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Today is

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970); on December 23, 1954, the British philosopher broadcast on 'Man's Peril' – the H-bomb

Note: The solstice (Yule) can occur either on December 21 or 22. 
In the Book of Days, our information is on December 22.

Are you looking for more origins and folklore of Yuletide?
Click for the big Christmas page at the Scriptorium.
Also, this Book of Days has Christmas Eve folklore from many lands.

December 23 is the 357^th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (358^th in leap years), with 8 days remaining.
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Happy Festivus!
(Scroll down; includes audio)

Festivus is one of 25 festive images in the Almanac's Free Screensaver SS2

The Secret of the Unhewn Stone

December 23 is the only blank day of the Celtic tree calendar, and the only day in the year not ruled by a tree and its corresponding Ogham letter. Its name denotes the quality of potential in all things.

The unhewn stone has significance outside the Celtic neopagan tradition. The Freemasons refer in their secret rites to the unhewn stone, the stone that has not been cut by iron. The Biblical Hebrew patriarch and predecessor of Solomon, Enoch, is an important Masonic character. He received the gift of wisdom and knowledge from God and was learned in astronomy and astrology. After receiving God's true name in a dream, Enoch's vision continued and he was taken vertically through nine arches into a subterranean vault that contained a triangular plate of gold upon which was written the name of God. Enoch took the dream as a sign from God and after a long journey through Canaan, or the Holy Land, he excavated nine chambers or 'apartments' vertically into the earth, each covered with an arch, and the lowest hewn out of solid rock. In this apartment he placed an alabaster pedestal and mounted upon it a cube of agate into one side of which he had sunk a triangular plate of gold inscribed with the name of Deity.

Above the chambers, he built a modest temple of unhewn stones with a secret passage into the apartments under a stone with a ring through it.

When Moses returned to his people from Mt Sinai, he was told by God to construct an altar for Him, of simple and pure unhewn stone. The foundations of that altar were to be made of rock upon which no iron had come.

The Bible provides us with the reason for unhewn stones, for Yahweh (the Hebrew God) commanded His altars to be such:

And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
Exodus 20:25 

Candidates into the Rosicrucian order traditionally stand on a carpet upon which an unhewn stone appears opposite to the planet Saturn. The unhewn stone is like the stone which Jacob set up at Bethel when his dream of a ladder, on which angels were ascending and descending, turned his lonely bed into a house of god and a gate of heaven.

Early idols

The earliest physical representations of deities were made simply, often of uncut rock. According to Pausanias, the Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century CE, the Greeks originally used unhewn stones to represent their gods and goddesses, thirty of which Pausanius says he saw in the city of Pharae. These stones were cube-shaped, and because most of them were dedicated to the god Hermes, or Mercury, they received the generic name of Hermae.  

 

Celtic Tree Calendar Months

(Articles evolving in the Book of Days;
tree mythology, folklore, quotes etc)

Beth  Birch  Dec 24* - Jan 20
Luis  Rowan  Jan 21 - Feb 17
Nuin/Nion  Ash Feb 18 - Mar 17
Fearn  Alder  Mar 18 - Apr 14
Saille  Willow  Apr 15 - May 12
Huath  Hawthorn  May 13 - Jun 9
Duir  Oak  Jun 10 - Jul 7
Tinne  Holly  Jul 8 - Aug 4
Coll  Hazel  Aug 5 - Sep 1
Muin  Vine  Sep 2 - 29
Gort  Ivy  Sep 30 - Oct 27
Ngetal  Reed  Oct 28 - Nov 24
Ruis  Elder  Nov 25 - Dec 22
Secret of the Unhewn Stone Dec 23

* The first date is the one with the article for the month

 

The Stone of Scone: A famous rough-hewn stone

A famous rough-hewn stone from the British Isles is the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, and the Coronation Stone (the picture at left shows a ring in it; note the same in Enoch's stone, above). It is a block of sandstone historically kept at the now-ruined abbey in Scone, near Perth, Scotland. It is also known as Jacob's Pillow and as the Tanist Stone.

In Celtic mythology, the Lia Fail or the Cloch na Fail was a magical stone brought to Ireland by the Tuatha de Danaan. When the rightful King of Ireland put his feet on it, the stone was said to roar in joy. This is believed to be the origin of the Stone of Destiny.

