Full Harvest moon and Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Today is the start of Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It's a happy and beautiful Asian family celebration that comes each year at the time of the full moon in September or October. The full Harvest Moon rises this evening-- obliquely, close to the horizon-- and remains big and bright for a long time, giving extra light to harvesters. In China it's celebrated as a harvest festival and also the moon’s birthday.

Agenda for today:
1. Update my altar

Photo by Alan Gillespie

2. Journal queries
3. Practice Balance
4. Fall cleaning
5. Make moon cakes
6. Make floating lanterns
7. Have a moon-viewing party

Sukkot

Sukkot 2014

Tonight is the start of Sukkot, a 7-day Jewish harvest festival that begins at the full moon in late September or early October.

The word Sukkot means “Booths”; Jews all over the world build outdoor booths for Sukkot, like the simple huts that farmers in ancient Israel lived in during harvest time. The roof is always made of leafy branches, open to the sky so that you see the stars through the leaves.

Each family decorates their hut, makes it comfortable, and eats at least two meals there; they invite guests, light candles, and say prayers of thanksgiving for the harvest.

Agenda:
1. Build a sukkah
2. Make luminaries
3. Bake stuffed apples and eat in the sukkah

Autumn equinox

Our birch tree going golden.

The autumn equinox occurrs tonight at 6:54 p.m. in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is over and darkness will again catch up to the light.

Canadian geese are on the move south, the leaves are turning and beginning to drop, and night temperatures are cooler. Everything in nature is paring down, and moving energy to the roots and into the earth.

This is the second balancing point in the year, when we might gently shift our attention from the physical side of life to the spiritual and mental, to indoor projects and thoughtful pursuits. As the nights lengthen, we have more dark time available, to be alone and to think; to become clear about our intentions; to nurture inner seeds that may not sprout until spring.

Mark the Start of Autumn:
1. Journal queries
2. Fall possibilities list
3. Fall cleaning and decorating
4. Make a straw doll

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly. In 2001 the date was fixed on September 21. 

This year's Day of Peace celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The Right to Peace- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document; it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948 as a "common standard of achievement" (a goal) for all peoples and all nations.

“It is time all nations and all people live up to the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human race. This year marks the 70th anniversary of that landmark document.” -- Secretary-General António Guterres

Peace Day Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. Raise awareness
3. Work on my Peace Pole
4. Peace vigil

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur (pronounced Yome KEY-poor), also called the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It's observed with a 25-hour period of fasting, and prayer in the synagogue.

The focus during Yom Kippur is on sins between us and God, not sins against other people. To atone for sins against other people, you must seek reconciliation with those people, and right the wrongs you committed, if possible. And that needs to be done before Yom Kippur.

At the end of Yom Kippur, God's judgment is sealed. This day is your last chance to change the judgment, to demonstrate your repentance and make amends.

Agenda Today:
1. Reflection
2. Honor the fasting
3. Confession
4. Atonement

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is one of the most beloved of all the Hindu gods. He is the god of wisdom, beginnings, and success. His birthday festival, or chaturthi, begins on the fourth day of this waxing moon and lasts for 10 days.

Hindus believe in one God who has many symbolic forms. Ganesha is worshipped as the Lord of Beginnings and the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He can remove obstacles, or he can place obstacles in the path of those who need to be slowed. 

I plan to use Ganesha as a focus for my meditation for the next 10 days, give attention to my obstacles, and find a way forward through them.

Agenda for this week:
1.  Journal about my obstacles
2. Make a clay Ganesha
3. Make a Success Altar
4. Ceremony for beginning and success

Paitishem

The Zoroastrian community honors the six seasons of the year by celebrating six Gahambars- the word gahambar means "proper season". Each of these six festivals is celebrated for five days, and each honors one of the six material creations: The heaven, water, earth, flora, fauna and man.

Paitishem is the third Gahambar, celebrating the creation of the earth, the end of summer, and the harvesting of crops. It takes place each year from September 12th through the 16th.

Agenda this week:
1. Recite prayers
2. Make papeta-ma-ghosh (stewed meat with potatoes)
3. Work in the late summer garden

Al-Hijra

Photo by Alan Gilespie.

Al-Hijra is the first day of the Islamic month of Muharram, the Islamic New Year; it begins at sunset tonight, when the crescent moon is sighted. 

Hijra means migration, and also an escape from a dangerous situation. The original hijra was the journey of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, after he learned that another Arab tribe was trying to assassinate him.

Islamic years are calculated from 1 Muharram, 622 CE. They are followed by the suffix AH, which stands for "After Hijra". (Tonight begins 1440 AH.)

Al-Hijra is celebrated quietly, with prayers, readings, and reflection, not the hoopla we associate with the western New Year. Muslims tell the story of Muhammad’s flight through the desert on camel-back with sword-wielding thugs in pursuit. They reflect on their own migrations, actual or of the soul.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. Prayer

New Harvest Moon and Rosh Hashanah

Tonight is the new moon. The Chinese call this eighth new moon the Harvest Moon, because it's harvest time! 
Tonight is also the first evening of Rosh Hashanah (Roash hah-shah-nuh), which falls at or near the new moon of late September or early October. The observance begins at sundown tonight and lasts for two days, but it's actually the start of a ten-day period called the Days of Awe that ends with Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah means “Head of the Year”; it’s the Jewish New Year for the Spirit. The focus of this festival is repentance for wrongs you have done, and reaffirmation that you will take the honorable path in the future.

Agenda for today:

1- Journal queries
2- New moon harvest meditation
3- Set intentions
4- Harvest and can pickled beets
5- Make challah
6- Share a Seder

Ripe Corn Festival

The Ripe Corn Festival is a tradition of the Tsalagi (Cherokee) Native Americans, held annually in early September. The Festival lasts for four days and nights. The holy man tends a sacred fire, and the men dance. Then they have a big feast with lots of corn-- roasted corn, corn tortillas, corn soup, and corn bread.

The festival is a time to thank Mother Earth for providing all foods during the growing season, and acknowledges Selu (pronounced Say-loo), who was the First Woman. In Cherokee mythology, Selu is the goddess of the corn. Her name means "maize" or "corn" in the Cherokee language. Selu's spirit is resurrected with each harvest. You can read the whole Cherokee story of Kana’ti and Selu: The Origin of Game and Corn here.

Agenda:
1. Prayer of thanksgiving
2. Make succotash
3. Make corn husk dolls