NOVEMBER
Goddesses of the Calendar Month:
Hathor
Sekhet, Sekhmet
Demeter; The Horae
Diana
Samhuin, Samhain, Samain
The Cailleach, The VeiledWoman,
The Carline, The Mag-Moullach
Astraea
NOVEMBER 1st
Egyptian: ISIS; The Isia, The Zetesis and Heuresis, Fifth Day. (Philocalus, Kal.)
“November 1 ... Isia”. (Larson, Rel. of Occident, p.
178) on the autumn
festival of Isis: “it usually began on
October 31st ... On the two days following, the portions of Osiris were
found,
reconstituted, and resurrected. This was the
central element in the myth, for if Osiris could regain life and become
immortal
through the power of Isis, then all her
devotees could do the same”.
(Montfaucon, Antiq. Suppl. p. 21) on a Roman representation of the Months (see under February: Februarius): “The Man
(i.e. a priest of Isis) has in the other Hand a Sistrum,
or Instrument us’d at the Feasts of Isis,
which Feasts are noted in the Calendar (i.e. of Philocalus) annexed to
these
Images in the Ms. to be upon the Calends of November.”
(Fell. of Isis Dir.) “November 1st: The Finding of Osiris”.
Celtic: Lá Samhna, Samhain Day; Second of the Three Days of Samhain;
Feile na Marbh, Feast of the Dead. (Dinneen, Dict.)
“Samhain, All-Hallowtide,
the feast of the dead in pagan and Christian
times, signalising the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter
season
lasting till May ... the fairies (aos sídhe) were imagined as particularly
active at this season, from it the half-year is reckoned; also called Féile na Marbh
and Féile Moingfhinne (snow goddess); Lá
Samhna, 1st November ... the weird fairy elfin first of November . . mi na Samhna, the month of November lucht na Samhna,
the Hollantide good-things …”
(Perp. Fest. Cal.) “November
1 … ‘Peace Fire’ of the Druids, Samhain”. (The Druids Cal.)
“November 1. Samhain.
The dark month begins, initiating the Gloom. Unharvested
fruit now belongs to the puca and faerie who
roam abroad. Samhain and Beltane (May Day) are the joints of the year”.
(Fell. of Isis Dir.)
“November 1st. Festival of the Goddess Samhain and of all
the Sidhe and departed Spirits. Communion
with those of other spheres. 1st - 3rd: The door is open between earth
sphere and
other realms. Spirits may move through the
door. Souls may meet each other. Psychic vision and prophecy. Future
lovers seen.
Intercalary days of the Gaelic Moon Year -
days out of time”.
(Frazer, Golden
Bough abgd. p. 633) on May Day and
Hallowe’en: “Of the two feasts Hallowe’en was perhaps of old the
more important, since the Celts would seem to
have dated the beginning of the year from it rather than Beltane ... In
ancient
Ireland, a, new fire used to be kindled every
year on Hallowe’en on the Eve of Samhain, and from this sacred flame
all
the fires in Ireland were kindled. Such a
custom points strongly to Samhain ... (the first of November) as New
Years Day”.
See also under November 11th.
Irish: THE
BANSHEES. (Joyce, Soc. Hist. Ireland,
Vol. 1. p. 265) “Fairies - sometimes
banshees or females, sometimes fershees or
males - often kept company with mortals, and became greatly attached to
them. Every
Samain a banshee used to visit Fingin Mac
Luchta, king of South Munster in the second century, and bring him on a
round of
visits to the shees, to see all the precious
things therein. A banshee follower of a mortal was usually called a lennan-shee (‘fairy-lover’), and instances of such attachments are innumerable”. Note: the
words Sidhe, Siodh or Shee apply both to the fairies and to the fairy mounds.
MONGFINN,
MOINGFHIONN; Feile Moingfhinne, The Feast of Moingfhionn. See above (Dinneen). Mongfinn is described by Borlase (Dolmens, Vol. 111. p. 801) as a princess of South Munster. According to Dinneen she is a
snow goddess.
SAMHAIN. See Goddesses of the month and November 1st: La
Samhna.
