The Calendar--Names of Days, whence derived--Worship
of Plants--Nature-Worship--The Power of
Jupiter--Influence of Zeus--The god Indra--Origin of
the term "Hours"--Hours under Planetary
Control--Coronation of a Persian King--Evils
transferred to the Turks and Kafirs--The Moon's
Controlling Power--Time reckoned by Moons--A strange
Story--Discovery of Maize, Beans, and Tobacco--Sayings
of an Old Writer--Heathen Gods--Thor's Palace--Thor's
Power--Frigga's Abilities--Description of Seater or
Crodo.
The Fates have apparently decreed that the Pagan religion and
superstitions shall be kept in perpetual remembrance. If one examine
heraldry, he will find traces of heathen mythology and superstition;
if he look at the most famous of Great Britain's public buildings, he
will see emblems of the ridiculous; if he glance at the Calendar, he
will ascertain that months and days have been named after, or
mentioned in connection with, mythological beings or objects of
profane adoration; and if he read the pages of the greatest authors,
he will discover much that has assisted to keep alive the embers of
superstition. Passing over heraldry and ancient edifices, let us
inquire whence the names of months and days are derived, and how
certain seasons are observed.
The Saxons called the day D[oe]g; whence the term. It is thought they
obtained it from the Roman Dies, a Diis, the names of the Roman days
having been taken from the planets, which were called Dii, or gods.
In noticing the first day of the week, we need scarcely give the
reason for its being denominated "Sabbath," as every Jew and Christian
knows the reason why one day of the week is so called; but we shall,
in carrying out the line of our narrative, take leave to make a few
remarks as to the cause of that day being known as "Sunday." The
Romans called it Dies Solis, because it was dedicated to the worship
of the sun; and the Saxons gave it the name Sunnan-d[oe]g, or
Sun's-day, for a similar heathenish cause. Whether the Saxons received
their mythology from the Romans, or whether they had idols of their
own, is a matter of doubt. The Romans worshipped the planets by the
names of some of their favourite deities; and there is a resemblance
in the Latin characteristics to certain of those of the Saxons, though
they are in most instances different in their appellations. The names
of the days of the week have no doubt been continued from the Saxons,
whatever the origin may have been.
The luminous body which gives title to our first day of the week was
regarded by the ancient heathen with superstitious reverence, as it
was considered to be the superintending and governing power presiding
over nature.
The adoration, therefore, that was paid to the sun was the most
prevalent of all the errors of superstition. That this should have
been the case among people ignorant of the existence of the great
omnipotent Being, is not surprising; for how much more glorious were
the shining lights in the heavens, but more particularly the sun, than
the many objects worshipped by Pagans in our own and other lands!
Nature-worship was the foundation of all polytheistic religions; and
that the principal heathen deities were originally personifications of
the great luminary that gives light and heat to the earth, or of
certain influences thereof, admits of little doubt. The solar
character of numerous deities is clearly discernible. Jupiter had
power over the phenomena of the skies. The future was known to him;
the destinies of human beings were in his hands. Strange appearances
in the heavens, or wonderful events happening on the earth, were the
signs by which he made his pleasure or displeasure known. On special
occasions sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, and his favour implored.
Zeus's influence was like that of the sun; he had the rule of the
heavens and air, he directed the lightning, and guided the stars in
their courses, and controlled the seasons. Prophecy belonged to him,
and it was from this god Ph[oe]bus received oracular gifts. Indra was
a god of similar attributes; he was the great ruler of the firmament,
and the upholder of the heaven and earth, and the god who created the
dawn. He presided over the east, and was the god that sent rain and
wielded the thunder-bolts. Many sacrifices were offered to him, and
homage was also paid in numerous ways. Baal was originally the god of
the sun, and ruler of nature. Some suppose that Baal was the same god
as Moloch, to whom human sacrifices were offered, and whose worship
also consisted principally of purifications, mutilations, perpetual
virginity, and ordeals by fire. Bullocks, and even children, were
sacrificed to Baal.