Traditionally, it is supposed to be the stone which Jacob used as a pillow. It was originally supposed to have been used as the Coronation Stone of the early Dalriada Scots when they lived in Ireland. When they invaded Caledonia, it is said to have been taken with them for that use. Certainly, since the time of Kenneth Mac Alpin at around 847, Scottish kings were seated upon the stone during their coronation ceremony. At this time the stone was situated at Scone, a few miles north of Perth.

For all its emotional significance to so many people, the Stone of Scone, as it is most popularly called, isn't much to look at. It is a rather plain-looking block of rough-hewn, reddish sandstone measuring 66 cm (26") long, by 40 cm (16") wide, by 28 cm (11") high, and weighing 152 kg (336 lb). It has only one inscription, a Latin cross, which gives no clue as to the Stone's heritage.

Cambray, in his Monuments Celtiques, claimed to have seen the stone when it bore the prophetic Latin inscription:

Ni fallat fatum,
Scoti quocumque locatum
Invenient lapidiem,
regnasse tenetur ibidem – variously translated as

Fate hath designed
That wheresoe'er this Stone
The Scots shall find,
There they shall hold the Throne.

Or,

If the Destiny prove true,
then the Scots are known
to have been Kings
where'er men find this stone.

Also,

Except old seers do feign
and wizard wits be blind,
the Scots in place must reign
where they this stone shall find.

According to one old chronicler, "no king was ever wont to reign in Scotland unless he had first, on receiving the royal name, sat upon this stone at Scone, which by the kings of old had been appointed to the capital of Alba".

The ritual of crowning Scots monarchs while they are seated on the Stone of Scone has been practised for more than 1,000 years, in fulfilment of the ancient prophecy .

But where did this lump of rock, with all its significance, come from? One theory has it that the Stone originates from the Middle East and was subsequently brought to Scotland, arriving in the British Isles around 850 CE. Another says the sandstone block was quarried on the West Coast of Scotland near Oban, while yet another says that it comes from the Irish Kingdom of Dalriada which existed from around 400 CE to about 850 CE.

Legend claims that it is the very stone that the Biblical Jacob used as a pillow at Bethel and then anointed and erected as a pillar. Later, it became the pedestal of the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple at Jerusalem, whence it found its way to Syria. The remarkable stone was taken from Syria to Egypt by one Gathelus, who, in order to escape the plague, was then advised by Moses to set sail from the Nile with his wife and the Stone of Destiny, which he did, the fabulous rock thus arriving in Spain. From there, Gathelus sent the stone to Ireland after he had invaded that country, and it was later removed to Scotland where it stayed in Scone Abbey until Edward I of England carried it off to Westminster Abbey in England in 1296. Seven centuries after it was stolen, on St Andrew's Day, November 30, 1996, Scotland's coronation stone, the Stone of Destiny, was finally installed in Edinburgh Castle.

In dispute
Whether that stone is the real Lia Fail, the true Stone of Destiny, however, is in some dispute. Some say that the true stone is a Shivaite Hindu lingam-shaped one in a field in County Meath, Ireland (pictured), on the Hill of Tara, and it looks nothing like the rock in Edinburgh Castle. Whatever its true provenance, and wherever the fabled rough-hewn stone really is today, which we are likely never to know, the fabled Stone of Scone has had a strange history and continues to exert a powerful influence on the lives of many.

More on the Stone   More    More on the Stone of Scone, in the Book of Days   And more

"Archaeologists believe that the Druids probably used as altars and temples the stone monuments known as dolmens (a type of prehistoric chamber consisting of two or more large, unhewn, stone slabs set edgewise in the earth and supporting a huge flat capstone which serves as its roof. Dolmens were often covered with immense artificial hillocks and were surrounded with a circle of more large unhewn stone slabs that was known as a cromlech.) that are found throughout the areas where Druidism flourished."   Source

