Ayathrem

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.

Ayathrem is the fourth Gahambar, celebrating the creation of plants, the time to sow winter crops, and the season when the herds come home from pasture. It takes place each year from October 12th through the 16th.

Agenda this week:
1. Recite prayers
2. Make Aash-e-Reshte (noodle soup)
3. Sow fava beans

Autumn Navratri

Navratri is a Hindu holiday during which we honor and thank Shakti, the Divine Mother, in all her forms. Shakti is the universal principle of energy and creativity, Mother Earth, and the feminine power in each of us. 

The word nava means nine and ratri means nights; the festival lasts for nine nights, symbolic of the nine months in the womb.

Navratri is celebrated at least twice each year in India- in the spring and fall- because these are times when nature and people undergo great changes. Autumn (Sharad) Navratri begins on the day after the rise of the new moon in late September or early October.

Agenda:

1- Make a rangoli design
2- Plant grain seeds
3- Set up an altar for Mother Nature
4- Morning meditation on strength 
5- Make channa sundal (spicy chickpeas)
6- Evening visualization and prayer
7- Durga mantra

Indigenous Peoples Day and New Chrysanthemum Moon

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

This is also the night of the new moon. The Chinese call this ninth new moon the Chrysanthemum Moon. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of long life and endurance because of its ability to withstand colder temperatures. According to Chinese scholars, it shows the virtues of one who can endure temptations and maintain grace.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. New moon meditation
3. Set intentions
4. Make fry bread
5. Make a prayer stick

Mehregan

Mehregan (pronounced ‘meh-re-gahn’), is an ancient Persian festival, older even than Zoroastrianism, that began as a feast for the sun god/dess, Mehr.

Mehr (also known as Mithra) is responsible for knowledge, love, friendship, promises, and the light. The word "mehr" in Farsi means kindness.

When Zoroastrianism took hold in Persia, in around 1400 BCE, Mehr was reduced from a God to an angel, but the festival of Mehregan remained. Now Iranians celebrate it usually on October 1st or 2nd, as a day of thanksgiving and the start of the second half of the year (Noruz, in March, is the start of the first half). People decorate their houses, put on new clothes, and visit their relatives and friends, wishing each other a good harvest, long life, and happiness.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Make Aash-e-jo (barley soup) with lamb
3. Set the table
4. Fire

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