Today is the spring equinox, although the temperature is barely above freezing in Chicago. To celebrate what should be happening, though, Google has a nice animated doodle showing flowers and spring-y stuff. Note what the figures spell out.
I reproduce a screenshot below, but go here to see the whole thing:
Also known as the vernal equinox, the 20 March is the first day of spring.
And the heathens are out in force! The Independent reports:
During an equinox, the Earth’s north and south poles are not tilted toward or away from the sun. This phenomena occurs twice a year: on 20 March and on 22 September.
English Heritage have confirmed that, weather permitting, Stonehenge will be open from the start of the equinox at 5:45am until 8:30am, to allow Druids and Pagans to gather and see the sun rise above the ancient stones, according the IB Times.
Druids and Pagans will celebrate the ancient Saxon goddess Eostre, who symbolises fertility and new beginnings.
Eostre, schmeostre: it’s still a god.
sub
Ree roo rox!
(For ten extra credit points, where’s that from?)
No idea!
But why would ‘Celtic’ druids worship ‘Saxon’ Eostre? Methinks they have conflated different goddesses!
My first thought too, and of course both post-date Stonehenge by centuries.
Why would Christians invoke her name when referring to the death and resurrection of their god? The thing that makes religion so easy is that it doesn’t matter in the slightest if you get stuff wrong, the magic works just as well.
The story is that the early church arrogated page festivals (here, one dedicated to the eponymous goddess) to assert their dominance. Ditto with sites, which is why you’ll find old churches in England next to ancient yews, sacred to the “old religion”.
Or so I understand…
/@
Yes, they stomped on the Pagan festivals with their own. Owned them so to speak. Yul –> Christmas, Spring –> Easter, etc.
They have no idea when the purported events in Jesus’s puported life took place. All politics.
There’s a church at an estate-museum in Sweden (somewhere SW of Stockholm – I think the name starts with O) that, on repairs to the front steps it was found that the stone was a runestone flipped with the runic inscription facing down. Probably not the only one.
And what did the runes say? “This End Up” perhaps?
Yes, they did it here to the native tribes by replacing their big god with their big god but naming them the same.
Since so many Christians seem to think words carry some sort of magic (there’s no such thing as a secular Christmas because “Christ” is the first part of “CHRISTmas”), I sometimes have fun with “Easter.”
You celebrate Easter? But it’s a reference to the pagan goddess Oestre. Look at the WORD! How can you possibly say it’s a Christian holiday when it’s called Easter???
If they tell me that doesn’t matter, then I tell them I don’t ever want to hear them say that Christmas has to be about Christ. Holidays are “really” about whatever we make them about. I do not keep the hollow in een either.
In a similar vein, when a Christian likes to trumpet the fact that our calendar years are numbered after the supposed birth of one of their gods, I like to respond by observing that today, as with all Thursdays, we celebrate Thor’s Day, and the whole month of March is devoted to the worship of Mars. Guaranteed to piss ’em off.
b&
Good ones Ben!
And Caesar started the calendar we use now anyway.
Sorta…don’t forget Augustus also took one of the months for himself, and then Pope Gregory had somebody tell him how to re-work leap years….
b&
Caesar did all the heavy lifting though with introducing standardization. Before that, different places all had their own way of tracking time. I think of Caesar a lot when I standardize processes.
This is true.
It’s rather remarkable all that he did…and not the least bit frightening to realize that he was only able to do so by dismantling the Republic and making himself the Emperor. I do not think I would at all have been one of his supporters were I alive then, even if I would have also had had plenty of problems with the Senate as well.
b&
The real first emperor was Augustus. Caesar was really dictator for life – you were dictator for the emergency and you were supposed to step down, but Caesar never did. He lived in pretty violent times. Citizens got armies together, marched on Rome, killed a bunch of people. It was very interesting what Caesar and Cicero both lived through.
In fact we know next to nothing about Eostre or most of these gods or what people did or did not believe. A lot of this is modern neo-pagan nonsense which is based on what they like to think people believed.
Also it would be funny if it turned out that Stonehenge was just a garbage dump or some other mundane thing.
Just a reminder – it’s only the spring/vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere.
I adore the second G (happy creature holding a watering can)! 🙂
Spring? MY Google disputes that.
See: https://www.google.com.br/webhp?sourceid=toolbar-instant&hl=en&ion=1&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4GGNI_pt-BRBR444BR444
Pesky antipodeans!
