Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

What time is it? It's five to Winter Solstice...


ThePresent is a marvelous, one-of-a-kind clock that tells the story of time in seasons, not seconds. The design studio responsible for this lovely creation is "m ss ng p eces" in Brooklyn. They say ThePresent is "a 21st century clock that inspires a natural rhythm: a scale of time that feels a lot more like life." The equinoxes and solstices are on the 3, 6, 9, and 12 positions and the colors on the face shift according to the seasons. The pixel perfect clock face features 16 million colors and was printed using six color processing in New York.

I have always told time by the seasons. I think I got this from my beloved grandmother who decorated her home for each season. As an adult, I do the same, and always celebrate the equinoxes and solstices (as regular readers have no doubt noticed). I like the sense of time this produces for me. It feels more authentic, more connected to the planet, and it feels more expansive. Telling time in the wheel of the year insures the continuation of the wheel. It's quite beautiful actually.




ThePresent is available for purchase on their website:

Thursday, October 18, 2012

BEAUTY: Tableaux for Autumn

I like the subtlety in this image: the pumpkin-strewn walkway and willow arch lead to
a barn where the classic 1922 silent horror film "Nosferatu" is being screened!
The shadow of Max Schreck as a vampire is visible through the door.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Happy Cherokee New Year!

Happy Cherokee New Year!

The Cherokee people ended their year and started the new year in autumn. It’s interesting—and makes sense—that they chose the harvest to mark the end of the year. The earth had gone through a cycle: the food had grown from spring, through summer, and then was harvested in the fall. The cycle was finished; time to start anew. The New Year was celebrated with a festival that featured purifications, dancing, prayers and offerings, and food such as corn, beans, squash, and meat.

Since the Cherokee calendar was and still is extremely tied to the phases of the moon, the timing of the New Year observation is somewhat up for debate. Some sources say that it was observed on the first full moon after the start of autumn. Other sources report that the New Year was observed ten days after the first full moon, the ten days probably being a period of fasting and preparation for the festival (which means New Year is today!). Still other sources cite the first full moon in the Cherokee month of Nvdadequa or Nvwatitequa—which happens during our month of November—as the true Cherokee New Year.

Whenever it was celebrated, it was surely around this time... when the earth turns, the days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the weather turns cold. We prepare for the introspection that comes with winter, when the ground sleeps under the snow. That is the beginning of the year, the beginning of time: from darkness and cold springs life, new growth.

I wish you all "alihelisdi itse udetiyvsadisvi" or Happy New Year!


http://www.cherokee.org/

It's raining...

Cool, grey day.
Our first rain of the season.