This year, October 31st is the night of the full moon.
It's also a blue moon, meaning it's the second full moon of this calendar month. This alone, to those interested in the folklore of autumn, is a very significant event. In fact, it crosses over between a number of very interesting seasonal occurrences.
In the Christian world, this night is the eve of the day devoted to All Saints. While it's usually celebrated on the closest Sunday, it's rare for All Saints Day to happen on an actual Sunday. According to legend, the eve of All Saints (All Hallows' Eve, or Hallowe'en) is the night when the veil between the spirit world and the living world is at its thinnest, and spirits "leak through" to our side. Black cats and Jack o' Lanterns are supposed to repel these spirits from the home, but the victory of the saints is what really protects humanity through the winter.
Of course, this is one of those fusions of traditional paganism with early Catholicism.
We're all familiar with the Celtic festival of Samhain at this time of year, and the Wiccan calendar considers this a truly powerful time for spells (Samhain under a full moon, anyone?). This week, the Slavic Pagan festival of Mokoš also occurs. As we'll see later, she's the earth mother goddess who oversees the hearth and home, and the casting of spells.
In pagan Finland, this time of year is celebrated as Kekri, or Day of the Dead (Mexico's dia de los muertos is celebrated on November 2nd this year; again, typical of the autumnal rites). Kekri was an old fertility god, whose name was most likely derived from the proto-Uralic word kekraj, meaning "wheel." This was a reference to the unending wheel of life, and may have actually had a Slavic origin.
Unlike other cultures, the Finns marked this time as the end of the harvest festival and the time of the last work in the field. It was not a single day, or even a specific day, as it was dictated by the harvest. It was also not a communal festival, but a family celebration within the home, honouring those who had passed away during the previous year. The ancestors were also invited to dine at this feast. Unsurprisingly, it often also involved feasting and costumes, but, perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't really a sombre affair. It was both a time of thanksgiving for the harvest, the start of a brief period of rest (before the labour of staying alive through the harsh winter), and a celebration of the memory of loved ones.
Comparative mythology has long been an interest of mine, and, being of mixed Finnish and Croatian heritage, it's even more fascinating how much these seemingly distant cultures have in common. For example, October 28th (according to the reconstructed calendar -- the actual date is usually on a Friday) is the pagan Slavic Festival of Mokoš, the mother goddess who was a consort of both the thunder god Perun and his archrival Veles.
The Finnish supreme deity, Ukko, was also the god of thunder. His wife was Akka, who was known in Sami mythology as Maderakka. In Croatian, Finnish, and Sami legend, she's the mother of the tribe, goddess of women and children, and protector of children. She's a fertility goddess, and the feminine side of nature (literally "mother earth"). In all three legends, when this goddess and her husband make love, the thunder rolls. The arrival of thunderstorms in the spring is an indication that the thunder god is once again "impregnating" the earth.
Mokoš is the protector of women's work and women's destinies, and was the only female deity to be included in Vladimir the Great's sanctuary in Kiev. She rules over home, water, earth, spinning, weaving, fate, and the casting of spells. Her origin is thought to have been adopted from the Finno-Ugric goddess Moksha (note the Finnish connection once again), and replaced in worship with the Virgin Mary, and her day of celebration transformed into that for St. Paraskevia. Because of the celebration usually being on a Friday, however, St. Paraskevia is better associated with protector goddesses like Venus (venerdi) and Freya (Friday).
Death Month
In the Slavic lands, the months of the year were named for what happened in them. So, it's not surprising they're a little inconsistent. For example, in Croatia, October is listopad (month of falling leaves), while November is studeni (cold month). In some other Slavic languages, October is some variant of rujan (an old word pertaining to animals in heat, and the Croatian word for September), while November is the month of falling leaves.
In the far North, however, the meaning of the month is very different. The Finnish word for November is Marraskuu. Kuu simply means moon or month. Marras is an archaic word meaning death; thus, November literally translates to "death month." That may have a morose undertone, but it's important to keep in mind the significance of the season: it is the death of Mother Earth; Akka; from which she will need to be reborn. Plants wither. The ground freezes. Animals become scarce. The water becomes solid. The sun disappears (for six months at a time, in the world we're discussing).
Of significance at this time is also the Finnish season of Jako-aiki. This is the "dividing time" between October 30th and November 10th, and is the sacred time of the transition between the old year and the new. During this time, no blood was to be shed, including that of animals. That moment was reserved for November 10th, the Veripäivä or "Blood Day," on which animals could be slaughtered and meat prepared for winter.
Cycles of death and regeneration are common in naturalistic worldviews, of course. But they're not exclusive there, and we see the same trends across the mythology spectrum as the seasons push towards the winter solstice. Death (or sin) grips the world (symbolically), until the coming of the light (the solstice) begins to chase the darkness away (the birth of a god, goddess, or; in the Christian world; the saviour of the world). Thus, while the first half of the autumn has been spent in thanks and gratitude for the gifts of the earth that sustain us through the cold months to come, the month of death serves to remind us that it all must pass away and be cleansed in order for new growth and light to spring forth.
Taken all together, the correspondences at least feel as though there's a greater meaning at play. It's the second full moon of the month, appearing on the night when the veil between worlds is thinnest. It's the time of memorial for those we've lost during this year. It's the festival of the casting of spells and warming of the home. It's both the eve of the day of all the saints, and the eve of the month of death.
If there's anything the fall of 2020 needs, it's a time to purge the unrest and death in the world, reflect, and find our depth once again. So throw some hemp in the water, pick up some dirt and make a wish then put it back down (to symbolize the death of the sun), and put some wool, basil, and scissors on your altar to protect the unshorn lambs over the winter. 'Tis the season for casting spells!
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