If You Could Choose An Instrment..

[Pete Dunk]

As for thread drift - it's a disgrace - you'll never find me guilty of that

[bill_mchale]

I don't know what planet you're from but the pagan rites of Beltane (May Day) happen on the first of May around here. tongue.gif Here's a little info gleaned from the net... Oh and I'm still on topic because Beltane has Celtic origins and is celebrated with music. smile.gif

Aha NO! You were quoting from the Hal an tow that happens on Flora day, May 8th and they've always told me that it's old May day, the Christians having arbitrarily interpolated some extra days into the calender in the past (but not all of them, which is why Orthodox churches have their ceremonies later, apparently).

 

Why should a good Pagan take note of a Christian calender change? I suppose it gives those of you who want two bites at the cherry a chance.

 

I'll just edit in the comment that I am genuinely a planet away from you; there's a whole world between us...

 

Well, I wouldn't exactly call the Christian correction arbitrary. Granted the first part of the adjustment was where essentially the ecclesiastical vernal equinox was brought back into sync with the astronomical vernal equinox (this was done for the purposes of determining when Easter should be). However, the other change was not arbitrary at all, it was simply a correction of the Julian Calendar. Ultimately, I suspect that the actual Celtic pagan observances were probably based of a number of days after solstice/equinox. Whether they actually matched up with the exact current dates used in the Gregorian Calendar or came after or before is probably up for some debate. What would be true though is that unless those festivals were based on a Lunar calendar, they probably line up better now than they did prior to the reform (again, if they stood specifically by a date based observance).

 

Regarding the Orthodox Church. The only the Holy Days revolving around Easter are necessarily effected by the observance of the old calendar. Essentially, the date of Easter, the Ascension and Pentacost were all determined by the Council of Nicea. The Orthodox Church thus still uses the Julian Calendar for calculating those dates. Except for Mount Athos, most Orthodox today observe the Gregorian Calendar, but that doesn't mean that all of their holidays have to match up .

 

--

Bill

[John Wild]

In 1752 the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar which necessitated "losing" 11 days, and is incidentally why the British Tax Year starts on 6 April rather than the old date of 25 March.

 

It was City of London bankers who protested the reform and the confusion it caused for their industry by refusing to pay taxes on the usual date of March 25 1753. They paid up 11 days later on 5th April.

 

 

see 'The Calendar' by David Ewing Duncan.

 

-John Wild

[Chris Drinkwater]

It takes a lot of 'pluck' to play the guitar and many other types of stringed intruments, which is why I gave up and switched to learning the concertina instead. I may not have the loudest instrument at a session but at least I don't disturb my neighbours when I practice! And, as instruments go, it's lovely and compact, and easy to take anywhere with you, compared to say, a double bass, or grand piano.

 

Chris

[Dirge]

Sorry Chris, what's that got to do with the Julian/Gregorian Calender controversy?

 

OH, sorry, wrong topic again...