Rosea: Fire and Rose

Rosea 3341 - the first month of summer!

We have two festivals this month: the Day of All Helati & the High Festival of Rosa Mundi (meaning Rose of the World; also called Rosa Caeli/Rose of Heaven). Rosa Mundi/Caeli traditionally is a moveable festival, falling on the first new or full moon after Helati; last year this meant celebrating on July 4, but this year means it is only three days after Helati! (For those who observe Rosa Mundi/Caeli on a fixed date, Helati and Rosa Mundi/Caeli are always the same day).

Summer is concerned most with the Mother aspect of God, which comes more into focus later in the season but can be appreciated from the very beginning of it. Bonfires and flowers -- most particularly, that rose! -- are traditional throughout.

This month bears many of the hallmarks of the old European festivals concerning water spirits and the fertility of the land. The herbs associated with summer and the early summer festivals (especially mugwort) come directly from these earlier time periods as deterrents -- keeping the spirits from doing you harm as they danced through the land bringing the crops to life. These bands of spirits were often perceived as either entirely semi-ancestral (young maidens of the clan/village who had died before having children - therefore, without descendants and so had fertility to share) or had at least some semi-ancestral spirits mixed in with them, so it is fitting that we recall these ancient beliefs (going back as far as the Stone Age!) in our festival of Helati. Midsummer is, both in old European tradition and Madrian belief, a time of ghosts and spirits, where the 'veil is thin' as it is at Halloween and they roam the world in great numbers and with great power.

Bonfires also held great significance in farming communities: leaping over a fire on Midsummer was seen as a way to ward off sickness and sorcery for the next year until Midsummer came again. The higher you jumped over the flames, the higher the crops were believed to grow. Fires were also lit in fields and in front of houses while charms were said over them to drive out any forces that might cause crops to go bad or prevent illnesses from entering homes.

If you are interested in learning more about these spirits and folk beliefs, I *highly* recommend Elizabeth Barber's "Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance" as an absolutely fantastic look through the ages. A great deal of old European belief & folk practice goes straight back to the beginning of farming itself, preserved until the nearly modern day. Reading this book showed me that a good portion of these beliefs and practices are still preserved in even our faith and it was wonderful to see how they fit into the larger pattern of time.

Happy summer!