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Please Don't Quote Me

By Caralee Aschenbrenner

Back in the Dark Ages when yours truly was in grade school there were a few chapters in our school books concerning gods and goddesses with the deeds and duties each was in charge of. You know, like Diana, goddess of the Hunt in Roman mythology. And Artemus, generally the same, in Grecian lore. And that’s the rub. I could recall the names and categories of many, but which was Greek, which was Roman I never could remember and still can’t. The only place those facts pop up in today’s society is in crossword puzzles. That can be figured out.

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Back in the Dark Ages when yours truly was in grade school there were a few chapters in our school books concerning gods and goddesses with the deeds and duties each was in charge of. You know, like Diana, goddess of the Hunt in Roman mythology. And Artemus, generally the same, in Grecian lore. And that’s the rub. I could recall the names and categories of many, but which was Greek, which was Roman I never could remember and still can’t. The only place those facts pop up in today’s society is in crossword puzzles. That can be figured out.

Zeus was the Rain God (and most everything else) who, naturally, ruled Thunder and Lightning, his voice and weapon; he of Greek origin. Odin, the Scandinavian god, comes in there somewhere. But Jupiter was Zeus’ Roman counterpart and from whose head someone was taken like Eve from Adam’s rib, we imagine.

Jupiter and Juno were said to be equals, male and female, the same level but Juno was much older than her counterpart in the masculine, according to reference.

Of course, you know that gods and goddesses of every kind were millennia old, many centuries before the birth of Christ, the knowledge of whom is but a couple millennia. Yes, B.C. For thousands of years we see gods/goddesses in hieroglyphics and cave drawings ‘way back. It was natural to have a higher being to which to look to and study those Ancient Ones boggles the mind for their intricacies. Each nation, each neighborhood had a Being catered to their needs or desires. Hera was the Greek version of Juno and there were several Juno’s such as Juno Popularia (Mother of the People), Juno Moneta (Advisor and Admonisher), Juno Regina (Queen of Heaven), Juno Februa (Goddess of Erotic Love), Goddess of Celestial Light and much more. Juno Sospita, The Preserver, a formidable statue of which is in the Vatican museum. In art Juno is often portrayed with military characteristics of a statuesque size and severe beauty.

Hera, likewise, in Greece was often labeled Lady Hera, meaning Mother Earth. She was so powerful, the Greek writer, Homer, believed that he wouldn’t mention her name at all in the Iliad for fear that what he wrote would offend her and he would be punished. Now that is one for the books, eh? Or not.

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Yes, there were gods and goddesses all over. Lady Eire was the priestess in Ireland which tells us of its name. Europa named the entire continent of that name. Ancient Babylon had had Erira and on and on.

We were merely looking for reference on how the month of June got its label. Most references believed that it derived from the root, juvenis, meaning marriageable young woman. In most aspects She was connected with all of life’s perceptions of the female and was particularly the sexual-bridal attendant, for a woman in labor, comforter in a new home. A man’s spirit was the genius, a woman’s the juno.

Positive characteristics were usually the female juno ... Goddess Juno’s cackling geese, for one, warned of the Gaul’s attack on Rome in 399 B.C. Consult the juno and there’d be a more fortunate answer. Apparently, there was a wide range in which to rationalize the outcome.

Juno was as good a word as any for naming the sweet month of June, the sixth month of the modern calendar that hath thirty days.

Juno derived from the Roman Great mother, a three-in-one goddess, the cognate of the Etruscan Uni, or yoni or Universe, all encompassing. It’s been a long time in coming—over countless centuries, millennia.

Festivals to Juno were on March first, the aptly named, Matronalia.

This week we learn a new word —nones which in the Roman calendar was the ninth day before the Ides of March, May, July and October. In other words the seventh! All other months nones was the fifth. Go figure. Also the fifth of seven canonical hours. Hmmmm, or, the time of day set aside for this prayer, usually the ninth hour after sunrise ... The feminine plural of none, and several other definitions. Anyway, another festival for Juno was the seventh of July, Nones of the Wild Fig, at which female slaves invoked fertility by mock fighting and beatings. You had to be there!

June, however, is the month of the summer solstice when day and night hours are equal. There’s no sweeter time of year than when you’re Knee Deep in June, as the poet stated.

Community Forum

Throughout Europe huge bonfires were lit at the solstice, perhaps, to get Juno’s attention. Sometimes the bonfires were built for miles in a line and yet today in some places in Britain it was done until modern times. Perhaps still is.

Midsummer Fests are a great time to celebrate the strawberry, or dairy month, or a town’s anniversary, a wedding. June was long noted for the numbers of weddings held, telling us again of the feminine principle it stood for. However, it was the month when the plowing and planting were mostly taken care of, no harvests had yet to be started so there were a few free hours for time off to get married, no matter its consummation! Just consult the almanac to see when the rainy days could arrive if it’s an outdoor wedding.

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