/@
Bizarrely, I just checked the Australian Google site – google.com.au – and the doodle is about Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian formula one driver.
Now I assume that google.com.br is the Brazilian site so they seem to be swapped around.
Anyway, a funny Brazilian joke –
During the gulf war, Dick Cheney goes up to George Dubya and says ‘We killed 2 Brazilian men, and Dubya says ‘Wow, how many’s that?’.
hahahahahahaha!
Not very Spring-like here this morning: 22°F (-6°C). Not as bad as last St. Patrick’s Day though: 0°F (-18°C)
Blech! It will hit +42°F (+6°C) today though.
Yep, it’ll be a nice day here in Rochester.
Too cynical, Jerry. After all, there’s just as much evidence for the existence of Eostre as there is from the existence of Yahweh! 😉
It’s a big day at the Mayan site of Chichen Itza too. It’s packed with crowds of those who feel the “energy” and want to see the miracle of the late afternoon shadows forming the image of Kulkulkan, the feathered serpent, running down the main pyramid to the snake head sculpture at the bottom. That particular shadow, that forms the image of the snake, is only seen on the spring and fall equinoxes.
Actually, it is an amazing sight. But it doesn’t stimulate the crowd to awe and respect at the wonderful knowledge and skill of first-century Mayan astronomers and architects. It stimulates them to perform strange rituals during which they take in the “spiritual” energy.
Unfortunately, unlike at other mystical sites, it only happens on those two days, and so you must visit then and can’t avoid being surrounded by massive numbers of energy-partakers, which is pretty distasteful. But it’s still really worth seeing.
I wonder if you need a device of some sort to take in the spiritual energy?
And a little worried they’re gonna hog it all.
Nah, they just suck it in, by osmosis apparently.
And, I never thought of it, but perhaps that’s why I didn’t get any!
How do you make sure no one backwashes it?
I don’t think you can unless you’re very, very good.
I’d reckon the force would have to be with you…
I’m pretty sure a spiritual energy antenna, or a tinfoil hat, would work just fine.
Is there an official body that deems the vernal equinox as “the first day of spring”? I read years ago that linking the two started relatively recently in common usage, but there is no “official” first day. Spring traditionally was just March, April, and May, which makes way more sense to me.
The Straight Dope says:
Someone over at Ed Brayton’s site said they had a t-shirt which reads “Just for the record, Wicca is bullshit too.” They decided not to wear it for their RenFaire board meetings.
I have neo-pagan friends, some of whom attend pagan conventions. From what I can tell, modern paganism is a bit like the Unitarian Universalists, with more emphasis on the woo.
You apparently qualify as a ‘pagan’ even if you’re an atheist, as long as you do 3 things: love nature and environmentalism; participate in rituals; refuse to engage in any conversation regarding spiritual beliefs unless you’re either going to 1.) endorse them or 2.) explain how wonderful you think it is that others believe.
Very much like the UU’s, come to think of it.
I like NZ google doodle today: http://www.google.co.nz
The Druids and Pagans at Stonehenge are especially confused if they think they are celebrating the first day of “spring” in ancient times. Before the arrival of the Romans (and Christianity), the first day of “spring” in England was . . Groundhog Day (Candlemas). I could go on, but will simply note that the significance of May Day (and Walpugisnacht), Halloween, etc. comes from where they fall on the pre-Roman calendar.
I wondered what Candlemas was – it is mentioned in Wolf Hall.
Charming take on the Google logo… once again.
You’ve just got to admire the tremendous style of Google. It’s so nice to see IT companies with a culture of real creative flair. Like Apple.
And that motto “don’t be evil”… Google may not exactly live up to the standard that they hold for themselves all of the time(and who amongst us does).. but the company is certainly a very refreshing alternative to several seriously evil competitors that they need to engage with.
That used to be true but Google’s gone to the dark side.
Honestly Diane, Google is just a slightly naughty child when compared to Microsoft’s effective status as “the spawn of Satan”. Just ask anyone in the IT industry.
While on the subject of “goodness of Google” I note today that a co-founder of Occupy Wall Street has said that Eric Schmidt should replace Obama, so as to bring the USA not just better government but to provide a more “benevolent” approach to solving world issues 🙂
http://www.itproportal.com/2014/03/21/eric-schmidt-should-be-ceo-of-the-us-says-occupy-wall-street-co-founder/