 eve to 1/4 eve (1/3 peak): Quadrantid Meteor Showers.* 1/1 to 1/6: Shogatsu/Shinto New Year’s Festival--The Kami (Nature Spirits) of the four directions are honored, and prayers for happiness, good health, and prosperity are made. The Kami are manifestations of the one universal, primordial and eternal, immanent and transcendent Deity, Kuni-Tokotachi-no-Kami.* 1/3 (12:00 a.m. EST): Earth Perihelion--when the Earth is closest to the Sun.
* 1/5 (8:28 p.m. EST): New Moon.* 1/5: Mindfulness Day--Zen Buddhist day for being mindful of the peace, joy, and beauty of the moment.* 1/5: Avian Day--Day to honor all creatures of the air and to meditate on Deity manifesting as birds.* 1/5 eve to 1/6 eve: Feast of Old Greek Goddess Hekate, who guides all through transitions and crisis.* 1/6 (OC 1/19): Epiphany--Christian feast recalling the adoration of Child Jesus by the Magi, and the beginning of Rabbi Jesus’ ministry of love to humanity - when He changed water into wine at Cana.* 1/6 eve: Rosh Chodesh--Jewish women gather to worship the Shekhinah, the feminine manifestation of Elohim, the one universal Deity; and to pray and act for peace, social justice, and environmental healing.* 1/7: Koshogatsu--Shinto rite honoring Goddess Izanami, partner of God Izanagi. They created Nature and the Kami.* 1/7: Orthodox Christian Christmas.* 1/8: Death day of Galileo (1642), astronomer; day to mourn the persecution of scientists by religious authorities.
* 1/13 to 1/25 (I 1/25): Old Norse Mid-Winter Feast--Offerings were made to the Deities (particularly Jord, Thor, and Freyr) for growth of crops.* 1/14: Makar Sakranti--Beginning of Hindu pilgrimage to holy rivers to bathe and pray, to purify themselves of their sins. Hindus believe all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the limitless, immanent, and transcendent Brahman.* 1/14: Day Tibetan Buddhists meditate on Buddha Deities Amitayus and White Tara, who grant good health and long life. In Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are symbolic abstractions and aspects of Adi-Buddha - the masculine and feminine, transcendent and immanent Absolute.* 1/14 to 1/16: Old Egyptian Festival honoring the unseen Neteru Amen and Amenet. Egyptians perceived the many Gods and Goddesses (Neteru) to be aspects of the one God-Goddess Neter-Neteret.
* 1/15: Feast of the Black Christ.* 1/15 (Obs. 1/21): Birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929), Baptist preacher and non-violent advocate for the rights of African Americans.* 1/15: First appearance of Our Lady of Banneux, Virgin of the poor, the sick, and the suffering (Belgium 1933).* 1/20: Beginning of Aquarius (the Water Bearer).* 1/20 (9:35 p.m.) to 1/21 (2:50 a.m. EST): Total Lunar Eclipse (visible in North America).* 1/20 to 1/28: Navajo Sing--Festival in preparation for the coming agricultural season; celebrated with prayer, chanting, dancing, and healing.* 1/21 (12:16 a.m. EST): Full Moon (Cold/Seed Moon).* 1/22: Day the Supreme Court recognized women’s right to reproductive autonomy (1973).* 1/24 to 2/1: Sementivae--Old Roman festival of sowing, honoring Earth Goddess Terra, Grain Goddess Ceres, and Seed Goddess Proserpina.* 1/31: Birthday of Fr. Thomas Merton (1915), Catholic mystic and poet, who found Deity in stillness and silence.* 1/31 eve to 2/2 eve: Imbolc/St. Brigid’s Day--Old Celtic/Irish feast of Goddess Brigid; merged with the Christian feast of St. Brigid. Fires were lit to welcome Her as She traveled about blessing fields, animals, and people.* 1/31 eve to 2/3 eve: Mid-Winter/Groundhog’s Day/Candlemas--Festival marking the transformation from death to life - the beginning of the agricultural year, awakening of hibernating animals, and return of migrating birds and fish. Observed with a candlelight procession to bless fields and seeds, recognition of newborns, and contemplation of life.Excerpted fromTHE MYSTIC'S WHEEL OF THE YEAR 2019A Multifaith Calendar Reflecting Eco-Egalitarian Spirituality© 2018 Marija Miovskiwww.WheeloftheYear.com
