Tokyo side looking toward the Kanagawa side. Such a heavy snow that I could not keep my lens clean. Snow is memorable in Tokyo since it is so rare. circa 2009 or 2010
According to the moon, today (October 20th) marks the beginning of Winter Nights! If you don’t know, it’s a heathen holiday marking the beginning of winter—and if you want to know more about it, our special, Winter Nights Raid is still free for 2 more days! Go ahead and plunder it: https://fjorns-hall.com/calendar/winter-nights/
According to the moon, today (October 20th) marks the beginning of Winter Nights! If you don’t know, it’s a heathen holiday marking the beginning of winter—and if you want to know more about it, our special, Winter Nights Raid is still free for 2 more days! Go ahead and plunder it: https://fjorns-hall.com/calendar/winter-nights/
Since the Winter Nights begin tomorrow (October 20th), I’ve decided to make our Raid plundering that Old Norse holiday FREE for the next 3 days! After that, it’s back to being Companion-only content, so make sure to plunder it while you can: https://fjorns-hall.com/calendar/winter-nights/
A heathen holiday is happening soon—not Halloween, but Winter Nights! And yes, there’s a difference. If you don’t know about it, I prepared Seasonal Raid that plunders the what, when, how, & why of the holiday (as best as sources allow). My Companions (aka subscribers) and I will be discussing and celebrating it on Discord, too.
Here’s an excerpt:
Winter Nights (vetrnætr) mark the beginning of winter in the Old Norse calendar. If you’re going by lunar phases, it takes place during the first full moon after the first new moon after the autumnal equinox. Yeah…that’s a bit hard for us to figure out on the fly, since we’re so used to the Gregorian calendar—but for 2021, that’s October 20th. Regardless of which method of reckoning you follow (lunar or Icelandic), it generally occurs during mid-October. Yet, even so, it’s not actually just a single-day celebration! Indeed, we get to party for at least three nights! But how did people celebrate? And what exactly was Winter Nights even for?
Is Friday night a bad time to mention that I published a Raid plundering Winter Nights today? It’s hereforCompanions, if you’re not out partying elsewhere.
It is customary that every year at sundown on 14th October, heathens will celebrate vinternettene (winternights), also known as høstblot (autumn blot), vinterdag (winter day) or vinternatt (winter night).
14th October was the day that Scandinavians would turn over their primstav to mark the beginning of the winter half of the year and welcome the cold weather returning, a tradition that pre-dates Christianity in Scandinavia. Marked with the symbol of a mitten (as it was customary to knit new mittens for the coming cold weather), it is also said that the weather on vinternettene will be a signal of the weather for the coming winter.
The sacrificial blot accompanying this was usually dedicated to Frøy (Freyr), alver (elves) and the diser (disir). Asking that Frøy will return swiftly to sow the seeds of rebirth and that we make it safely through the coming cold and snow.
