Legends and Lore for February
TipsyCad147
February, the second month of the current Gregorian calendar and the
third month of Winter's rule, derives its name from Februa, the name
of a Roman purification festival held on the fifteenth day of February
in ancient times. The traditional birthstone amulet of February is the
amethyst; and the primrose and the violet are the month's traditional
flowers.
February is shared by the astrological signs of Aquarius the Water-
Bearer and Pisces the Two Fishes, and is sacred to the following pagan
deities: Aradia, Brigid, Juno Februa, and the Wiccan Goddess in Her
aspect as the Maiden. During the month of February, the Great Solar
Wheel of the year is turned to Candlemas, one of the four Great
Sabbats celebrated each year by Wiccans and modern Witches throughout
the world.
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February 1Candlemas Eve
Brigit, the Celtic Earth-Mother and goddess of fire, wisdom, poetry,
and sacred wells, is honored on this day. In Ireland, offering of
yellow flowers are made to the goddess at sacred wells dedicated to
her. In ancient Greece, the three-day Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries
began each year on this day in honor of the goddesses Ceres, Demeter,
Persephone, and Proserpine.
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February 2
On this day, the Candlemas Sabbat is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches
throughout the world. Candlemas (which is also known as Imolc, Oimelc,
and Lady Day) is a fire festival that celebrates the coming of Spring.
New beginnings and spiritual growth are represented by the "sweeping
out of the old," symbolized by the sweeping of the circle with a besom
(a Witch's broom). This is traditionally done by the High Priestess of
the coven, who wears a brilliant crown of thirteen candles on top of
her head. In ancient Europe, the Candlemas Sabbat was celebrated with
a torch-light procession to purify and fertilize the fields before the
seed-planting season, and to honor and give thanks to the various
deities and spirits associated with agriculture.
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February 3
On this date, an annual ceremony called the Blessing of the Throats
takes place to honor the healing powers of Saint Blaise and to
magickally ward off throat ailments brought on by the winter's cold.
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February 4
Throughout Japan the evil demons of winter are exorcised annually on
this day with a festival called the Setsu-bun. Beans are placed in
every corner of a family's house, and pointed branches and sardine
heads are mounted over the doors. Centuries-old purification rites are
performed by priests in all temples and shrines. Prayers are written
on slips of paper and then cast from bridges into the rivers below.
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February 5
On this date in the year 1962, the Great conjunction of the Sun, Moon,
Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn occurred in the sign of
Aquarius.
On this day, the annual Feast of Ia is celebrated in honor of, and to
invoke the power of, the Sacred Maiden of the Pagan mythos.
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February 6
Throughout northern Japan, a centuries-old winter snow festival takes
place each year around this time of the month. The ancient and
beneficial spirits that bring life-sustaining water are honored at
special shrines erected in huts resembling Eskimo igloos.
A festival in honor of the love goddess Aphrodite was held each year
on this date in ancient Greece.
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February 7
On this date (approximately), the annual spring fertility festival
known as Li Chum is celebrated in China. Bamboo and paper effigies of
a water buffalo (an animal which symbolizes "new life") are carried
through the streets by a temple-bound procession. After reaching the
temple, the effigies are set on fire in the belief that prayers for
prosperity will be taken up to heaven by the rising smoke.
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February 8
The annual nighttime ritual known as the Star Festival is celebrated
on this date (approximately) in China. The stars that influence the
fate of mankind are honored by the lighting of 108 small lanterns on a
special altar, and prayers are offered to the sacred stars that
governed one's birth.
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February 9
In northern Norway, the Narvik Sun Pageant is held annually on this
date in honor of the ancient Pagan goddess who rules over the Sun. The
festival, which has been celebrated since pre-Christian times, begins
at sunrise and continues throughout the day until the shadows of
evening darken the sky.
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February 10
An ancient African festival marking the beginning of the fishing
season and the New Year is celebrated annually on this day by members
of the Kebbawa tribe of Nigeria. The ancient gods of their religion
are honored and invoked, and traditional fish ivinations are
performed.
In pre-Christian times, the goddess Anaitis was honored on this day in
the country of Persia (now Iran). She was a deity who was said to have
possessed great powers over the Moon and the seas.
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February 11
Each year on this date, millions of faithful men, women, and children
make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady in Lourdes. A spring in
the village of Lourdes, France, is believed by many to possess
curative powers. The pilgrims bathe in the water in the hope that it
will heal their illnesses and disabilities.
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February 12
On this date in the year 1663, the infamous clergyman Cotton Mather
was born in Boston, Massachusetts. (This is certainly one birthday no
Witch would ever celebrate!) His writings and sermons condemning the
practice of the Old Religion contributed greatly to the hysteria of
the 1692 Salem Witch-hunt. Cotton Mather died in Boston, one day after
his birthday, in the year 1728.
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February 13
On this date, an annual holiday called the Parentalia was observed in
ancient Rome. It lasted until the twenty-first of February and was a
day for families to honor and commemorate their deceased loved ones,
particularly their parents. During the week of Parentalia, all temples
in Rome were closed and all wedding ceremonies forbidden. Ancestral
tombs were visited and offerings of wine and flowers were
made to family ghosts.