THE SWAN-MAIDENS. (Anne Ross, Pagan
Celtic Britain, p. 23) The author mentions “the tradition in early Irish legends of holding the sacred feast
of Samhain (November 1st) on the shores of lakes ... In the story of The Dream of Angus (p.237) the feast is held by the side of Loch Bel Dracon ... swan-girls with their magic
necklets are described, as are the great preparations which went into the making of the feast”.
TEA and TEPHI; The Assembly at Tara. (Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain,
p. 227) “The Assembly of Tara was under the patronage of another goddess, Tea”. (Macalister, Tara, p. 156) “The Assemblies at Tara took place on Samain”. Tea and Tephi, described as Milesian
princesses, founded Tara, the ancient religious and political centre of Ireland.
Greek:
HECATE. (McLean, Fire Festivals, p. 7) “The
Fire Festivals are distinctly Female in nature. Samhain is the festival of Hecate,
the Old Moon Goddess”.
General: All
Saints’ Day. (Irish Catholic Dir.) “November 1. Feast of All Saints,
with Octave”. (Church of England Cal. and Church
of Ireland Cal.) “November 1. All Saints’ Day”.
All Souls’
Eve. (Brewer, Dict.) “Teanlay Night. The vigil of All Souls . . when
bonfires were lighted and revels held for succouring souls” ... (Whistler, English
Fest. p. 198) on the festivals of All
Saints and All Souls: “the living reached out to them (i.e. the dead),
and hoped by the pressure of their willing to
break down for one night the frontier between the two kingdoms, and
enable those
on the far side to return. On All Souls Eve
families sat up, and little cakes, known as Soul Cakes, were eaten by
everyone.
There were still a few children in 1938,
going from door to door ‘souling’ for cakes or money by singing a song
(Wright and Lones, British Calendar Customs:
England). As the clock struck twelve
there was silence, for at this hour the souls
of the dead would revisit their earthly homes. There were candles
burning in
every room to guide them ... and there was a
glass of wine on the table to refresh them. But even though the room
became crowded
with urgest invisible faces, no one looked
for the wine to diminish by even a hair’s breadth during the vigil.”
(Yeats, Collected Poems, p. 250, All
Souls Night):
“And it is All Souls’ Night
And two long glasses brimmed with muscatel
Bubble upon the table. A ghost may come;
For it is a ghosts’ right,
His element is so fine
Being
sharpened by his death,
To drink from the wine-breath
While our gross palates drink from the whole wine”.
General: THE WITCHES; Greater Sabbat.
See under February 1st. (Whistler, English Fest.
p. 199) on All Souls’ Eve:
“It was above all others the time of
spirit-walkings ... the time of the Witches’ Sabbath ... and much
supernatural
traffic”. See also under October 31st.
NOVEMBER 2nd
Egyptian: ISIS; The Zetesis and Heuresis, Sixth Day. See under November 1st.
General:
All Souls’ Day. (Old Moore’s Almanac)
“November 2nd. All Souls”. (Whitaker’s Almanack) “November
2. All Souls’ Day”. (Perp. Fest. Cal.) “November 2. All Souls Day”. (Church of England Cal.) “November 2. Commemoration of All Souls.”
(Frazer, Golden Bough abgd. p. 360) “the feast of All Souls in November is
a continuation of an old heathen feast of the dead”. (Whistler, English Fest.
p. 198) “the feast of All Saints on November
1st [was] instituted in the ninth century, and the feast of All Souls’
Day on November 2nd ... in 998”. (id.
p.: 201 ) “On All Souls’ Day
the living pray for the dead, affirming the
unity of souls from one end of time to the other ... the Feast has been
restored
to the Church of England’s Calendar in the
Prayer Book of 1928”.
(Brewer, Dict.) “Soul Cakes. Cakes given in Staffordshire and Cheshire on All Souls’ Day, to the poor who
go a-souling, i.e. begging for soul-cakes. The words used are -
“ ‘Soul, soul, for soul-cake
Pray
you, good mistress, a soul-cake’,”
NOVEMBER 3rd
Egyptian: ISIS, The Isia; The Zetesis
and Heuresis, Last Day, The Hilaria. (Philocalus, Kal. anno 354) “November
3. Hilaria”.
(Cumont, Orient. Rel.
p. 97) “of all the celebrations
connected with the worship of Isis the most
stirring and the most suggestive was the commemoration of the ‘Finding
of
Osiris’ (Inventio, Heuresis).