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! For all my Yule needs Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald Author Unknown (Examines authorship of 'The Night Before Christmas') Saint Nicholas The Real Santa Claus The Night Before Christmas Iron John The Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ The Dark Side of Christian History 101 Myths of the Bible Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete first (Seinfeld) Season Golden Bough Folklore classic Yule Decking the Halls Folklore & traditions of Christmas plants The Winter Solstice The Fires of Yule A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice Sabbat Entertaining Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions Encyclopedia of Superstitions Philosophy of Popular Superstitions 1853 The Book of Spells Spellcraft The Pagan Book of Days Eight Sabbats for Witches Celebrate the Earth A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition Wheel of the Year Be A Goddess The Wiggles - Yule Be Wiggling Mormon America Beyond Mormonism Out of Mormonism Mormonism Unmasked Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Daily Everything Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Lord of the Rings   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters An Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore; DVD & book The Permaculture Home Garden By Linda Woodrow The Corporation Highly recommended DVD A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives and What We Can Do About It What Would Jefferson Do? By Thom Hartmann How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World Pagan Christianity Songs in the Key of W For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire By James Yee Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr The Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism Lawless World   The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk The God Who Wasn't There A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy When Corporations Rule the World Alternatives to Economic Globalization Feminism Without Borders Commercialization of Intimate Life By Arlie Russell Hochschild The Skeptic's Dictionary Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 365 Goddess Adventures in a TV Nation Michael Moore Drawing Down the Moon Globalization/Anti-Globalization Madame CJ Walker Madam C. J. Walker Body Wisdom More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at   Cafe Diem! Celtic Daily Prayer Dude, Where's My Country? Photo of the day Mother Earth Spirituality Bushwhacked Shamanism Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Day of Hathor, ancient Egypt  (Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar) In Egyptian mythology, Hathor is the mother goddess and goddess of love of ancient Egypt. She was worshipped c. 2700 BCE or possibly earlier, to c. 400 CE, in a cult that flourished in Ta-Netjer ('Land of God' – modern day Dendera, or Dendara) in Upper Egypt, as well as Thebes and Giza, and her priests included both men and women. Other names for Hathor are Het-Hert, Athyr and Hetheru. Her name appears to mean 'house of Horus', a reference to her role as a sky goddess, the 'house' denoting the heavens depicted as a great cow. (At the temple of Queen Nefertari at Abu Simbel, Nefertari is shown as Hathor, and her husband Ramses II is shown in one sanctuary receiving milk from Hathor the cow.) Hathor was often regarded as the mother of the Egyptian pharaoh, who styled himself the 'son of Hathor'. During the Old Kingdom she assumed the properties of an earlier bovine goddess, Bat. She is an ancient goddess and appears to have been mentioned as early as the 2nd Dynasty. Hathor existed for the entire history of the ancient Egyptian culture as a powerful and influential deity. She was goddess of death, and the cow goddess. Her father is the sun god Ra (or Re). She was often described as mother of all pharaohs. In myth, she is referred to as both Ra's Mother and his Daughter, serving as both his purpose to continue his daily cycle (the progression of the sun through the sky), and alternatively as an agent of his will. In the 'daughter' aspect, she sits upon Ra's brow as a coiled cobra, breathing flames and venom at his enemies … More at the Scriptorium's Hathor page   Ursids meteor shower (Dec 17 - 26) Basilindia, ancient Greece (Dec 22 - 28)   Larentalia, Roman Empire Saturnalia (Dec 17 - 23) ends A festival in honour of Larenta (Acca Larentia), the wife of Faustulus and the nurse of Romulus and Remus, or the she-wolf that suckled them. She was also called Lupa on account of her 'loose morals' – she-wolf (lupa), prostitute (lupa). After the death of her wealthy husband, she inherited his fortune, and donated it to Rome, a generosity which the Romans celebrated with an uproarious feast. The sacrifice in this festival was performed in the Velabrum at the place which led into the Nova Via, which was outside of the old city not far from the Porta Romanula. Acca is an obscure Latin word: in Greek akko means a 'ridiculous