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February 14
Saint Valentine's Day. This is a day dedicated to all lovers, and the
traditional time for Witches around the world to practice all forms of
love magick and love divination.
This day is sacred to Juno-Lupa, the she-wolf goddess of the ancient
Roman religion. In early times, she was honored annually on this day
by a women's fertility festival and the sacrifice of a female wolf.
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February 15
On this date in ancient Rome, a festival known as the Lupercalia
(Feast of the Wolf) was celebrated to honor the god Lupercus and to
mark the beginning of Spring. The festival which was a rustic ritual
of both purification and fertility magick, also included the sacrifice
of goats and dogs to the god Faunus (identified by classical writers
as the horned goat-god Pan). During the orgiastic festival, young men
would choose their sexual partners by drawing the names of young women
out of a bowl.
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February 16
In the distant past, a rite called the Devil's Dance was performed
annually on this date (approximately) as part of the Tibetan New Year
festival. Monks wearing grotesque masks would dance for hours as a
village sorcerer exorcised demons and the evil influences of the past
year with various magickal incantations.
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February 17
On this day, according to Hindu religion and mythology, the fearsome
goddess known as Kali was born and the world entered into the Kali
Yuga (the "Evil Age"). Kali, the destroyer-goddess, was depicted with
black skin, a hideous face, and four arms. In ancient times, human
sacrifices were made to appease her and to satisfy her thirst for
blood.
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February 18
On this day, a festival of women known as the Spenta Armaiti was held
annually throughout the country of Persia. Ancient fertility rites
were performed by temple priestesses in honor of the goddess
Spandarmat, and the goddess who dwells within all women was honored
and invoked with special prayers and meditations.
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February 19
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of
Pisces. Persons born under the sign of the Two Fishes are said to be
telepathic, tolerant, sensitive, artistic, and often prone to
daydreaming. Pisces is a water sign and is ruled by the planet
Neptune.
According to mythology, the goddess Minerva was born on this day
(which is sacred to the Pagan deities Nammu and Nina).
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February 20
On this date in the year 1882, the Society for Psychical Research was
founded in London, England, by a group of prominent philosophers and
physicists. It became Britain's leading organization for research into
the world of supernatural phenomena and the paranormal.
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February 21
In ancient Rome, an All Soul's Day ceremony known as the Feralia was
held annually on this date at the close of the Parentalia festival.
Family reunions were held and Lares (ancestral guardian spirits) were
honored with prayers and offerings.
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February 22
On this day in the year 1917, Sybil Leek was born in Stoke-on-Trent,
England. She achieved fame and success as a modern Witch, astrologer,
and occult author. Her psychic predictions of the Kennedy
assassinations and the election of Richard M. Nixon as president of
the United States are documented. She passed away on October 26, 1982
in Melbourne, Florida.
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February 23
On this date, the last festival of the ancient Roman year (the
Terminalia) was celebrated annually in honor of the god Terminus, a
deity who ruled over boundaries and frontiers. During the Terminalia,
neighbors whose lands were divided and protected by Terminus would
gather together an pour libations of wine, honey, and the blood of
sacrificed pigs on their stone boundary-markers.
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February 24
Shiva, the multifaceted Hindu god of destruction and renewal, is
honored annually on this date (approximately) by a day of fasting,
followed by an oil-lamp vigil known as the Shivaratri (Shiva's Night)
which takes place at shrines dedicated to him.
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February 25
In many parts of the Christian world, a joyous pre-Lenten celebration
known as Carnival takes place annually on or around this date. In
ancient days, orgiastic fertility rites and sacrifices of humans and
animals to herald the arrival of Spring were common at this time of
the year in many parts of the world.
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February 26
Pentagram Night. As a symbolic gesture to reaffirm your dedication to
the Craft of the Wise, dip your fingertip into a small cauldron pot
filled with Yule-log ashes and then use it to draw the sacred symbol
of the Witches' Pentagram (five pointed star within a circle) over
your heart at the first stroke of midnight.
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February 27
On this day in the year 1861, famous psychic and spiritual philosopher
Rudolf Steiner was born in Kraljevic (which was part of Hungary at
that time). He possessed clairvoyant powers and communicated often
with nonphysical entities. In 1902, he was appointed general secretary
of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, and in 1913, he
established his own school for esoteric research. He died on March 30,
1925.
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February 28
In ancient times, a Chaldean Sabbat known as the Sabbatu was
celebrated each year on this date.
On this day of the year, the Earth-Goddesses Ceres, Demeter, Gaia, Ge,
and Mauri are honored by many Pagans and Wiccans around the world.
Also honored annually on this day is the ancient Pagan deity Zamyaz,
who was worshipped and offered sacrifices by the ancient Chaldeans and
Persians.
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February 29
On this date in the year 1692, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam, two
young girls from Salem Village, Massachusetts, accused three local
women of using the black arts of Witchcraft to torment and bewitch
them. On the following day, Sarah Good, Sarah Osburne, and a West
African slave named Tituba were arrested, marking the beginning of the
infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. By the end of the year, when the
trials were finally brought to a close, over 200 women and men had
been arrested and jailed, 19 had been hanged at Gallows Hill, and one
man had been pressed to death.
According to folklore, this is a very unlucky day to have a love
letter postmarked. It will lead to the breakup of your love affair or
engagement.