BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings

Subject: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 08:26 AM

To all our friends on the 'Cat :

Light, Love, Blessings and Greetings of the Spring Equinox to you and yours.

So mote it be.

Erica and Bryn

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 08:31 AM

It is a perfect spring day here.
keith.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 10:50 AM

Hmmmm. Is it Spring already?

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 11:06 AM

Spring Equinox - Friday, 20th March, 11.43-44 UTC/GMT.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 11:39 AM

The Light is more visible now and lasting so much longer with each day. May it shine for all as well through the dark time of the year, when it comes.

All the green things are popping out here in warm, deserty Colorado and the birds are singing up a storm (rain only, I hope!) The robins are back and we heard geese flying overhead the other day, heading north. My daffodils are standing tall, in pride of place for the moment, in the garden with the early bird crocus just about done. I love this time of year!


Love, Light, and Blessings to all. So mote it be!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 04:45 AM

The silver birch across the road from where I am sitting now, has a flush of green on it - the leaves are bursting out of their buds and my tits have emptied the feeder in 3 days flat - a new record!

Spring is definately springing here!

Blessings all.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 05:47 AM

Is it only the pagans that appreciate such things? Or is it the appreciation that makes one pagan?

I ate my first hawthorn leaf of the year on Sunday; I count this a very significant communion!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 10:53 AM

Eating hawthorn leaves is good for you; it acts as an appetite suppressant and are good for the old ticker. Countrymen of old used them for early starts before breakfast, calling hawthorn the bread and butter tree, and in this respect it works a treat. The folkloric associations of hawthorn make it an especial favourite with pagans of most persuasions (not least for the blossoms, the fragrance of which is akin to that of female sexual effluvia) and its use in the landscape for hedging makes it a familiar signifier of seasonal change to those who use the countryside recreationally. I used to lay hedges with the BTCV, a winter pursuit as I recall, entangled in ancient hawthorn, bill-hook in the one hand, spliff in the other, working with such ceremonial dedication to the task in hand that one transcended the material realm altogether. All I could see in my dreams was tangles of hawthorn.

A Charm for Green Thorn (1984)

Blood-thorn of winter,
I bare your heart and fell you;
and there you must lie,
til your blackened bones turn green.

Green-thorn of spring-time,
Your welcome heart on fell-sides,
Bids us go as passers-by,
A blessing wove bright at lamb-cry.

White-thorn of summer,
You bare my heart and fell me,
and there I must now lie,
til your bossomed boughs turn red.

Red-thorn of autumn,
We gather hearts at fell-time;
with blazing hearts we gather,
until our hearths are swept and cold.

There is, believe it or not, a tune to this...

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 12:59 PM

I'm usually off on a camping and walking weekend - if I can make it - as a form of 'observance' to the Spring Equinox.

Really super Spring day, I think the temperature's going to dip again come Friday though, so camping in particualar reminds one of the fickle and unconstant nature of the Suns seemingly ardent promises during this season - promises which many an eager blossom has come to rue...

Love and Lux and all that... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 01:11 PM

"calling hawthorn the bread and butter tree,"

I've heard it called a variant of this: 'Bread and Cheese" with the leaves being the 'bread' and the haws being the 'cheese'.

Haws taste to me a bit like apple. In fact I saw some telly prog where they were gathering wild food, and the weirdly prudish couple gathering haws wouldn't call them 'haws' but prefered the less evocative term 'hawthorn berries'! 'Hips and Haws' of course are Autumns foragings, so not exactly pertinant to this thread, apart from sounding rather charmingly bawdy.

I've always thought that hawthorn blossom (along with many others) smelled like wee, though in a rather nice way!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: bubblyrat
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 03:04 PM

Yes, us children in Sussex in the 1950s,at this time of year,would always stop on the way to school (we all WALKED of course---just imagine !)to pick and eat bunches of new hawthorn leaves,which we called "Bread and Cheese",and very tasty it was too.We used to suck the nectar from the flowers of Dead Nettles,and eat new shoots of Sorrel ( lovely !).And the water from natural springs,bubbling up out of the ground up on the Downs---we just cupped our hands,filled them,and drank the beautiful,cold,clear water.
    It's hard to imagine a child today asking Mummy to pull over in the Jeep Cherokee so that she can gingerly pick her way through plastic bags,broken glass and used condoms in order to grab some yellowed ,stunted leaves from a twisted,dying hawthorn tree.Still, that's progress !!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 03:59 PM

[Where] she can gingerly pick her way through plastic bags,broken glass and used condoms in order to grab some yellowed ,stunted leaves from a twisted,dying hawthorn tree.

Where exactly in rural Sussex would you find the above, please?

