March: Mars and Matronalia

March is named after the ancient Roman god of war and fertility, Mars, and is a time to honour the ancestors and orgiastically invoke the powers of fertility.

Pagan Festivals and Holy Days in March

Introduction

March is the month of Mars, the warlike god who personifies the protection of the state and the agricultural and business fecundity of the community. In this context Mars represents the terrestial origin of life and the rhythm of the ensuing year. Mars was known to the Greeks as Ares, a war god who was wild and ungovernable, and who glorified in conflict for its own sake and revelled in slaughter. Gloating over the death and destruction he caused, he was typically represented as accompanied by his two sons Deimos (Fear or Terror) and Phobos (Dismay or Flight from Fear). Ares was also often accompanied in his bloody campaigns by Enyo, the murderous goddess of war, known to the Romans as Bellona. The Romans held a milder, more honourable view of Mars, honouring him as the son of Zeus and the father of Romulus.

The Anglo-Saxons named March for the earth mother goddess of the Germanic peoples, Hertha or Nerthus, thus: Hrethmonath, meaning the 'month of Hertha'. In modern Asatru March is called Lenting. According to an old tradition, the weather in March is said to end in the opposite manner than it began: if it arrives like a lion, then it will leave like a lamb and if it arrives like a lamb, then it will leave like a lion.

Roman Calendar

• 1: Birthday of Mars
      Women's festival of Matronalia
• 5: Navigum Isidis, Blessing of the Vessel of Isis
• 6: Day honoring the gods of one's household
• 7: Festival of Junonalia
• 11: Day sacred to Hercules
• 14: Festival of Veturius Mamurius
• 15: Festival of Attis and Cybele
        Day sacred to Anna Parenna and River Nymphs
        Assassination of Julias Caesar
        Guild festival
• 16: Festival of Bacchus
• 17: Liberalia
• 19: Festival of Quinquatrus begins
• 22: Procession of the Tree-Bearers
• 23: Festival of Quinquatrus ends
        Invocation day of Mars and Saturn
• 24: Day of Blood
• 25: Hilaria (Festival of Joy)
• 28: Festival of the Sacrifice at the Tombs
• 30: Festival of Janus and Concordia
• 31: Feast of Luna

Other Dates

• 2: Mothers' March (Bulgarian)
• 3: Doll Festival (Japanese)
• 8: Birthday of Mother Earth (Chinese)
• 10: Holi (Amerindian)
• 13: Purification Feast (Balinese)
• 16: Dionysus Festival (Ancient Greek)
• 19: Day of Aganyu (Santeria)
• 21 (approx.): Spring Equinox
        Ostara (Teutonic/Wiccan)
• 23: Summer Finding (Norse)
• 26: Plowing Day (Slavic)
• 29: Ishtar Festival (Babylonian)

Anniversaries

Witchcraft Trials

Salem 1692

In March Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba were officially charged with practising witchcraft, thus beginning the infamous Salem Witchcraft Trials. Over the following months more than 150 men and women in and around Salem would be arrested and imprisoned on similar charges.

• 1: Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne for "witches teats." Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft and confirms Good and Osborne are her co- conspirators.
• 11: Ann Putnam Jr. shows symptoms of affliction by witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren later allege affliction as well.
• 12: Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Martha Cory of witchcraft.
• 19: Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a witch.
• 21: Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin examine Martha Cory.
• 23: Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests four-year-old Dorcas Good.
• 24: Corwin and Hathorne examine Rebecca Nurse.
• 26: Hathorne and Corwin interrogate Dorcas.
• 28: Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.

March Events Guide

It's time to don the horned helmet one last time and indulge in some sacrificial ship-burning and sun-worship with the last Up Helly Aa of the season. Visit Italy an epic battle between the forces of good and evil called the rito del cervo, or 'rite of the deer', or see Spain's Festival of The Impaled. For those in South America, Mexico's Annual Witches' Congress is unmissable. [Click here for all the details]

Back