With Summer Solstice right around the corner I thought I would share this break down of how Christians (more specifically Mormons) can celebrate the natural seasons. I wrote this up for a board I'm on. Enjoy :)
Imbloc, Feb 1st
Candle making as light of Christ, bringing the warmth of Christ into our hearts during the last throws of the cold months.
Ostara, Spring Equinox
Easter of course! (Easter is day is picked thusly; the first Sunday after the first full moon after Spring Equinox! smile) Painted eggs and all signs of fertility remind us how Christ was resurected and how we may all be resurected through faith in Him. A time for cleaning out and blessing our lives being reborn in the spirit of the Living Christ.
It is also very near or on Spring Equinox that Joseph had the first vision so I like to celebrate that as well. The prophet of God went to nature to ask his question of the Divine and it was revealed to him in the sacredness of nature smile
Beltane, April 30th - May 1st
Lambs, lambs, lambs - reminder that Jesus was the lamb of God. Restoring the gospel of the lamb as in 1 Nephi 13:26 "taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away." There is one shepard over the earth and that is God, 1 Nephi 41
Ether 13:10 in the B of M and is one of my personal favorites.
"And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel."
Summer Solstice, June 21st
The Sun is at it's highest - celebrating the Son of God
Relevent Gospel: On April 3, 1836 Joseph Smith received a vision along with Oliver Cowdery. The message of that vision was set down as Doctrine and Covenants 110. In section 3 we see Christ personified as nature.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:"
The manner of his body, his eyes and hair described as snow and fire. His body being both ice and flame. The yin and the yang, the feminine and the masculine, light and dark. A paradox of balance. Christ embodies winter and summer at the same time. The mid of the year, the sun in the middle of the sky at full brightness and warmth.
Lammas, August 1st and Mabon, Fall Equinox, September 21st
The havest holidays!
Utah Mormon pioneers knew of the hard work required for a bountiful harvest. They named one of their early towns Bountiful, UT where they kept communal grain storage bins.
In the book of Mormon we find reference to the harvest in Alma 17:13 "..that they seperated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken."
What work have we undertaken this year? What awaits us at harvest time and have we put our faith in the Lord that we shall reap what we have sewn?
We see refence to the Lord of the Harvest in Alma 26:5; "Behold the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with you might, yea, all the day long did ye labor: and behold the number of your sheaves!"
Alma 26 goes on to say in verse 7; "But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day."
On the last day of this earth we will all reap what we have sewn and be lifted up to become one with the Lord of all creation.
Samhain, October 31st - Nov 1st
Dia del los Meurtos and Halloween - a time to celebrate our beloved dead, our ancestors smile Family history work, scrapbooking, submissions for Temple work, etc (if you read this falls SageWoman magazine, found at Borders or Barnes and Nobel book stores as well as many health food stores I did my whole article -called Peaceful Mom- on fun family activites surrounding ancestors smile
Yule, December 21st
This is so much like Christmas it's actually redundit to celebrate both LOL! However the basic theme in our family is the day after Yule the sun is reborn. Yule is the longest night of the year, the night where we have the most darkness right before Christ's birth - as the sun is reborn so is the Son! Bringing us His ever growing light and nurishment to get us through the dark, cold days of winter.