The origin of the term "hour" has been supposed by some authors to be
derived from Hora, a surname given to the sun, the parent of time, and
called by the Egyptians Horus. Hours are occasionally distinguished by
the epithet of "planetary," from a supposition of the ancients that
the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars
alternately presided over them. The first hour of the first day of the
week was under the control of the Sun, the second under that of Venus,
the third of Mercury, the fourth of the Moon, the fifth of Saturn, the
sixth of Jupiter, and the seventh of Mars. After such rotation, the
sun governed the eighth hour, Venus the ninth, and so on through the
whole twenty-four hours.
The sun, moon, and stars have been considered by the people of nearly
every nation on the face of the earth to affect the destiny of mortals
here below. A story of the proceedings at the coronation of a Persian
king is not without interest. The important ceremony of crowning could
not be performed before the lord of the astrologers--an officer of
great importance--declared the lucky moments that a happy
constellation pointed out the time for placing the crown on the
monarch's head. It was recorded that about ten o'clock at night the
chief of the astrologers and his companions, having been long
observing the position of the stars and conjunction of the planets,
returned to give notice to the prince and company that the fortunate
time for the coronation would be within twenty minutes. When the
twenty minutes were nearly expired, everything being in readiness, the
grand astrologer winked, and immediately the prince was made king.
For two years everything went well; but then the king's health began
to decline. Sometimes he lay whole weeks together, languishing in his
harem. In consequence of his majesty having indulged too freely in
stimulants, the court physician applied his secret arts to counteract
the effect of the baneful liquids, but without any good result; and
the astrologers began to whisper that the monarch would not recover.
They could not, they reported, find in his horoscope that he had more
than six years to live after the date of his coronation; and they
predicted that two of the years he had to survive would be spent in
perpetual misery. The queen-mother quarrelled with the physician,
asking him how it came to pass that her son was sick, and accused him
of treason or ignorance. The man of healing art defended his own
conduct, and blamed the stars or astrologers. He said that if the king
lay in a languishing condition and could not recover, it was because
the astrologers had failed to observe the happy hour, or the aspect of
a fortunate constellation at the time of the coronation. This view of
the case was taken by many at court, and even by some of the
astrologers themselves. One of those wise men made it plain to those
whom he addressed, that the moment fixed for the coronation was
inauspicious; and afterwards, by arguments, satisfied the queen-mother
and chief courtiers that the king's ill-health proceeded from his
coronation, which had been solemnized under unfortunate aspects. The
king, his wives, and others believed the physician, and therefore it
was in vain the unlucky astrologer maintained the correctness of his
calculations.
The question now arose, What was to be done to rectify the mistake
which had been committed? And at length it was resolved that the king
should change his name, and that a second coronation should take
place. Long deliberations took place before the second coronation was
fixed. The astrologers at length agreed that the happy hour would be
about the time of the year that the sun was under the influence of a
certain planet, which, according to account, was to be on Tuesday the
twentieth of March, about nine in the morning. The new ceremony had
the desired effect, for the king became well again.
No sooner had the king improved in health than another danger
threatened the nation. A great and remarkable comet appeared, which
filled the people's minds with terror. All the Persian astrologers
declared that the alarming sign signified wars, murders, seditions,
conflagrations, dangerous diseases, overturning of kingdoms and
states, and all kinds of calamities; but, by means unknown to us, they
transferred all these evils on the Turks, Kafirs, and Christians, and
so Persia escaped danger.
_Monday_ was dedicated by the Saxons to the adoration of the moon,
whence it was called Mon-day, Moon-day, and Monan-d[oe]g. The Romans,
as well as the Saxons, consecrated this day to the moon. They (the
Romans) called it _Dies Lunae, feria secunda_; and anciently, on the
first day of every lunar month, festivals were held in commemoration
of the benefits bestowed during the former moon, and in gratitude for
the return of that luminary. The worship that was paid to the moon as
a deity, originated from causes similar to that assigned to the sun.
In Europe all avowed sincere adoration of these orbs has ceased, but
traces of sun and moon worship having been once common still remain.
In several parts of England it is customary to bless the new moon,
while in Scotland people not only do the same, but in mock adoration
they bow to it at the same time.
