Holidays Today! - Celebrate

Lots of holidays today, so celebrate and take a bit of time out to think about them.

Blessings Be to all of you at Mabon. 

Of course, the big one is the Equinox - Mabon in the calendar. That began less than an hour ago and we are now officially in autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere. It is time to celebrate the harvest, press the apples, and begin to get the cold weather clothing out of storage. It's time for fall cleaning and for making plans for the next few VERY BUSY months since we have Samhain followed by Thanksgiving followed by Christmas. It starts now - the time to rush life.

Today is also Yom Kippur which actually began at sunset last night. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement - a day of prayer, purification and fasting. It is the highest of the holy days for the Jews, the end of the ten day cycle that began with Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur features five services in synagogue during the long observance of this day. At the end of the day, sins and transgressions from the prior year will be forgiven and a new year will begin in the eyes of God.

The Yom Kippur War was so fast. 

I remember Yom Kippur as the beginning of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. I was in my first year of college when the war began and the world watched, amazed, as events unfolded and one small, tiny nation held strong, defeating a coalition of enemies. The war lasted from October 6-25, 1973; very short and very decisive. It seems that was the last of the short wars. Now they drag on forever and ever and more.

So as we enter this season of Thanksgiving, it probably wouldn't harm any of us to put a bit of thought and thanks out there into the aether for another year behind us and add prayers for peace. It seems the most elusive of dreams - Peace. Good Holidays to all!