Its antecedents date back to remote antiquity.
Since the time of the twelfth dynasty, and
probably much earlier, there had been held at Abydos and elsewhere a
sacred performance
... in which the events of Osiris’s passion
and resurrection were reproduced. We are in possession of the ritual of
those performances (Schäfer, Weidemann,
Junker) ... The same myth was represented in almost the same manner at
Rome at
the beginning of each November ... after the
corpse had been found, rehabilitated and revived, there was a long
outburst of
joy, an exuberant jubilation that rang
through the temples and the streets”.
(Plutarch, De Iside el Osiride, 366F) on
the third day of the Seeking of Osiris: “they go down to the sea at
night-time;
and the keepers of the robes and the priests
bring forth the hallowed chest containing a small golden coffer, into
which they
pour some potable water which they have taken
up, and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is
found.
Then they knead some fertile soil with water
and mix in spices and incense of a very costly sort, and fashion
therefrom a
crescent-shaped figure which they clothe and
adorn”.
(Witt, Isis in Graeco-Roman
World, p. 213) “The search instituted by Isis for the recovery of the missing members of Osiris’ body lasts
until the 7th day of Athyr, i.e. 3rd November”. (id.
p. 162) “They went
out of the temple and down to the sea on the
final night. It was a public occasion, marked in the Roman calendar with
the
name Hilaria, ‘Osiris has been found’ - so
the crowd shouted for joy ... Another variation of the formula was
‘we have found, and rejoice’. Even though the
ceremony did not take place in daytime it was open to view”.
(id. p. 180) “the Hilaria
on 3 November
... ended with a procession down to the
seashore by night. Between the daytime pageant such as Lucius witnessed
(i.e. the
Isidis Navigium on March 5th) and the one
carried out by torch light in wintry gloom there was obviously room for
differences
of procedure ... A search that lasted nearly a
whole week must have involved an elaborate ritual ... the image of a
cow was
carried as a fertility emblem ... At the end,
when ‘Osiris has been found’ had been shouted, the priests would
… fashion a small image in the shape of the
crescent moon. This was the November rite”.
Frazer (Golden Bough abgd. p. 366) on the resurrection of Osiris: “Then Isis fanned the cold
clay with her wings: Osiris revived”. (Larson, Rel. of Occident,
p. 8) “Isis
breathed her own life into the nostrils of
Osiris, and with the help of Thoth, and of Horus, who opened his mouth
... she
accomplished the resurrection of Osiris to a
second and eternal life; and thus he became the first-fruits of them
that slept”.
(Larson. id.
p. 178) On the autumn festival of Isis: “The fourth day
(note: see October 31st) of the festival was
called the Hilaria and was given over to the most unrestrained rejoicing
since
the god, now risen to immortality, would
[assess] all who had become divine by drinking the milk of Isis. And
there could
be little doubt concerning the future
felicity of those who put their trust in her”.
Gaelic: (Fell. of Isis Dir.)
“November 3rd: Gaelic New Year. Cattle brought down from the hills.
Start
of new enterprises. Initiation of the soul
during winter months starts during Samhain and finishes on February 1st,
Festival
of Brighid”. See also under November 1st:
Celtic.
NOVEMBER 8th
Roman: CERES; The Underworld deities; MANIA and. The Manes; Third Day of the Opening of the Mundus Cereris.
See under August 24th.
(Fell. of Isis Dir.) “November 8th: The Manes. The door opens between
this earth and the Lower World of Elysium and Hades”.
Japanese:
HETTSUI NO KAMI; The Fuigo Matsuri. (Chamberlain, Things
Japanese, p. 161) “November has several Shinto festivals. The most notable of these, held in honour of the Goddess
of the Kitchen-range (Hettsui no Kami) and termed Fuigo
Matsuri, or the Feast of Bellows, takes place on the 8th. Fires are then also lighted in honour of Inari and other
deities in the courts of Shinto temples”.
