The Gypsy Scholar announces his New Year Essay-with-Soundtrack series:
The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual 2013
Babylonian New Year ritual (with Ishtar)
In archaic or ancient myth and ritual, the celebration of the New Year meant REBIRTH--for the sun and sun-gods, for nature, for the tribe or society, and for human beings. It still does for traditional societies--and it still can be for modern ones. The concept of "rebirth" is an archetypal motif that applies to various levels of meaning; a common metaphor or literal event in myth and religion, in the "hero’s journey" in mythology, poetry, and romance, and even in the process of human creativity. The New Year ritual is considered one of the oldest of rituals, and it seems to be universal. For many of our ancient ancestors living in agricultural societies, the "rebirth of the sun" after the Winter Solstice brought in the New Year, which was annually celebrated through elaborate ceremonies. Even today, at this time in the cycle of the season, our contemporary New Year's celebrations still contain, however secularized and profaned, vestiges of the perennial need of humankind to suspend the flow of time and regenerate the mythic "time of beginnings" (in illo tempore ab origine); in other words, to make all things new--"to be born again." (See images of Rebirth below.)
The Broken Egg Symbolism of Rebirth In a Buddhist text, the Suttavibhanga, the Buddha draws an analogy to the Enlightened One bursting the shell of ignorance with a chick breaking out of the egg. The laying of the egg is likened to the "first birth;" i.e., the natural birth of man. The hatching out corresponded to the supernatural birth of initiation, or "second birth." It should be noted that Brahmanic initiation was regarded as a second birth. Furthermore, on the cosmic plane the supernatural birth of the Buddha is analogous to the breaking of the egg containing in germ the "firstborn" of the universe, which also has its origin in the "cosmic egg" of Brahmanic traditions, whence at the dawn of time there issued the primordial god of creation, variously named the "Golden Embryo", the "Father or Master of Creatures, " or "Agni." This, of course, is a variant of Prof. Eliade's "archaic cosmogony."
Images for Rebirth
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The New Year & Rebirth: the Hierogamy
Man only repeats the act of the Creation; his religious calendar commemorates, in the space of a year, all the cosmogonic phases which took place ab origine [from the origin]. In fact, the sacred year ceaselessly repeats the Creation; man is contemporary with the cosmogony and with the anthropogony because ritual projects him into the mythical epoch of the beginning—of the illud tempus, or ‘those days.’”
… this reproduction [in ritual] made him contemporary with the mythical moment of the beginning of the world and he felt the need of returning to that moment as often as possible in order to annul profane time and its burden of memory and guilt; in other words, to regenerate herself or him¬self and the fallen world. . . . . The creation of the world, which took place, in illud tempore, at the beginning of the year, is thus reactualized each year. The hierogamy [the cosmic union of heaven and earth, male and female] is a concrete realization of the “rebirth” of the world and man. –Mircea Eliade (historian of religion and phenomenologist of the sacred) The New Year is the oldest of all holidays. The New Year was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BCE, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). The festival observed the annual rebirth of the god of fertility, who was known as Tammuz in Babylon, the embodiment of rebirth in nature and son/consort of the goddess Ishtar. Their sacred marriage (hierogamy or hieros gamos) symbolized the cosmic union of heaven and earth, male and female, as a concrete realization of the “rebirth” of the world and man. The Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Images of the Hierogamy, Tantric & Orgiastic Sexuality
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“And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment.” –Plato, The Symposium
“Marriage is no marriage that is not linked up with the sun and the earth, the moon and the fixed stars and the planets. Marriage is no marriage that is not a correspondence of blood … a communion of the two bloodstreams.” –D.H. Lawrence
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The Green Man Through the Seasons--Winter
The GS has traced the transformations of the mythic Green Man through the seasons, from the Spring Equinox to the Winter Solstice (As discussed in the last program, at the Winter Solstice he manifests as the two rival aspects of the Oak King and Holly King. See thematic images for "Winter Solstice/Christmas" program, 12/24/12.) The Green Man symbol or icon has many different faces and variations in many cultures around the world. In Celtic lore, the Green Man is related to the archaic Horned God. The Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages, but historically it has primarily been interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or renaissance, representing the cycle of growth being reborn anew each spring.
Some traditions place the Green Man’s annual death on the Winter Solstice. This was not a sad thing, but something to be celebrated. Because the gradual lengthening of days after the solstice was a sure sign that he was coming back; that Spring was returning. Traditions about this fellow abound, and he weaves his way in and out of history in many forms: Robin Hood, the Green Knight, the Holly King, Puck, and John Barleycorn to name a few. Some of the traditions conflict. But it seems generally clear that early pagans saw him as the essence of life and rebirth. He was all things green, alive and vital. And each year, as with most things green, he dies. In fact, according to some traditions, he has to die so that spring can return (and so you get the poem, “John Barleycorn Must Die,” which alludes to the Green Man tradition).
