its that time of the month....

Its been a strange year for me... starting on new years eve (which to you is last year, but not to me... more of that later...) and carrying through to today.... its a topsy turvy twisty turny life I lead.... apparently.... but back to years.... I well remember the "end of te world " mania around the so-called "millenium" with those Christian groups, and others who should have known better worrying about God's second coming.... even I, as a non-Christian got a little worried... not about God, as such, but about some loon trying to do God's work and stirring up armageddon.... but when all is said and done (as ABBA so famously said) its all just numbers.... I mean, some of us pagans number this year 1007 after the discovery of Vinland.... some of us use the Christian years... and I, along with many others, don't use numbers at all.... I name the years after significant events... so therefore I don't know what year I'm in until after its over... and to explain more about New Year.... the secular year begins Jan 1st, at midnight... the tax year on April 4th if i remember correctly... then we have Chinese new year, Jewish new year, Islamic new year... but I still get weird looks when, in October, I tell people to have a happy new year.... that's right, our year begins in October... technically it begins with the first frost, but to make it easier we begin it at sundown on the day of the new moon nearest the end of October, or on the day usually called Hallowe'en.... sundown?? Yes, as our tales tell that the world began in the cold and dark.... so our day begins in the dark, once the sun goes down, and continues to the next sundown... and then the year begins in winter... and we have thirteen months....as there are thirteen new moons in every year, and a month is literally a "moon..." which can get confusing, especially as pagans themselves don't really agree how many we have, and what they're called.... for example, to me, we are in Hred month.... the month sacred to Hred... new year falls in Winterfilth, or the time of tree felling for winter... but to some , we are in Barren Moon.... mind i always find it strange that, although we live in a supposedly Christian country, and the secular calendar has Latin months, we have kept a tight hold on the days.... our Monandaeg, Tirsdaeg, Odinsdaeg, Thorsdaeg, Freyrsdaeg, Saetaresdaeg and Sonndaeg are recognisable to all... but I digress.... I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't really matter what we call the days... or the months, or the years.... we all, as Philip Larkin would have said, live in the same ones..... regardless of the International Date Line.... but there we are.... the only alendar that really worries me is that one that counts downwards.... lets hope they're not right... until all our days become nights Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!