Musings on the new year (celebration)

As the secular old year draws to an end, many people around me are preparing for it. Interestingly enough, I recognize many themes of the Deipnon within their preparations. Purification of the house and person, tying up loose ends of the old year, setting goals for a set period ahead... I wonder if these commonalities are the reason the ancient Hellenes didn't celebrate the start of the new year in an exorbitant fashion; the new year usually started on Noumenia, and anything from the old year had already been settled the day (and month, and the month before that, and...) before. The new year was most likely just a new month: the continuation of the cycle, but not especially epic.

Be careful out there tonight and enjoy the celebration. We're having some friends over and eating together, followed with a party I'll most likely cut out of early. I've never really observed new year's as something special (mostly because I celebrated it around Samhain since I was thirteen), but in my Hellenistic tradition, new year's is still half a year away (the Athenians and the other Ionian peoples began their year with the first new moon after the summer solstice, the Dorians with the first new moon after the autumnal equinox, the Boeotians and other Aeolians with the new moon after the winter solstice). Still, it's a fun evening and night to spend with family, friends and other loved ones. I hope you enjoy it as much as I will.

Until tomorrow, in the secular new year.

PS: Thank you, everyone who came here through search engine searches. I can see what you guys have typed into the search bar, and almost all of you come here searching for something Hellenic or Hellenistic, and always with good questions. Some examples from last year:

• genealogical greek gods tree
• greeks think of suicide in greek mythology
• stryax officianalis hellenism
• was athena wrong in how she treated medusa?
• argo navis
• orphic daily practice
• greek neo-paganism

The list goes on. Thank you for that. No weird searches, lots of searches that give me blog ideas and often questions I can answer. You guys rock.

Have a wonderful second half of the Hellenic year, everyone!

• Monday, December 31, 2012
  blogging current affairs Hekate's Deipnon moon musings

Hellenismos and the military life

I need to start this post on my difficulties with a specific aspect of Hellenismos with a bit of background on my life. I was raised in the Netherlands, a country with an--at best--neutral attitude towards the army and combat. When a vote comes up for our involvement in a war over here, the odds are about even we will or will not participate. If we do participate, it's always for peace missions. The Netherlands saw heavy action in both World Wars and I think everyone has their belly full of them. We have very little warrior spirit.

I was raised in a household which actively opposed war. My dad refused service and participated in protest marches against the army and Dutch military involvement in other countries when he was younger. I was raised with a 'make love, not war' mentality and now I'm an adult, I still can't see the logic or reason behind warfare. All I see is young men and women being send out to kill and be killed with no reason at all. Because no, people, not every Iraqi is a terrorist or an enemy. They're human beings, just like you. And if they barged into your country trying to reform your life, you'd fight them too.

Anyway...

The Hellenic empire has a long history of warfare; from cattle robbing to the Greco-Persian and the Peloponnesian War. Sparta was part of the Hellenic empire and we all saw 300 (exaggerated though that movie was) so we know what they valued. Even when there were no wars to fight, heroes of the army stayed in shape by training's, competitions and games (like the Olympics). Physical prowess was an ideal in ancient Hellenic, at least for the men. Women, thankfully for me, had other ideals to uphold.

I dislike physical exercise. It's one of those things I hope to change eventually but I severely doubt will happen in the near future. The most I'm hoping to achieve in the relatively near future is to practice sports religiously--as in; within a religious context. One thing I doubt I will even be able to get behind, though, is the conquest spirit that the ancient Hellens had. Their lust for warfare.

I have read many accounts of the Trojan war myths and have seen not just men but also Gods take sides. In the end, all that came from it was death, where the Hellens mostly saw honor. I don't see the honor in murder, but then again, it probably isn't murder if the killing happens at war time.

Thankfully, the warrior spirit has taken a back seat position in current Hellenismos. Intellectual pursuits are more important, as are the family-oriented rituals. It was something I needed to figure out before accepting Hellenismos as my religion. If the warrior spirit had still been as prevalent (like, for example, in Asatru), I doubt I would have been able to make it such a large part of my life.

• Thursday, July 12, 2012
  ancient Hellenic culture Hellenismos 101 musings warfare

On rain and wasted days

It's raining today; a steady outpour of heavenly water that keeps me from stepping outside. I like these kind of rainy days. My house feels like a safe hide-away from the world. It's warm and dry and on days like this, it's easy to indulge myself in relaxing activities like gaming, meditation and the preparation and eating of good food. It's a family day. The lights go on when I awake and only go out when it's time for bed. It's a wasted day and I enjoy every moment of it.

If you're anything like me, you're hard on yourself. I'm a perfectionist at heart and I tend to do too much in too short a time span. I overdid it yesterday and I'm paying for it today. My body is a mess, everything hurts and I've been exhausted since the moment I woke up, even though I had eight hours of wonderful sleep. It's been worse, but it's a reminder that I need to take better care of myself.

I'm not very good at taking care of myself, to be honest. I've gotten better at it over the years. I've learned to plan my workload so I have at least one day in between deadlines to relax without feeling guilty about it. It's a concept my mom introduced when I was in elementary school; she called it 'baaldagen', literaly translated into 'bummed out days'. I hated going to school, so every year I got four days on which I could stay home and, if I wanted, my mom would take me somewhere. These are some of my favorite moments with my mom and of my childhood in general.

Now I'm an adult, I plan these days myself. Even if I know I'll pay for it the day after, I sometimes take a 'baaldag' and do something I want to do so I can recover myself a bit. It usually gives me the energy to get through the next deadline.

I think one of the major points that drew me to Paganism when I was young was the throw back to days where life was simpler. There was less stress; life followed a standard patter everyone was aware of. Staying alive was care number one. Family and community mattered a great deal. Now, we're all individuals, fending for ourselves and our immediate family. We've mostly lost our community.

Myself, I work in the communication sector. I make my money with information, not goods I have created with my own hands. I wish I did. On days like these, I would sit near the open window, look out at the rain and craft whatever I would sell or trade. I would take this wasted day as an opportunity to craft, without temptation to head out and wander off. I'd offer to the Gods and thank Them for giving me this opportunity. And above all, I would bask in the knowledge that I was adding to the world, in my own small way.

• Sunday, July 8, 2012
  community musings this is not a real post