Many superstitious beliefs remain as to the influence of the moon. It
is unlucky for one to have his hands empty when he first sees the new
moon, and it is regarded as a good sign if one has silver in his hand
the first time he sees it. It has, or is supposed to have, a great
effect on the weather and sea. One often hears it said in times of
stormy weather, "We will not have a change before the new moon." It
influences the affections of lovers to a very great extent. If a swain
is halting between two opinions, viz. whether he will propose to such
a lady, let him invite her to take a walk with him by moonlight, and
the chances are ten to one, that if they go out together, they will be
married. If one doubts this, he is advised to try it, and he will see
how warm the affections will become. If one is going to enter into an
important undertaking, he will be wise to do so when the moon is
filling. People who are married in one of the first two quarters of
the moon, are more happy than those who enter into the matrimonial
state when it is on the wane; and, taking a sudden bound from the
sublime to things that are common, we are compelled to say that not a
few consider the effects of the moon so great, that they would not
kill their pigs but when it was on the increase. Then every one has
heard of the effects the moon has on the human mind; whence the term
"lunacy." There are many tribes and nations that reckon time by moons,
and not by years, as we now do. This reminds us of a story which shows
the credulity of the savages of North America, and how they calculated
time. It is this:--
A Swedish minister was preaching a sermon one day to the savages, and
when he had finished, an Indian orator stood up to thank him for his
discourse, which had reference to our first parents eating the
forbidden fruit. "What you have told us," said the orator, "is very
good. It is indeed bad to eat apples; it is better to make them all
into cider. We are much obliged by your kindness in coming so far to
tell us those things which you have heard from your mothers. In
return, I will tell you some of those we have heard from ours. In the
beginning, our fathers had only the flesh of animals to subsist on;
and if they were unsuccessful in the hunt, they could get nothing to
eat. Two of our young hunters having killed a deer, made a fire in the
wood, to broil part of the flesh. When they were about to satisfy
their hunger, they beheld a beautiful woman descend from the clouds,
and seat herself near the young men. They said to each other, 'It is a
spirit that has smelt our broiled venison, and perhaps wishes to eat
of it: let us offer some to her.' They presented her with the tongue.
She was pleased with the taste of it, and said, 'Your kindness shall
be rewarded. Come,' said she, 'to this place after thirteen moons, and
you will find something that will be of great benefit in nourishing
you and your children to the latest generation.'
"The hunters, deeply impressed with what the fair one had said,
watched with something like impatience the appearance and
disappearance of moon after moon, till the thirteenth moon had come
and gone, and then they repaired to the spot where they were to
receive their reward. To their surprise, they found plants they did
not know, but which have been constantly cultivated ever since, to the
great advantage of man. Where the woman's right hand had rested, they
found maize; where her left hand had touched the ground, they
discovered beans; and where she had sat, tobacco grew luxuriantly."
We are accustomed to speak of the sun as "he," and of the moon as
"she," but in many other countries the former is considered to be
feminine, and the latter masculine. In Hindoo mythology the moon is a
male deity, and is represented as the son of the patriarch Atri, who
procreated him from his eyes; but by others it is said the moon arose
from the milk sea when it was churned by the gods to procure the
beverage of immortality. An old writer says that the sun supplies the
moon, when reduced by the draughts of the gods to a single ray; and in
the same proportion as the moon is exhausted by the celestials, it is
replenished by the sun, for the gods drink the nectar accumulated in
the moon during half the month; and from this being their food, they
are immortal. When the remaining portion of the moon consists but of a
fifteenth part, the Manes (infernal spirits, or inferior deities)
approach it in the afternoon, and drink the remaining portion of
nectar. And probably in this statement are to be found grounds for the
superstitious belief that the time when the moon is increasing is more
fortunate than when it is waning.
_Tuesday_ was so called from Tiwes-d[oe]g, which signifies the day of
Tiw, or Tiu, a name for the old Saxon war god Tyr. Other names were
given to it by the Romans and Germans. It was called by the Romans
_Dies Martis, feria tertia_, from its having been dedicated to Mars.
Wormius, Marshall, and Sommes endeavour to prove that the day took its
name from Thisa or Desa, the goddess of justice, the wife of Thor.
Taking the views of any of the authors who have written on the
subject, it is plain that the day was named in honour of some
mythological deity. Tyr did not belong entirely to the Northern
mythology, but was known to the Germans as Ziu or Zio, and to
Anglo-Saxons as Tiv.