(Fell. of Isis Dir.) “November
8th ... Festival of Hettsui no Kami, Japanese Goddess of the Kitchen-range”.
NOVEMBER 9th
Roman: HELENA Diva.
(Amm. Marcellinus, XV. viii. 18) “Then, within
a few days (i.e. of November 6th, 355),
Helena, the maiden sister of Constantius, was joined in the bonds of
wedlock to Caesar
(i.e. Julian).”
(Julian, The Caesars, 335A) “as for my wife,
I was not the first to decree divine honours to a wife, for I followed the example of many others.”
NOVEMBER
10th
Celtic: Old November Eve.
Manx:
(Frazer, Golden Bough abgd.
p. 633) “In the Isle of Man ... the first
of November, Old Style, has been regarded as
New Year’s Day down to recent times. Thus Manx mummers used to go round
on Hallowe’en (Old Style) singing in the Manx
language, a sort of Hogmanay song which began ‘To-night is New Year’s
Night, Hogunnaa!’.”
Scottish: NICNEVIN.
(Doreen Valiente, ABC of Witchcraft,
p. 90) “Diana ... In Scotland she was called
Nicnevin, who rode through the night with her
followers ‘at the hinder end of harvest, on old Hallowe’en’,
as an old Scots poet describes it”.
French: THE GODDESSES OF REASON, LIBERTY and PHILOSOPHY. (Brewer, Dict.) “Reason.
The Goddess of Reason.
November 10th, 1793. Mlle. Candeille, of the Opera, was one
of the earliest of these goddesses, but Mme.
Momoro, wife of the printer, the Goddess of Liberty, was the most
celebrated.
On November 10th a festival was held in Notre
Dame de Paris in honour of Reason and Liberty, when women represented
[them].
Mlle. Candeille wore a red Phrygian cap, a
white frock, a blue mantle, and tricolour ribbons. Her head was filleted
with oak-leaves,
and in her hand she carried the pike of
Jupiter-Peuple. In the cathedral a sort of temple was erected on a
mound, and in this
‘temple of Philosophy’ Mlle. Candeille was
installed. Young girls crowned with oak-leaves were her attendants,
and sang hymns in her honour. Similar
installations were repeated at Lyons and other places.
“Mme.
Maillard,
the actress, is mentioned by Lamartine as one
of these goddesses ... Mlle. Aubray was another Goddess of Reason”.
(Adrien Dansette, cited by McIntosh, Rel. Hist. of Mod. France)
“A rock
was placed in the choir of Notre Dame and on
it a circular temple was erected, dedicated to Philosophy”. (McIntosh, id.)
“On the morning of the 10th of November (1793) in the presence of the
members
of the Commune, a procession of girls marched
up and down the sides of the rock, saluting as they passed the Flame of
Truth
which burned half way up. An actress from the
Opéra ... came out of the temple and seated herself on a grass-covered
throne. She was Reason and the girls chanted a
hymn to her. Then, with the goddess borne on the shoulders of four
citizens,
the participants and spectators set off for
the convention ... Similar ceremonies took place ... all over the
country where
many churches had been converted into temples
of Reason”.
(Dict. Univ. Biog.)
“Chaumette, Pierre-Gaspard ... was the
originator of the Fêtes de la Raison, and planned the procession of the
goddess of Reason”.
NOVEMBER 11th
Celtic: Old November Day. See under November 10th and below.
Irish:
The Lunantishees. (Evans Wentz, Fairy-Faith,
p. 53) on the Shee or Fairies: “The
lunantishees are the tribes that guard the blackthorn trees or sloes;
they let you
cut no stick on the eleventh of November (the
original November Day), or on the eleventh of May (the original May
Day)”.
NOVEMBER 13th
Egyptian: ISIS. (Perp. Fest. Cal.) “November 13. Dismemberment of Osiris. Lamentations of Isis”. (Fell. of Isis Dir.) “November 13-14th: Isis and Osiris. The Magical Arts”.
