Many people know that the word "Easter" comes from the Anglo-Saxon Lunar goddess Eostre, who was said to mate with the solar god around the vernal equinox hence the references to those prolific bunnies and eggs. What you may not know is that the romans also had a vernal holiday involving a goddess-mother, Cybele, and her mate, Attis (taken from earlier Phrygian beliefs), who died and descended into the underworld to challenge the forces of death. In later years he came to be associated with the god Dionysus as well. Many of these customs were naturally based on the cycle of the seasons and the life-death-life cycle was representative of the crops, and so very dear to the cycle of people's lives. Christians and Pagans would eventually come to celebrate their very similar holidays around the same time of the year, and today much of the world has forgotten just how similar the stories are. Both traditions set the date for their celebrations around the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
As I mentioned last time I am working on a version of the outfit to the left for an event coming up soon in July. I wanted something with a hat to shade my face, and not too hot since we are going to be outside in the middle of a Virginian summer. The fabric gods were not kind, when I went to my local fabric stores. There was really nothing in the right weight, color, pattern, fiber, or amount; especially the amount since I need about 8 yards for the undergown and 10 yards for the overdress. Part of the problem is that there are no waist seams, so each piece has to be cut from a long continuous length of material. Also, those sleeves are about four yards by themselves. I resigned myself to ordering online, which I hate doing because it's so hard to be sure of the color etc without seeing it in person, and by the time the fabric arrives often there just isn't time to send it back and get something else. I went first to an oldie, but a goodie; Thai silks. I knew they would...
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