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 03:30 PM

I am surprised we didn't have a thread for this year..missed it by a few days. Regardless...I heard, then saw, my first robin this past week. More green things are starting to push through; crocus have been blooming for a couple of weeks; daffodils will be open in a day or two.

Happy Spring and Equinox, may all good things come to fruition from these days of green promise. Or, for those Down Under, blessings on seeds planted, both literally and metaphorically.:-)

Blessed Be,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Rowan
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 05:29 PM

And a happy Autumnal Equinox to you as well, from the waterier half of the world.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: GUEST,MikeMadigan
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 10:14 AM

www.askeatonbynet.com
Great aunt Maggie Madigan, April 4,1912,..survived the Titanic. See story.
Cheers~MikeMadigan ([e-mail])

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: GUEST,MikeMadigan
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 10:15 AM

That should have been April 14,1912

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 06:29 PM

Today is March the twenty-first.
Listen, buds, it's time to burst. -- Ogden Nash

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: GUEST,CLETUS HARDDINGER
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:41 PM

I doan see wair Ol Vernal postid ennywhairz an I wuz hopin he would. Dang. I aint talkt ta thet ol boy in a coons age. An how come yall talkin bout spring?

CLETUS HARDDINGER

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 10:13 PM

Good humorous post about what Vernal means.
I suppose we have Spring Equinox threads
but I didn't search them out.

Daylight Saving Time has already gone into effect here.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 01:05 AM

Yay, spring will come!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Mar 21 - 07:57 AM

I popped into the kitchen at dawn to get a drink of water and a male blackbird was singing his heart out on our apple tree. Such a beautiful and welcome sign of Spring! I felt like whistling back at him (mad woman!)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Mar 21 - 10:18 PM

The 2021 Spring Equinox, in these United States,
occurs at
5:37 AM in Eastern Daylight Time,
on Saturday 20 March,
according to the Farmer's Almanac.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 04:00 AM

Spring has sprung
The grass has ris
I wonder where
The birdies is

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: BobL
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 04:10 AM

The bird's on the wing - ain't that absurd?
Rather, the wing is on the bird!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 07:50 AM

"...male blackbird was singing his heart out on our apple tree. Such a beautiful and welcome sign of Spring!"

...Until you realise that what he was actually doing was telling the other male blackbirds to bugger off! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:13 AM

Our seasonal pair of ducks have appeared in our garden. They love Morrisons budget scones :-) Not sure if they, or the scones, do the lawn any good though :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:33 AM

Spriiiiiiiing!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 03:37 PM

Or, for half the planet, Faaaaaall!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 08:39 PM

I think you mean autuuuuuuuuumn...

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 08:41 PM

Song thrush singing away at dusk these last two nights.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 08:03 AM

Every time I see the thread title in the list, my eyes see ‘vernal’, but my brain reads ‘venal’.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 08:52 AM

As long as you don't read "venereal..."

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 09:25 AM

:-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 11:14 AM

Nope. Fall. Murrican.

Blicky.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 11:49 AM

Dull, chilly afternoon on the sea cliffs, but two skylarks were singing up there, between Bude and Widemouth Bay.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 12:40 PM

On our way out of the village (going to the supermarket) this morning, we saw a beautiful herd of cows and they each had a little calf. Further along the road was a flock of ewes, and many tiny lambs. They hadn't been born for long because they were cuddled up on the ground. Usually, when a little bit older, they gambol and leap about. I don't know why, but I found I had tears in my eyes. Such a pretty sight.
(My neighbour's daughter, a veterinary nurse, is a Vegan. She would say everyone should have tears in their eyes because these young creatures were destined to be slaughtered and eaten!)

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Mar 23 - 11:29 AM

Happy equinox, vernal for the Northern Hemisphere anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 23 - 04:27 PM

The spring equinox is 57 minutes away as I type this. The weather hasn't noticed.

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 23 - 04:34 PM

Incidentally, you can't really have "a happy equinox." You can have "a happy day on which the equinox falls." The equinox is just an instant in time. In the UK it happens at 9.24 this evening, which is 51 minutes from now. Then it'll be gone.

Whaddam I like!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Mar 23 - 04:45 PM

And happy autumnal equinox to those in the south!

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 23 - 05:36 PM

last night was a bit cooler than previous nights. For months I've slept with a small fan beside me, mostly on the lower speed, 2 recent nasty humid nights under the higher speed. I turned it off during the night last night - but I do have my other small fan on again this morning

sandra in sydney at 8.36am Tuesday morning, 20 Celcius

Subject: RE: BS: Vernal Equinox Greetings
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Mar 23 - 01:42 PM

Wasn't it a 60's band? Vernon Equinox and the Springers?