According
to Plutarch’s account (De Iside et Osiride,
366 E) “the disappearance
of Osiris occurred in the month of Athyr ...
this (i.e. the display of the gilded image of a cow) is kept for four
days consecutively,
beginning with the seventeenth of the month
... On the nineteenth day they go down to the sea at night-time”. For a
fuller account of these Rites see under
October 29th to November 3rd.
In the fixed Alexandrian Calendar the 17th
day of Athyr corresponds to November 13th.
(The Lamentation of Isis, cited
by Frazer, Golden Bough abgd, p. 366):
“
‘Come to thy house,
Come to thy house. O god On, come to thy
house, thou who hast no foes. O fair youth, come to thy house, that thou
mayest see
me. I am thy sister, whom thou lovest; thou
shalt not part from me. O fair boy, come to thy house ... yet doth my
heart yearn
after thee and mine eyes desire thee. Come to
her who loves thee, who loves thee, Unnefer, blessed one! Come to thy
sister,
come to thy wife, to thy wife ... Come to thy
housewife. I am thy sister by the same mother, thou shalt not be far
from me.
Gods and men have buried their faces towards
thee and weep for thee together ... I call after thee and weep … yet am
I thy sister, whom thou didst love on earth
... my brother, my brother’,”
Roman: FERONIA. (Rose, O.C.D.)
“Feronia ... an Italian Goddess, officially
received in Rome before 217 (before this era) ... and given a temple in
the Campus Martius (Fast. Arval. on 13th Nov.)”.
JUNO and MINERVA; The Lectisternium, in honour of the three Capitoline deities. (Seyffert, Dict.) “From the commencement
of the 3rd century (before this era) a banquet was regularly given to
the
three Capitoline divinities, Jupiter, Juno
and Minerva, on every 13th of November, in conjunction with the plebeian
games”.
See also under September 13th.
(Bettenson, on Augustine De Civ. Dei, p.
240) “the epulum Jovis during the Ludi Romani
in September [was] repeated at
the ‘Plebeian Games’ in November. This was a
religious banquet on the Capitol, attended by the Senate and
magistrates,
at which the statutes of Jupiter reclined,
while those of Juno and Minerva sat on chairs (Val. Max., 2,12)”.
(Philocalus, Kal, anno 354) “November 13. Jovis Epulum.”
Spanish: OUR LADY OF GARABANDAL: (Steiger, Gods of Aquarius, pp. 65 and 67) from the chapter “The
Return of the Great Mother” … “Our Lady of Carmel, Garabandal,
18th October 1961 ... The description given by the four young visionaries at Garabandal is almost prototypical:
“
‘She is dressed in a white robe with a blue mantle and a crown of
golden stars. Her hands are slender
... Her hair, deep nut-brown, is parted in
the center. Her face is long, with a fine nose. Her mouth is very pretty
with lips
a bit thin. She looks like a girl of
eighteen. She is rather tall. There is no voice like hers …’ ”.
Further apparitions took place on January 18th and November 13th, 1965, both of them witnessed by Conchita. The latter
is recorded by Steiger (id. p. 67) as follows: “Our
Lady of Carmel, Garabandal, 13th November 1965, received by Conchita …‘Have confidence in Us …
I am not coming only for you, Conchita, but I am coming for all my children …’ ”.
NOVEMBER
14th
Egyptian: ISIS. (Perp. Fest. Cal.)
“November 14. Lamentations of Isis (2nd day)”.
NOVEMBER 15th
German: ST. GERTRUDE. (Irish Catholic Dir.) November 15.
S. Gertrude, Virgin”. (Perp. Fest Cal.) “November 15 Gertrude, German
mystic, 6th cent.”.
NOVEMBER 16th
Greek: HECATE. (The Witches’ Almanac) “November 16. Hecate Night”.
Scottish: QUEEN MARGARET. (Church of England Cal.) “November 16. Margaret of Scotland, Queen, 1093”.
NOVEMBER 17th
German: GERTRUDE THE GREAT.
(Perp. Fest. Cal.) “November 17. Gertrude the Great, mystic, born circa 1256”.
NOVEMBER 19th
Jewish: ST. ELIZABETH. (Irish Catholic Dir.) “November 19. S. Elizabeth.”
