Monday 11 December 2017

Hunter


Sagittarius (♐) is the astrological sign which spans 240–270th degrees of the zodiac. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this sign between approximately November 23 and December 21. This Zodiac sign is associated with the constellation Sagittarius. 


The official explanation for why the Sagittarius zodiac sign is where it is on the zodiac circle is that the sun passes in front of this constellation during this period of the solar year.

But what is the real reason why we have the symbol meaning "hunter" marking the period between the end of November and the end of December? 

Considering that we know that Pisces (return of salmon into European rivers for spawning), Aries (lambing season of wild Eurasian sheep), Taurus (calving season of wild Eurasian cattle) and Capricorn (mating season of mountain ibex goats) all mark significant natural events on the yearly solar cycle, I wouldn't be surprised that Sagittarius (hunter) is also marking an important natural event. And indeed there is such an event. First snow.

There is a proverb in Serbia that goes like this:  "Ne pada sneg da pokrije breg, vec da svaka zverka pokaze svoj trag" meaning "Snow doesn't fall to cover the hill. It falls to show the tracks of all the beasts"... 

The end of November is the time when the agricultural year is over. All agricultural work is done. All fruits are harvested and the new grain is sown. 

It is at this time of the year that the wild boar are as fat as they can be from eating all the acorn which fell off the oak trees between late September and early November. The same goes for deer, wild cattle, wild sheep and wild goat. They have been grazing all autumn, storing fat reserves for winter. 

It is also at this time of the year that all the fury animals have finished changing into their winter coats. Their fur is as thickest and as best as it can be. 

So if you are after meat and fur, there is no better time to go hunting than during the period of late November and early December. 

And right at that time is when the first snow falls. This snow is just thick enough to cover the ground and make all the animal tracks visible. 



This makes the period between the end of November and the end of December the best time for meat and fur hunting, and this is why this period is in the Zodiac marked with the symbol for hunter. 

Of course none of this makes sense in Mesopotamia, only in Temperate zones of Eurasia... 

4 comments:

  1. Der Jäger des Winters

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  2. Your arguments are highly speculative, but very interesting and fascinating.

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  3. This is relevant to Pennsylvania,too.

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  4. Don't worry about Mesopotamia, this zodiac originates in Anatolia where the hunting in snow was occurrence and by legend it was passed down to Babylonians and Egyptians by Hermeticus Trismegitus.

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