Myths and Legends of the World

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return. During the Roman festival of Saturnalia, celebrants often decorated their ...

There are several colors which are traditionally associated with Christmas. The most common colors people uses are Red, Green and Gold. But why do we have them and what do the colors represent? Most the colors and their meanings come from the western/northern European traditions and customs, when Christmas is in the middle of winter and it's dark and cold. Green  is the symbol for nature, youth and the hope of eternal life. It is for this reason that Christmas is a feast of hope, with a newborn child as its central symbol. People observed that long after other plants have died during the winter, fir trees and holly bushes have remained evergreen. So they thought that something magical must be making these trees and bushes survive the harshest of winters. These plants were thus worshipped and feared at the same time. From then on, they have come to be associated with the mystery of life and green became the color of life. Evergreen plants, like Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe h...

Baldr is God of Light and Beauty Frigga, Queen of Asgard, the Aesir &wife of Odin, loved all her children; but most of all she loved her son Baldur the Beautiful, God of Vegetation and the Sun. So great was her love for him that she went through the whole world and made every thing promise that it would never harm Baldur. She exacted the promise from stones and wind, from plants and animals, from fire and water, and all promised faithfully never to harm Baldur the Beautiful. But when Frigga came to the little mistletoe, she saw that it was small and weak and did not make it promise. Then the queen of the gods returned to Asgard to share her news with the Aesir. When the gods heard this, they created a new game. Baldur would stand in front of them and they would hurl spears and stones, axes and all manner of weapons at him. But because of their promise, all the weapons bounced back or turned aside. Now when Loki the trickster, heard of this, he was angry & jealous and ...

The Goddess of Hearth and Home, Hestia, and I wish you a Merry Christmas and want to share some helpful tips for a great festival season without too much drama.  Everything in moderation Christmas seems to be all about excess thanks traditions and the media – but there is not much enjoyment in feeling the size of a padded Santa suit or as stuffed as the festive turkey! The best advice is moderation – apply it to everything you eat and drink. Drink moderate amounts of alcohol and try to alternate soft drinks or water with alcoholic ones. As for food, have a bit of what you fancy but try not to stuff your face if you can helped it! Don’t over-inflate your expectations Don’t expect to create the ‘perfect’ Christmas as it’s near likely to fall short of your expectations. The most important thing is for you and your family to have fun. That does not mean landing yourself in debt from credit cards and/or store credits for the next 12 months by buying expensive g...

Happy Birthday to the Gods of the Sun and Light Sol Sol Invictus "the Unconquered Sun" is the name of a Roman sun (sol) god popular from at least the 3rd century. Before Sol Invictus came to prominence, the Romans already had a sun god, Sol Indiges, who had been worshiped since the period of the Roman Republic. (The meaning of "Indiges" is debated. Sol Indiges could mean the indigenous sun.) The Emperor Nero had built a colossal statue associated with a sun god Sol. Sol Invictus may have been an import from the East. The Roman emperor Elagabalus worshiped a Syrian sun god, but it is Emperor Aurelian who is particularly associated with the Invictus because he, having attributed to the god his victory over the Palmyrenes, set up a temple to Sol Invictus in the Campus Martius, established a priesthood for the god, and created games in his honor (ludi solis), in 274. Aurelian tried to establish Sol Invictus as supreme god of the Romans, particularly among the ...