NOVEMBER
20th
Roman: PAULINA. (Perp. Fest. Cal.)
“November 20. Praetextatus and Paulina”.
(Kerenyi, Eleusis,
p. 11) “In the year ... 364 the Catholic
Emperor Valentinian prohibited all nocturnal celebrations with a view to
abolishing,
among other rites, the Mysteries of Eleusis
... ‘But’, Zosimos’ report continues (Historia Nova, IV. 33) ‘after
Praetextatus, who held the office of proconsul in Greece, declared that
this law would make the life of the Greeks
unlivable, if they were prevented from properly observing the most
sacred Mysteries,
which hold the whole human race together, he
permitted the entire rite to be performed in the manner inherited from
the ancestors
as if the edict were not valid’ ”.
(Cumont, Orient. Rel.
pp.
282 and 286) “The wife of Practextatus,
[Paulina], after praising his career and talents in his epitaph, adds:
‘but
these things are small: you, a pious initiate
(mystes) of the holy mysteries, grasp hiddenly the discoveries of the
mind;
and manifoldly learned, you cultivate the
divine numen’. CIL, 1779 = Dessau, Inscr.
Sel., 1259)”.
NOVEMBER 21st
Jewish: THE VIRGIN MARY; Feast of the
Presentation. (Irish Catholic Dir.) “November 21. The presentation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary ... Preface of B.V.M. Et te in Praesentatione.” With
Octave for the Presentation Order.
(The Book of James,
III. 1) on the
Presentation in the Temple: “And the Priest
received her and kissed her. And he made her to sit upon the third step
of the altar …”
(Legend cited by Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Madonna,
p.151) on the Presentation of the Virgin: “
‘And when the child was three years old, Joachim said, ‘Let
us invite the daughters of Israel, and they
shall take each a taper or a lamp, and attend on her …’ And having
come to the temple, they placed her on the
first step, and she ascended alone all the steps of the altar: and the
high priest
received her there, kissed her ... And being
placed before the altar, she danced with her feet, so that all the house
of Israel
rejoiced with her, and loved her …’
“… we find ‘The Presentation of the Virgin’
among some of the most precious examples of ancient and modern Art.
“The motif
does not vary. The child Mary,
sometimes in blue, but oftener in a white vesture, with long golden
hair, ascends the
steps which lead to the porch of the temple,
which steps are always fifteen in number …” Note: see also under
Days of the Month, 15th: Ishtar.
(id.
p. 155) “St. Evode ... and
St. Germanus assert, as an indubitable
tradition of the Greek Church, that Mary had the privilege ... of
entering the Holy
of Holies ... Hence, in some of the scenes
from her early life, the ark is placed in the background. We must also
bear in
mind that the ark was one of the received
types [of Mary]”.
(Bridgett, Our
Lady’s Dowry, p. 234) “The Presentation.
The feast of our Lady’s
Presentation as a child in the temple was not
established in the West until the fourteenth century; and it was only
in 1460
that Pius II extended its celebration outside
France … This festival was celebrated on 21st November”.
NOVEMBER 22nd
Sun enters Sagittarius (tropical).
Greek and
Roman: ARTEMIS and DIANA. (Perp. Fest. Cal.)
“November 22. Diana, Artemis, Goddess of Nature”. (Lux Madriana Cal.)
“Samhain 23 (November 22). Festival of Artemis”. (Fell. of Isis Dir.)
November 22nd: Artemis, Diana. The Autumn
Moon. Occult Powers. Care for wild life and places. Communion with wild
life”.
(The Coming Age,
No. 16) “Festival of Artemis. Our Lady Artemis is not
only the Huntress … she is also the Mother of
Ekklesia: of the body of souls united in Her worship and service ...
Ekklesia, indeed, is like a mighty army with
banners, serried through time and space”.
Roman: ST. CECILIA. (Irish Catholic
Dir.) “November 22 S. Cecilia, Virgin …” (Church of England
Cal.) “November 22 Cecilia, (Rome, c. 230), Virgin …”
(Brewer, Dict.) “Cecilia, (St.) A Roman Lady ... third century. She is the patron saint of the blind ... she is
also patroness of musicians, and ‘inventor of the organ’.