woman' or 'bogey'; in Sanskrit akka means 'mother'. Acca Larentia, therefore, would appear to be the Mater Larum (Mother of the Lares) showing that she was originally a goddess of the earth, to whom men entrusted their seed-corn and their dead. She is also called Lara, Larunda, Larentina and Mania. In the old Roman calendar, this day was called the Brumalia, the shortest day of the year. Festivities took place at the foot of the Palatine between the Circus Maximus and the Tiber. This is also the seventh, and last, day of the Saturnalia. The Saturnalia is one of the most festive and uninhibited holidays that the ancient Romans celebrated. The Larentalia was also held on the last day of April. Known as the Larentia, today was sacred to the goddess Laurentina, mother of the Lares, an earth goddess who guards the dead and seed corn. It commemorates the old year and potential of the new.   Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 140 Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    More   Ziemassvetki, ancient Latvia One of the two most important holidays, the other being Jani. Ziemassvetki celebrated the birth of Dievs, the highest god of Latvian mythology. The two weeks before Ziemassvetki are called Zveru laiks, the 'season of animals'. During the festival, candles are lit for Dievs and Martins and a fire is kept burning until the end, when its extinguishment signals an end to the unhappiness of the previous year. During the ensuing feast, a space at the table is reserved for Dievs, who was said to arrive on a sleigh. during the feast, certain foods were always eaten: bread, beans, peas, beer, pork and pig snout and feet. Carolers (Kaladnieces) went door to door singing songs and eating from many different houses.   Celtic tree month of Ruis (Elder) Nov 25 - Dec 23 ends Halcyon Days, ancient Greece and Rome (Dec 14 - 28)   Advent (Nov 30 - Dec 25), season of the coming of Jesus Christ Las Posadas, Mexico (Dec 16 - 25) Feast day of St Agathopus Feast day of St Anatolia Feast day of St Basilides Feast day of St Dagobert II of Austrasia Feast day of St Helen Guerra Feast day of St Herman of Scheda Feast day of St Saturninus, one of the Martyrs of Crete Feast day of St Servulus, confessor Feast day of the Ten Martyrs of Crete who died in the persecutions of Decius Feast day of St Theodulus Feast day of St Thorlac Thorhallsson Feast day of St Victoria, virgin and martyr (Cedar of Lebanon, Pinus cedrus, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) Victoria's legend states that she was stabbed through the heart in 250 at Trebula Mutuesca (today Monteleone Sabino) or at a place called Thora, Thyrum, or Thurium (the identity of the place is not clear). An elaboration on her legend states that her murderer was immediately struck with leprosy, and died six days later. Victoria is associated with Ss Anatolia and Audax, and a serpent. Anatolia was also killed in 250 either at Trebula. Her legend states that she was at first locked up with a poisonous snake which refused to bite her, whereupon a soldier named Audax was sent into her cell to kill her. The snake attacked him instead, but Anatolia saved him from the snake. Impressed by her example, he converted to Christianity and was martyred by the sword with her. More Feast day of St Vintila of Orensee Feast day of St Zeticus Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints     Þorláksmessa, feast day of St Thorlakur, Iceland "Born in Iceland, he became a deacon when he was fifteen and was ordained when he was eighteen. He was sent abroad to study, reportedly visited London, and returned to Iceland in 1161. He founded a monastery at Thykkviboer, became its abbot and in 1178 was named bishop of Skalholt, one of the two dioceses of Iceland. He reformed the see, insisted on clerical discipline and celibacy, abolished lay patronage and fought simony. He planned to resign and retire to Thykkviboer, but he died on Dec. 23 before he could do so. He was canonized by the the Iceland Althing five years later, but his cult has never been formally approved by the Holy See."   Source "In past centuries fresh fish was a common food on Þorláksmessa in Iceland. The origins of the tradition of eating fish on Þorláksmessa is that this is the last day of the Catholic Christmas fast, and of course people weren't expected to eat meat on this day. The tradition continued after the country converted to Lutheranism, because this was a busy day, and food had to be quick and simple. (No work was done on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so everything had to be ready by Christmas Eve.) "   Source Meat Hook "On 23 December, St. Þorlákur's Day, Ketkrókur (Meat Hook) arrives. He adores all meat. In olden days he would lower a hook down the kitchen chimney and pull up a leg of lamb hanging from a rafter, or a bit of smoked lamb from a pan, as smoked lamb was traditionally cooked on St. Þorlákur's Day."   Source   Pictures of the Christmas lads by Halldor Petursson See Tulya's E'en – The Return of the Dead, Orkney Islands in the Book o