• cutting the mistletoe

    From David Dalton@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 30 03:27:15 2022
    XPost: soc.history.ancient, soc.culture.celtic, alt.mythology
    XPost: alt.folklore, alt.arts.storytelling

    I have read that druids cut the mistletoe with a golden
    coloured sickle on the sixth day of the moon.

    Is that six days after modern new (dark) moon, or
    six days after ancient new (earliest waxing crescent)
    moon? I think the first, which would have been
    the evening of December 28. But I have also read
    that druids mark the new lunar month by the
    easily observable straight edge of the first
    quarter moon (which I call D-moon since it is
    shaped like a D). So that might imply the second.

    Also is the cutting of the mistletoe done on the
    first quarter (or day before) closest to the
    winter solstice, or the one before the winter
    solstice?

    a D.

    --
    David Dalton [email protected] https://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page) https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page) "And now the angry morning; Gives the early signs of warning; You must face alone the plans you make; Decisions they will try to break" (S. McLachlan)

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