Tyr, it will be remembered, was single-handed. When the gods prevailed
on the wolf Fenrir to allow himself to be bound with the bandage
Gleipner, Tyr put his right hand into the wolf's mouth, as a pledge
that he would be loosened. The gods refused to liberate the wolf,
which in revenge bit off Tyr's hand. He and his enemy, the monster dog
Garmr, met their death in the twilight battle of the gods.
The Roman divinity, Mars, was a war god, and seems to have been
originally an agricultural deity. To him propitiatory offerings were
presented, as the guardian of fields and flocks; but as the shepherds
who founded the city of Rome were of a warlike disposition, it is
easily understood how Mars became the god of war.
_Wednesday_ signifies Wodin's-day or Odin's-day. Wodin or Odin, as is
well known, was a great Northern god. He was believed to be the god of
war, who gave victory, and revived courage in the conflict. He was
also worshipped as the god of arts and artists; and to him magnificent
temples were built, and sacrifices offered. He adopted as his children
all those who were slain with swords in their hands; hence the
hardihood and brilliant examples of courage displayed by Northern
warriors. He had two black ravens, that flew forth daily to obtain
tidings of all that was being done throughout the world. His greatest
treasure consisted of his eight-footed steed Sleipner, his spear
Gungner, and his ring Draupner, by which he performed many strange
acts. Frigga was his queen, but he had other wives and favourites, and
a numerous family of sons and daughters. By drinking at Mimir's sacred
fountain, he became the wisest of gods and men. He is reputed to have
possessed every power of witchcraft, prophecy, and transformation; and
in the shape of a lion or other beast of prey, he, we are told,
destroyed whole armies.
_Thursday_ (Thors-d[oe]g) was dedicated to the adoration of Thor, the
bravest of the sons of Odin. Thor was the god of thunder; he had a
magnificent palace, which had five hundred and forty pillars, where he
received and made happy the warriors who had fallen in battle. By the
rolling of his chariot, thunder was produced. He had a smasher or
mauler, made by cunning dwarfs, which, after being thrown at an enemy,
had the property of returning to him. It was believed by the Pagans
that he possessed marvellous power and might, and that all people in
the world were subject to him. In the air he governed the winds and
clouds; and when displeased, he caused thunder, lightning, and
tempest, with excessive rain, hail, and bad weather. When pleased with
his worshippers, he gave them favourable weather, and caused corn and
fruit to grow abundantly, and kept away disease from man and beast.
The Laplanders represented Thor by the stump of a tree, rudely carved
to represent a man; and they supplied him with flint and steel, that
he might strike fire when he wanted it. Moreover, they placed a hammer
near him, which they supposed he would use with force against evil
spirits, for they thought he had sovereign authority over all the
mischievous and malevolent spirits that inhabited the air, mountains,
and lakes. High festivals were held in honour of this deity, as
noticed elsewhere, to supplicate for a propitious year, and at these
festivals every excess of extravagant and dissolute pleasure was not
only permitted, but was considered requisite.
_Friday_ derived its name from Frigga, the wife of Odin. She, as well
as her husband, possessed wonderful abilities, and, like Juno, was
held in the highest esteem and veneration for her power of procuring
easy access into the world, and bestowing every felicity connected
with the softer endearments of life. Frigga was thought to be the
mother of all the Pagan divinities of the Northern nations begotten by
Odin.
The Romans dedicated this day to Venus; whence its name, _Dies
Veneris, feria sexta_. That goddess having possessed many of the
attributes for which Frigga was celebrated, many authors have supposed
them originally to have meant the same divinity.
_Saturday_ has its name from Seater or Crodo, worshipped by the old
Saxons. He was lean, had long hair and a long beard. In his left hand
he held up a wheel, and in his right he carried a pail of water,
wherein were flowers and fruits. He stood on the sharp fins of the
perch, to signify that the Saxons, for serving him, should pass,
without harm, in dangerous and difficult places.
The seventh day of the week was dedicated by the Romans to Saturn, and
called, in honour of him, _Dies Saturni, feria septima_. Seater or
Crodo, and the Roman Saturn, have been considered by many to be the
same deity.
NAMES OF MONTHS, WHENCE DERIVED.