Ante Diem XVII Kalendas December

Modern Date : November 15th

Ante Diem XVII Kalendas December
Seventeenth Day to the Kalends of December

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

The Goddess Feronia was celebrated on this day. Not much is known about this mysterious fire goddess who was honored by the Romans on this day of the full moon. But her symbolism is found throughout the holiday season. Ferona was the Roman goddess who was invoked to secure a bountiful harvest. She was worshipped in Capena, located at the base of Mount Soracte, and Terracina, and had a temple on the Campus Martius in Rome. She was worshipped as the goddess of freedom by slaves, for it was believed that those who sat on a holy stone in her sanctuary were set free.

November is the ninth month (after March) and is a lucky month which is almost free of religious obligation.


Full Moon in Taurus
Full Moon in Taurus opposite Sun in Scorpio. In this alignment the feminine is strengthened, as the Moon is "exalted" in the Venus-ruled sign of Taurus. The celestial dynamics at this Full Moon are complex and powerful.

In the Celtic/Druidic calendar, this Full Moon in Scorpio month is called Mourning Moon, as befits the fading vitality of the year. This moon is also known as the Dark Moon, Fog Moon and Mad Moon, as many come unhinged now in this season of the Crone.


Shichi-Go-San
This Japanese festival, whose name means Seven-Five-Three honors three year old children, five-year old sons and seven year old daughters. Parents bring their children, dressed in their best, to a temple or to the special shrine where they were registered at birth. The children receive sacks of pink candy called "thousand-year candy," which brings good luck and a long life. Often the children carry special toy dogs, black-and-white with big eyes and red collars, that are considered good-luck guardians. It sounds abit like a Shinto Halloween.


Guru Nanak Dev Sahib
In the Sikh calendar, this day commemorates the birth (1469) of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib, founder of the Sikh faith. He articulated the key doctrine that divinity is to be found within oneself, and that the devotee may merge the human soul with the Divine Spirit by invoking Akal Purakh, one of the sacred names of God.


Albertus Magnus
The death of Albertus Magnus who allegedly discovered the Philosopher’s Stone. Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called "the Great", and "Doctor Universalis" (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and surpassed all his contemporaries, except perhaps Roger Bacon (1214-94), in the knowledge of nature. Ulrich Engelbert, a contemporary, calls him the wonder and the miracle of his age.

Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas were among the first to take up the examination of alchemical theory, and could be considered to be alchemists themselves, except that these two did little in the way of experimentation. One major contribution of Aquinas was the belief that since reason could not run in opposition to God, reason must be compatible with theology.


St Leopold
Leopold is the patron saint of Austria where this day is called Goose Day. It was the occasion for a harvest festival with roast goose and the drinking of the new wine. Leopold was born at Melk, Austria, in 1073. He was educated by Bishop Altman of Passau, and at the age of twenty-three, he succeeded his father as military governor of Austria. In 1106, Leopold married Emperor Henry IV's daughter, who bore him eighteen children, eleven of whom survived childhood. Known for his piety and charity, in 1106 he also founded three monasteries.

In 1125, Leopold refused to become Emperor upon the death of his brother-in-law, Henry V. He died in 1135 at one of the monasteries he had founded. He was canonized by Pope Innocent VIII in 1486.