When the moon reaches her fullest in December, and we reach the shortest day of the year, the old year is said to be passed and the new year beginning and it is this time the non-Christians celebrated because they would say the winter was on the decline and the spring was on its way.
As a metaphor to this they developed a myth which had been going for many centuries and was passed down through aural tradition amongst the Celts and Vikings as well as in Roman and Greek mythology.
The sun and moon were seen as Gods in the heavens and their passage during the year noted. As time passed a story was told which became more elaborated upon until the one we can read today was formed. This is taken from the Celtic Myths and Legends and is the story probably told around the fires at Wood-Henge all those years ago. It is a metaphor and is I said earlier the more you think about the story and the more aspects you take into account it is as relevant today as it was then.
The moon is the constant representation of birth and re-birth, the cycles of the earth, whilst the sun is seen as the bringer of harvest, the chariot rider, the all powerful one, the destroyer. He reigns for just one year and in that time he completes his full life cycle from infant to old man. The moon, however remains constant, it is only her role which changes and her relationship with the sun. So let us review the story.
After a long pregnancy, the moon gives birth to the new infant sun on the shortest day. The old sun has died and at this time of year the power of the sun is very limited because it is still a babe and is being nursed by the moon. As he grows stronger the days grow longer and his power increases; he becomes the warrior and shows ff to his mother how well he can drive his father’s chariot through the sky, higher and higher. The moon is an indulgent mother and loses her power to him and has less of an effect on the tides and the weather. As he gets to be a strong virile young man he returns to his mother and creates a new sun within her and rises into the sky to reign supreme. The moon has her last fling of power and the spring tides mark the moment of conception within her. She is once more pregnant and pre-occupied.
With his new found power and strength he drags the sun even higher into the sky until it reaches its highest zenith and it is at this time he is at his strongest. He shows off to his mother and she smile quietly giving him full reign of the heavens.
By this time she is becoming more pregnant and as he begins to age and turn into the old man he is unable to ride the chariot so high he is losing his vigour.
Again she rises to become supreme and fully pregnant with the next year’s sun; she rises into her own power once more bringing rains, snow and floods, high tides and storms at sea. (Friendly soul!). As the sun fails to carry the sun high into the sky her power sours and the autumn tides become higher as does her passage across the sky. She is fully pregnant and in that state is possibly not in the best of moods, hence high tides and vicious storms.
As she moves ever closer to the 22nd December her power increases and she watches as her child of last year dies and gives birth to the new sun.
So what is the relevance of this story? To me it shows the continual cycle of renewal we are part of and however much we may try and centrally heat our houses, double glaze our windows and insulate our lofts, the earth’s cycle still reigns supreme. With the earth’s cycle so too does our cycle and if we embrace it we can move in harmony with ourselves and not fight the inevitable drives which occur at different times of the year.
Another perspective is that of the relationship between man and the earth on which it lives, where the moon represents the natural cycles which go on regardless and the sun as the representation of the minuteness of our stay in relation to that of the earth’s time.
Again one could look at it as a metaphor for the continual birth and re-birth of direction within us; there is a set path along which we walk but the immediate choices we make on the way will alter how high we fly and for how long.
So each year, the moon causes re-birth and the earth moves on one more turn of the wheel.
Whichever new year you celebrate and for whatever reason you do, this year, just stop and think, is this going to be a new turn of the wheel for you or are your habits going to allow you to continue in the same old same old?
