People in the Southern hemisphere don't usually celebrate Christmas in winter. When our cousins up North are experiencing winter, we are experiencing summer and vice-versa. Our local customs derive to a large extent from our Northern hemisphere ancestors and settlers, so we celebrate Christmas when they did in December. We also celebrate Easter in April, which is in our autumn season, and some of us celebrate Halloween in October, which is in our spring season.
Ironically, Tulbagh is celebrating Christmas with its traditional Yule trimmings exactly when we should be celebrating the winter festival of Yule here in the Southern hemisphere! Incidentally, etymologists believe that the English words "Yule" and "jolly" are related to the Old Norse word "jol", which is the Afrikaans and South African slang word for "party".
Among other things, this reversal of the seasons can complicate life for Pagans living in the Southern hemisphere somewhat especially when regularly exposed to Northern hemisphere oriented information and seasonal greetings. Some other areas of confusion for Pagans living in the Southern hemisphere relate to the placement of elemental symbols in rituals and our opposite visual perspective of the sun and the moon when compared with that of Pagans living in the Northern hemisphere.
I am currently reading Positive Magic (Revised Edition) by Marion Weinstein and was disappointed by her explanation of the terms "deosil" (equating it to a clockwise direction) and "widdershins" (equating it to an anti-clockwise direction). Without realizing it, she has instructed all her Southern hemisphere readers to move around a magic circle in a (clockwise) widdershins direction which according to her is one of the Practices To Avoid in positive magic. (I know that people sometimes intentionally move in this direction, e.g. for banishing purposes, but that is beyond the scope of this post.) I understand that the normal practice for positive magic is to move in a sunwise (deosil) direction, following the apparent daily path of the sun in the sky from East to West, which is in a clockwise (left to right) direction when viewed from a Northern hemisphere perspective (facing South) and an anti-clockwise (right to left) direction when viewed from the opposite Southern hemisphere perspective (facing North).
While both hemispheres experience full moon and new moon at the same time, the moon appears to wax from right to left when viewed from a Northern hemisphere perspective (facing South) and from left to right when viewed from the opposite Southern hemisphere perspective (facing North).
I recently acquired the Oracle of the Dragonfae created by the very talented Australian magical writer Lucy Cavendish. The card from the deck shown here, New Moon Fae, was illustrated by Australian fantasy artist Kylie McDonough. While I was deciding whether to buy the deck, I read an online review in which a British person commented that "annoyingly" there is a "mistake" in this card as it shows an Old Moon instead of a New Moon (which is incorrect, it is a New Moon viewed from a Southern hemisphere perspective!).
(You may also be interested in reading related blog posts by some other Southerners: Sunwise by Stella Seaspirit (from South Africa), Through the looking-glass by Marina/Saturness (from Brazil), Southern Hemisphere Circle Casting by Jenwytch at The Other Side (from Australia), and The Edges of Your World by Gordon at Rune Soup (a Southerner living up North).)
[Related post: The other right]
"How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?"
Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991)
I didn't know that about the phases of the moon in the southern hemisphere -- thanks for educating me today!
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure! I knew about the differences but writing this post forced me to figure out what causes them. It's not as complicated as I thought it would be. :)
ReplyDeleteYES YES YES YES YES YES YES to everything you said!
ReplyDeleteI was SO annoyed when I read that review, because it was such a sign of ignorance to me. It doesn't hurt to research before making a rude statement like that! I almost felt like emailing the person and explaning to them that the world is not limited to their little northern corner of the world. But I thought I shouldn't let my anger speak for me, lol! :D
This is one of the things that made me grow tired of most of paganism books. The majority is Northern Hemisphere oriented, and simply do not follow my reality. Sometimes I was lucky enough to come across a book written by an Australian author, that showed the Wheel of the Year according to the S.H. But they are rare...
The whole idea that 'North' = 'Earth' because the earth is a 'cold' element doesn't work in the Southern Hemisphere. Same for 'South' = Fire. It's funny that many authors from the Northern Hemisphere talk about their own elemental attributions as if they were 'universal' rules dictated by the deities... when they are not even true for the whole planet!
In the end there were so many details I had to alter, that I began to feel 'fake' when doing the rituals. As if they weren't made for my reality after all...
I believe that for most of Northern Hemisphere dwellers, thinking from the Southern perspective is a bit like walking into the looking-glass. I think we should create a Southern Hemisphere awareness day! :P
Hi Marina! I am frustrated by it too (hence this post :P ). I have also just ordered a book written by a South African Pagan in the context of the Southern hemisphere (Dancing Under An African Moon by Donna Vos), which is available from amazon marketplace but I found a used copy locally. I will let you know if it helps! :)
ReplyDeleteI think of my sisters to the south every time I read a book that speaks as though the northern hemisphere is the center of the universe.
ReplyDeletePlease don't think we all think like that.
(((hugs)))
Thanks Sharyn! That is good to know. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't really blame my cousins up North, I was not all that clued up myself. I even had to look up what caused winter when I wrote this post! It is just incredibly frustrating for us because the Northern traditions are so ingrained in our culture and they don't always fit.
Hi Helen ...great article, and thank you for including a link to mine as well. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Jenny (aka Jenwytch)
Hi Jenny, your article was very helpful thanks! :)
ReplyDelete