“ ‘At length divine Cecilia
came, Inventress of the vocal frame’. (Dryden: Alexander’s Feast).
“... Dryden and Pope have written odes in her honour, and both speak of her charming an angel by her musical
powers”.
(Whistler, English Fest. p. 215) “St. Cecilia’s Day ...
Cecilia’s musical reputation ... was thought to be well established in
the
Middle Ages, when the guilds of musicians
adopted her as their patron saint. She was even supposed to have
invented the instrument
named in her legend, and thereby to have
‘added length to solemn sounds’, as Dryden puts it. Thus, though
Domenichino
portrays her fingering a lute before an
enraptured cherub, in Raphael’s masterpiece she is seen accompanying
herself
at a portable organ ...
“… ‘The
Musical Society’ was formed in 1683, partly to keep St.
Cecilia’s Day in a worthy manner. Each year,
on November 22nd, the Society attended a service in London, generally at
St. Bride’s, to enjoy, by way of text and
illustration, a sermon preached in defence of Cathedral music, and an
Anthem
newly written for the Festival ...
“The
composer at the first Festival was Henry Purcell ... Dryden’s
‘Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’, set by Draghi,
was performed in 1686 ... Whenever the Saint of harmony has
been honoured in England, the English poets
have been there to pay their tribute and record the fact; first Chaucer;
then
Dryden, followed by Pope in 1708 ... since
them, there have been occasional Odes by Parry, Samuel Wesley and others
... St.
Cecilia’s Day is Mr. Benjamin Britten’s
birthday, and in 1942 he revived the practice of composing an Ode in her
honour. But Sir Henry Wood had already wished
to recreate the festival, and had he lived he would have been pleased
by the
events that took place on her day in 1946,
thanks to the initiative of the Daily Herald.
There was a public luncheon at which the
Prime Minister spoke and the Poet Laureate recited a poem. Then the Lord
Mayor attended
a service in St. Sepulchre’s; and finally in
the evening - main event of the day - there was a concert of English
music
at the Albert Hall, at which the Queen and
Princess Elizabeth were present. Two orchestras took part, the London
Philharmonic
and the London Symphony, together with the
Alexandra Choir”.
(Perp. Fest.
Cal.) “November 22. Cecilia, patron saint of music and of the blind”. (Fell.
of Isis Dir.) “November 22nd: St. Cecilia. Music. Aid for the Blind”.
NOVEMBER
23rd
Japanese: KONOHANA-HIME; The Nihinahe or Shinjosai Festival. (The Nihongi,
II. 26) on Konohana-sakuya-hime (“Princess who blossoms like the
flowers
of the trees”), also known as
Kami-ataka-ashitsu-hime (“Divine Ata Princess”), consort of Ninigi, the
August
Grandchild of the Sun-Goddess:
“Now
Kami-ataka-ashi-tsu-hime by divination fixed upon a rice-field to which
she gave the name Sanada, and from the rice
grown there brewed Heavenly sweet sake, with which she entertained him.
Moreover,
with the rice from the Nunada rice-field she
made boiled rice and entertained him therewith.”
Commentary
by Aston: “This incident is the mythical
counterpart of the annual festival of Nihi-nahe or Nihi-name, now
celebrated
on November 23rd, when the new season’s rice
is offered to the Gods and partaken of by the Emperor for the first time
... The modern name of this festival is
Shin-jo-sai.”
(The Nihongi,
xxiv. 7) “The Empress Kogyoku Tenno (642 of this era) … The Empress celebrated
the festival of tasting the new rice (i.e. the Nihi-name).”
NOVEMBER 25th
Alexandrian:
ST. CATHERINE (Irish Catholic Dir.) “November
25. S. Catherine, Virgin …” (Church of England Cal.) “November
25. Catherine, Virgin …” (Peacock, Coll. Works: Gryll Grange, p. 800)
“Hymn to St. Catherine:
“Virgin bride, supremely bright,
Gem and flower of heavenly
light,
Pearl of the empyreal skies,
Violet of Paradise!”
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