The Twelve Days Of Christmas & The New Year
The Twelve Days Of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of January 6th (the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26 and include Epiphany on January 6.
The origin and counting of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures. In the Western church, Epiphany is usually celebrated as the time the Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus. Traditionally there were three Magi, probably from the fact of three gifts, even though the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came.
In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings. Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.
By the 16th century, some European and Scandinavian cultures had combined the Twelve Days Of Christmas with (sometimes pagan) festivals celebrating the changing of the year. These were usually associated with driving away evil spirits for the start of the new year.
The Twelfth Night is January 5th, the last day of the Christmas Season before Epiphany (January 6th). In some church traditions, January 5th is considered the eleventh Day of Christmas, while the evening of January 5th is still counted as the Twelfth Night, the beginning of the Twelfth day of Christmas the following day.
Twelfth Night often included feasting along with the removal of Christmas decorations. Many European celebrations of Twelfth Night included a King’s Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi, and ale or wine (a King’s Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some cultures, the King’s Cake was part of the celebration of the day of Epiphany.
Twelfth Night celebration
New Year Celebrations Around the World
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New Year Celebrations of Indian Tribes
For info on Native American New Year Commemorations, click here
T H EARC HAICREVIV A L
To see what the GS means by "The Archaic Revival" and its "nostalgia for the lost archaic", click on image above
Sacred (pre-modern) vs. Profane (modern) Ritual
"Bacchanal of the Andrians"
"La Jeunesse de Bacchus"
Dionysus festival of Ambrosia-wine (Greek vase 4th c. BCE)
New Years Eve 2013 (SF, CA)
New Years Eve 2013 (SF, CA)
To see what's behind these profane New Year celebrations, click on images below.
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The argument behind the New Year musical essay series:
What we have found so far is about the need of archaic and traditional societies to regenerate themselves periodically through the annulment of profane time. In other words, we have learned that archaic and traditional peoples periodically sought, through “archetypes and repetition,” to abolish profane time and thus regenerate the sacred “time of the beginning” (in illo tempore, ab origine) or in “those days” (illud tempus or “in the days gone by") in their sacred New Year rituals.... Despite the radical discontinuity between pre-modern and modern worldviews, if we go back far enough in our quest for the origins of our secular New year festival—way, way back—, we may recognize the very same perennial need for regeneration ("stretching time"). We may even be able to glimpse in our own secular New Year’s rituals—as corrupted from the original as they may be—a lingering vestige of the hierophanies (i.e., manifestations of the sacred) that were commemorated and participated in through archaic and ancient ritual. Thus, Prof Eliade holds out the possibility that even though our contemporary experiences in this domain are profane we can nevertheless regain the archaic sensibility. In other words, we may come to see that the archaic ‘thirst for being” and “nostalgia for beginnings” is still alive within us today and lies at the bottom of our need to participate in our contemporary secular New Year’s “profane rejoicings.” This, I believe, is what is behind our profane New Year's ritual. In other words:
Behind the ritual, behind the ritual You find the spiritual, you find the spiritual ... Behind the rite, behind the ritual Drinking that wine making time in the days gone by ....
The New Year & Rebirth in Archaic Myth & Ritual, Part 5: The Lunar Mythology of Regeneration
1/27/13
Because the first full moon of the year (the "Wolf Moon" in Leo) coincides with the program, the GS will be waxing mythological about the significance of archaic "lunar mythology" and regeneration/rebirth for the New Year. The Essay-with-Soundtrack deals with how the moon and its phases has determined, since time immemorial, rituals of rebirth. Ahh-wooooooo!
"Wolf Moon" ("Old Moon" or "Moon after Yule")
Full Moon in Leo 1/26/13
full moon near Leo's Sickle
Full Moon in Winter Circle 1/26-27/13
The Moon shines high in the east by 9 p.m. Lower left of it, by roughly a fist-width at arm's length, sparkles Regulus in Leo, as shown here. The Sickle of Leo extends upper left from Regulus. The emergence of Leo in the evening sky is always an early sign that spring is eventually coming.
full moon rising 1/26/13
full moon at zenth 1/12/13
full moon through clouds 1/27/13
A glossary of the major terms used pertaining to the archaic world-view.
