March 1st was the day set aside for the Roman festival of Matronalia when the ancient Romans honored the goddess Juno Lucina. Prayers were offered to her for prosperity in marriage. And traditionally it was a time for men to offer gifts to their sweethearts. In Wales March 1st was the day to honor St. David. Sacred plants are daffodils and leeks. March 2nd was a day to honor the deity Ceadda, a spirit who governs water wells. His Christian counterpart is St. Chad. This was a day set aside to decorate holy wells and sacred springs. Often they would be decorated with spring flowers to encourage warmer weather. March the 3rd was a day set aside to honor St. Winnal, a Christianized version of the Teutonic god Aegir, who governed the sea. St. Winnal maintained a certain connection to the earlier pagan deity who governed the weather and bringer of storms. Thus, both Winnal and Aegir brought in the March winds like a lion. March 6th was a day to honor Mars and St. Martian. It was a day to honor household spirits. March 7th was a day set aside when the Romans honored the goddess Juno. A procession of twenty-seven girls led a wooden carving of Juno with the effigy being carved from a cypress a tree, sacred to Juno. It is also the day of the Jewish festival of Puim.

March 15th is the Ides of March when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. It was also the sacred day to honor the Roman earth goddess Rhea who was also believed to be the mother of Zeus. She was also one of the incarnations of the Great Mother. The Ides of March was also a day set aside when nymphs and river spirits were honored. March 16th was the date when Dionysus the Greek god of wine was honored. His Roman counterpart was Bacchus. This was the day when measures were taken to ensure a successful grape harvest. March 17th was St. Patrick's Day when, according to legend, the Saint drove the snakes out of Ireland. This was when the cruciform-shaped shamrock became associated with St. Patrick and his day of honor. March 18th was the day when the Anglo-Saxon king Edward was assassinated on the orders of his step-mother in 979 CE. This may have been a relic of the earlier practice of the king’s self-sacrifice, whose blood was to rejuvenate the land. March 20th was Ostara, the ancient Anglo-Saxon beginning of spring. This day was a sacred day of the Norse goddess Iduna who brought magic apples to the world and also brought about spring. March 23rd was the day set aside when the return of spring was recognized in northern Europe.

March 29th was the traditional day set aside to honor Saint Mark. March 31st was the day the Romans honored Luna, the goddess of the full moon. Obviously Luna is where we get the word lunacy. And so it goes.

Chris Friend, mars_art_13@yahoo.com, of Parkersberg, W.Va , who wrote BP #85’s poem, “Demons Play Flutes”; BP # 84’s poems, “The Sentinel” and “Psalm of Mithra”; the BP #81 poem set, “Angel of the Bereft,” Beauty’s Sleep,” & “Dark Trinity”; the BP #80 poem, “The Temple of Colors”; BP #79 poems, “The Marquis” and “My Bloody Valentine”; the BP #78 poem, “The Old Yule Goat”; BP #77’s 4-poem set: “At 50,” “Owls,” “Vintage Halloween,” & “Xmas in the Doll Asylum”; BP #76’s 4-poem set: “Hag Fairy Communion,” “Love’s Sepulcher,” “Night Wanderer,” & “St. Andrew’s Feast”; 2 poems for BP #75, “Angel of the Pagan Dead” and “Churchyard Watcher”; BP #72’s 2-poem set, “Ed Gein” & “Sour Puss”; and the 2008 poem, “All Hallows’ Eve,” writes and illustrates our “MARS News” column. He did a cover for Black Petals back in 2000 for the fall issue, and has been around ever since. BP keeps up two websites for him and prints his column in the issue quarterly. Chris has a gallery at http://chris.michaelherring.net/ and was featured artist in Kurt Newton’s Ultimate PerVersities (Naked Snake) [Jan. 2011].