Archaic humanity did not specifically acknowledge the spring and autumn equinox as much as they engaged with the solstices for summer and winter. We know this because the orientations of the various stone circles, passage tombs, and megalithic monuments built by our ancient ancestors are accurately aligned toward the southern and northern extreme latitudes depicting the advent of the solstices. The equinoxes were just the points in between the summer and winter solstices. There were exceptions, such as Loughcrew Cairns in Ireland, where the passage tomb is aligned to the rising sun of the equinoxes instead of the solstices. Additionally, the Mnajdra Temple in Malta has a temple doorway that is precisely aligned to the equinoxes, and the Crucuno Rectangle in Brittany is a megalith that is aligned to the equinoxes; They represent a different approach to antique solar observances. Were they an exception or a variation? We don’t know.
Prehistoric societies would obviously note that the sun was either incrementally moving to the south or the north, and at a certain point the duration of day and night would be equal. Whether they marked the equinoxes as an important occasion is unknown, but it is very likely in some cases. All this, of course, is just conjecture on the part of archaeologists, but the fact that there are alignments shown in these edifices to the solstices and in some cases to the equinoxes lends itself to this theory. We just don’t know how archaic humans in the Neolithic age perceived these occasions in their solar calendar, and what they did to commemorate them.
Most of the calendars in early historical times in Europe and the Middle East were lunar based simply because it was easier to measure a month based on the interval between the reoccurring lunar phases. Ancient Greece had a number of variations to their calendars, but they were tied to the agricultural events of planting and harvesting than to the specific equinoxes and solstices. Hipparchus, in the second century B.C.E., accurately determined the equinoxes mathematically, and he also discovered the precession of the equinoxes over time. Yet this didn’t seem to have much impact on the calendars of antiquity.
Ancient Rome had a calendar that was slightly more solar oriented because it began around the vernal equinox, but it only had ten months of 30 days (March through December) and the rest were considered intercalated days of winter. However, the month was typically divided into three nine-day weeks, with three days in between for religious observations and market days. This early pre-Julian calendar was more strongly influenced by the lunar phases of the month and by the agricultural annual cycle than by the actual positions of the sun. The reforms established by Julius Caesar brought the early Roman calendar into alignment with the solar year, with twelve months and observations that included the equinoxes and solstices, but the liturgical year remained pretty much the same as it was before the Julian reforms.
Celtic and Germanic people approached their calendars in a completely different manner. Instead of hosting religious observances and celebrations on the solstices and equinoxes, Celts chose the midpoints between them. They celebrated four fire festivals that likely represented the vegetative cycle rather than the solar cycle. Whether or not they had astronomically pinpointed the exact midpoints for their religious festivals or selected them based on certain natural observations is unknown. Germanic peoples orientated their religious calendar on the summer and winter solstice, and the winter solstice was particularly emphasized. Slavic people who lived to the east of the Celts and Germans, appeared to observe and celebrate the spring equinox with fertility rites and specialized deities, and observed the autumn equinox as a time of harvest, feasting, and homage to their departed ancestors.
Christianity cleverly absorbed these various pagan calendric systems into their liturgical calendar of feasts, fasting, atonement, commemoration and celebration. They combined both the late Roman calendar and the Celtic and Germanic calendars into their liturgical cycle based on the occurrences of the life and death of Jesus Christ, and the events commemorating the apostles, the various saints and martyrs.
However, the observance of Easter, which was supposed to commemorate the birth of Jesus, occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Thus, Easter, and the start of the Easter calendar and the end of Lent, is a lunar based event ensconced within a solar based calendar. The Easter liturgical cycle begins with Easter, culminates with the Pentecost, and ends with the celebration of Corpus Christi. I have stated in my books and writings that this cycle also mirrors the cycle of the Grail myth, along with the pagan chthonic antecedents that would be associated with that mythic cycle.
Modern Witches and Pagans have combined both the Celtic cross-quarter observances with the solstices and equinoxes to produce the eight spokes of the wheel of the year. However, I have shown in my writings and books that this singular wheel actually contains two cycles, which are the solar and the vegetative seasonal cycles. Joining these two cycles together illustrates the mysteries of the cycle of light and darkness, and the cycle of life and death. These are endless cycles, because the ascension of light is followed by its descent, and the ascension of darkness is followed by its own diminishment. Every year this cycle is repeated, seemingly endlessly.
Therefore, it can presumed that life follows the same cycle. That the event of birth is followed, over an unknown period of time, to death, and that death is nothing more than the transition from one life to another. However, the beginning of each vegetative cycle begins with new growth and not the resurrected life of the previous cycle. A tree might remain the same, but the leaves that appear each year are different. There is a lesson and a mystery to this observation which would qualify the belief in reincarnation as to what is actually reborn and what is lost forever in death, but I digress.
The endless cycle of light and darkness found in the ever changing solar year represents a natural balance where neither the light nor the darkness can ultimately dominate the year. As the light and darkness are in eternal transition, this cycle contains no moral or ethical constraints or judgements because it is purely a part of nature. It is model for all to follow, so that individuals, groups and nations seek to maintain a state of harmony between the light and darkness within themselves. From that balance within they can approach other individuals, groups or nations without prejudice or judgement. In this manner, they are at peace with themselves, and exist in a state of balance throughout their daily lives and social intercourse with others.
Adherence to the light over darkness, or darkness over light, is a mistake in the eyes of those who seek a balance between the two so they might discover the very core of its mystery. That mystery is the changeless state of the eternal present, which contains all darkness and light, and is the source of life and the repository of the dead. I count modern Witches and Pagans as individuals and groups who can and probably should follow the example of the endless and ever balanced cycle of light and darkness, having rejected the idea of choosing one over the other as a premise for their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.
Knowing the balance of light and darkness within one’s self is the key to finding that singular source that resides in the center of all beingness, which is the point of unity and oneness. Beyond that singularity is the enfolding non-being of emptiness, the source of all that is and is not. I define a modern form of pagan enlightenment as the point where an individual becomes fully aware of this mystery and finds themselves within this state of union, thus, permanently changing the world that they see and operate through. It is also the path to obtaining the vision of eternity and timeless unity. Such a vision changes a person most profoundly, and reverberates in their consciousness even beyond the death of their body.
Happy Vernal Equinox to one and all!
Frater Barrabbas
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