Cosmological has to do with the universe, its structure. Cosmogony is a mythic model of the origin and evolution of the universe. Ontological pertains to that which is real, that which exists. Ontology is a mythic model of the nature and relations of being. Anthropogony is the model of the origin and development of man. Eschatology (lit. "study of the last") is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity; "the end of the world." Eschatological relates to or deals with the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world. Eschato-cosmological refers to the cosmology of the end of time Hierophany (from the Greek roots hieros, meaning “sacred” and phainein, meaning “to reveal” or “to bring to light,” as in our word epiphany) means a manifestation or breakthrough of the sacred into the world. In the hierophanies recorded in archaic and ancient myth, the sacred appears in the form of ideal models, or “archetypes” i.e., the actions of gods, heroes, ancestors, etc. Telluric refers to terrestrial; pertaining to earth. Archetype, as used in this essay, is simply a synonym for “exemplary model” or “paradigm,” because archetypes are models for institutions, norms, and various categories of behavior believed to have been “revealed” at the beginning of time, regarded as having a superhuman and “transcendental” origin.) By manifesting itself as ideal models, the sacred gives the world value, direction, and purpose.
Latin terms ab origine = from the origin. in illo tempore, ab origine = the time of the beginning; the "great time" before history; mythic, transcendent time; "once upon a time." illud tempus = a mythical time before time; (lit. "those days"). incipit vita nova = beginning of new life; rejuvenation of life itself. fons et origio = the source and origin; primary cause.
Playlist New Year Program #1 12/31/12
SONGS Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Yo-Yo Ma, Jake Shimabukuro Songs Of Joy & Peace Happy Christmas (War Is Over) John Lennon Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon 12 Days of X-Mas (feat. Blue Harmony) [L.A. Remix, Instrumental] Mystery Avenue Blazing Christmas Astral Weeks Van Morrison Astral Weeks/Astral Weeks LIve at Hollywood Bowl Auld Lang Syne Jean Redpath The Songs of Robert Burns, Vols. 1 & 2 Here's A Health To The Company The Chieftains The Wide World Over Bringing In A Brand New Year BB King A Christmas Celebration Of Hope Medicine Power Juan Manuel Vasquez Meditation Start All Over Again Van Morrison Enlightenment What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? Rufus Wainwright Stockings By The Fire
BACKGROUND MUSIC Various piano compositions for the Winter Solstice season
Playlist New Year Program #2 1/7/13
SONGS Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne Jimi Hendrix West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology New Year The Go Find Stars On The Wall Got To Go Back Van Morrison No Guru, No Method, No Teacher Begin Again Kill The Alarm Against The Grain New Year's Day U2 The Best Of 1980-1990 Intro: "Let's Renew Ourselves Now..." Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 Morning Glory Leonard Cohen Dear Heather Start All Over Again Van Morrison Enlightenment Morning Has Broken (w/ Diana Krall & Art Garfunkel) The Chieftains The Wide World Over Astral Weeks/I Believe I've Transcended Van Morrison Astral Weeks: Live At The Hollywood Bowl See Me Through Part II Van Morrison (song clip) Hymns To The Silence (Disc 1) Healing Chant The Neville Brothers Yellow Moon Take Me Back Van Morrison Hymns To The Silence (Disc 1)
BACKGROUND MUSIC Various electronic/ambient
Playlist New Year Program #3 1/14/13
SONGS Begin Again The Veils Sun Gangs (Just Like) Starting Over John Lennon Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon Seeds of Love Loreena McKennitt A Midwinter Night's Dream Before The World Was Made Van Morrison Too Long In Exile New Beginning Tracy Chapman New Beginning Behind The Ritual Van Morrison Keep It Simple Till We Get The Healing Done Van Morrison Too Long In Exile And The Healing Has Begun Van Morrison Into The Music Daring Night Van Morrison Avalon Sunset
BACKGROUND MUSIC Various electronic/ambient
Playlist New Year Program #4 1/21/13
SONGS Start All Over Again Dave Koz (ft. Dana Glover) Hello Tomorrow Start All Over Again Van Morrison Enlightenment Behind The Ritual Van Morrison Keep It Simple Start All Over Again Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band | Undisputed Got To Go Back Van Morrison No Guru, No Method, No Teacher Time Is It's A Beautiful Day It's A Beautiful Day Time Incredible String Band ⑧U ('70) (Disc 1) Time Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon Time Has Come Today The Chambers Brothers Greatest Hits
BACKGROUND MUSIC Various electronic/ambient
Playlist New Year Program #5 1/28/13
SONGS Here Comes The Moon George Harrison Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989 Moon, Turn the Tides Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland Starting A New Life Van Morrison Tupelo Honey Moondance (w George Fame) Van Morrison The Best Of Van Morrison, Vol. 3 Full Moon Big Circle Tina Lear Full Moon Big Circle Drawing Down the Moon Gaia Consort Evolve Moon Cradle Loreena McKennitt Parallel Dreams Before The Deluge Jackson Browne The Very Best of Jackson Browne A New Kind Of Man Van Morrison A Sense Of Wonder Last Year's Man Leonard Cohen Songs Of Love And Hate
BACKGROUND MUSIC Various electronic/ambient
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