Beltane, Vappu, Walpurgis Night : six weeks

Today is a rather special day as most part of europe are celebrating 'something'. It is kinda sad in my opinion, how much the ancient traditions have been litterally wiped away and most of us are totally unaware of what we're actually doing or celebrating, but hopefully this is the time of a paradigm shift and the ancient knowledge will be known again without fears or prejudices, giving us the chance to track a new path made of connection and not of distruction. Today is Beltane, an ancient Celtic festival which marked the beginning of the 'light half of the year', when the darkness of winter months is now just a memory, the Pleiades descend to the lowest point in the sky where they're no longer visible and the earth and animals are ready for re-birth, for a new cycle to start, half way between the Equinox and the Solstice. It has ever be so true here like this year, as on the 29th of april we have been hit by a snow storm, yesterday it has been cold and rainy all day just to have a sunset on fire ( a true bonfire set up in the sky by the Highiest Powers ) and today it's warm and the sun is shining. Metaphorical and metaphysical I'd say. Here in Finland today it is called Vappu, and the name brings  back to the Walpurgis Night of german tradition, where the night between the 30th of april and the first of may was considered the ''Witches Night''. So it is indeed a special day. And it's the day in which I keep track of Father Sun and the gift of light.

Sunrise has been at 5:14

Sunset will be at 21:16

Lenght of the day 16h 1min

( + 3h 45min of daylight in six weeks, + 31 min since last monday )

 

Here you can check on the Equinox and Here last week.

And now a couple of pictures from yesterday's evening sky's bonfire ...

Four Weeks, Back to life

Already four weeks since the equinox and so many changes in light. This year the spring is showing itself extremely cold ( temperatures in the night drop to -6 and during the day hardly go over +2 ) and even if the sun is shining most of the days most of day, it's enough to have some wind and running clouds to have a fine and frozen snow to start falling. It's an impressive phenomenon indeed, many times there is still sun but we have real snowstorms that lasts from few minutes to few hours but that hardly leaves any sign after they stop, since the ground is too warm for the snow to keep. All this is making the nature more slow than usual, trees are still totally bare and in the garden we had the first crocuses  blooming, but most of them show the damages of the frost. Anyway, here is the light situation today :

Sunrise has been at 5:51

Sunset will be at 20:42

Lenght of the day 14h 51 min

( + 2h 35 min of daylight more in four weeks, + 39 min since last monday )

To see the situation of the past weeks you can check
 here
here, here, here .

 The grass is still dry

 The frost has damaged most of them

Love the close-ups
 

 Hoping for more flowers soon.

Three weeks, back to life

Almost one month since the equinox and the differences are already amazing. There is so much light and the temperatures are now almost constantly over or around 0C. Most of the migrating birds have come back and we have spotted the first butterflies, bees and ants. We still have sunsets and darkness in the night, but that shall pass and we'll get to a point in which night will be just an unknown concept here in the north. In a wicked way I almost miss now the introspection and 'homey feeling' that darker months give, these season I'm constantly out with my youngest two and I have very little time left for my projects, but I'm well aware that I just need to get used to these new rythms and 'light months life' and that when this will be over, well I will miss a lot what at the moment makes me almost uncomfortable. But let's give a look at the light situation.
 To see all the changes you can go and check here and here and here

 

Sunrise has been at 6:12

Sunset will be at 20:24

Lenght of the day 14h 12 min

 

( + 1h 56 min of daylight more in three weeks, + 39 min since last monday )  

 

 

This was the sunset a few days ago, beautifully pink.

 

Two weeks, back to life

To see the other posts check here and here

Second week after the Equinox. The changes in nature are already so evident. One of the biggest regrets I have is not being able to live in tune with Mother Earth anymore as she is constantly changing and providing us with hints about what's next, about the right food to gather and eat and so on, but as humans we have just un-learned how to fully live in our dwelling, this blue planet of ours, how sad.

Sunrise has been at 6:33

Sunset will be at 20:07

Lenght of the day 13h 33 min

 

( + 1h 17 min of daylight more in two weeks, + 39 min since last monday )  

 

  And now a few pictures I took yesterday of the soil in the woods,as the snow melts and the ground slowly defrost itself we can notice daily changes.

One Week, back to life

One week since the vernal equinox and here in the North spring has sprung as she has been anxiously waiting Father Sun permission to show herself in all her majestic beauty pulsating life. So yesterday the outdoors called us really loud and me and my youngest doughter, another spirit of the woods as I am, have spent most of the afternoon-evening wandering in the nearby forest collecting fallen branches for our future creations and stones and much more for the young one collections. Before showing a few of the pictures I took let's track Father Sun, if you're curious to see the changes in one week have a look here .

Sunrise has been at 6:55

Sunset will be at 19:49

Lenght of the day 12h 54 min

 

( + 38 min of daylight in one week )

 

 

 Rhubarb has started growing ! Spring is really here

My guardians ...

One of my feathery friends in the golden morning light.

Vernal Equinox

Finally it has arrived ! Today is the Vernal Equinox in the northern emisphere, this means that the following three months will be characterized by a growing amount of light hours until the Summer Solstice when here in the north there won't be night anymore. It is an exciting period as the energy level of all living beings rises and rises along with the track of Father Sun. A few data for today :

The Equinox will be at 10:29

Sunrise has been at 6:16

Sunset will be at 18:32

Lenght of the day 12h 16 min

At the moment the weather is cloudy but you can spot some blue here and there and the temperature is +1 C. I can't tell if tonight we had a light frost or an even lighter snow fall, either way now outside it is beautiful, birds are singing and temperature feel quite mild ( even if on the colder side of course )

A few pictures I took earlier :

I will try to write an update of the light situation every monday, as I love to nature journal.