Happy (real) New Year!

Our calendar system is based on the nature of man. It is a solar calendar, not a lunar calendar. Scientific insight into why spiritual teachings say the sun = masculine, the moon = feminine. A historical insight into how the patriarchy created male-dominated systems, religions, and the calendar. As well as how we are affected by the moon. This week, large parts of Asia celebrated New Year’s Eve. A celebration that other parts of the West view with a puzzled glance, with naive thoughts about how some countries are “behind.” But who is really ignorant? When we look at New Year’s Eve through a magnifying glass of history, religion, and nature? Let’s take a look.

As a child, I saw no connection between the moon and a month. It was so obvious that our calendar did not follow the month. In 2026, we have two full moons in April; the same was true in August 2023. In the coming year, no first days of the month are set on a day when we can catch a glimpse of a completely black new moon. Our calendar is thus not based on the moon. But rather on the sun. It follows how the Earth’s orbit dances around the sun. Which gives us 365 days in a year. Wrong? Well, it’s just a system, so not directly. But it sparks an interesting observation for me.

How the calendar was created

Politically, biologically, and spiritually, “calendar” is an exciting topic for me. Our system was developed during Roman times. The first was highly politically manipulated, and when Julius Caesar introduced the new calendar, he was assisted by Egyptian astronomers. The problem with Julius Caesar’s calendar was that it was about 11 minutes too long per year. This was corrected by the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s. It was reformed by Pope Gregory XIII, and was therefore created by men, strongly entwined in the patriarchy. The calendar can be interpreted as a direct product of the patriarchy.

First: Important to understand about the Patriarchy

Patriarchy literally means “rule of the father.” It is a social system in which men hold the most power, dominating politics, economy, and religion. Women have less social and legal power. “Nonsense,” you say? No, this is social science and history 101:

The earliest human societies were egalitarian. Women and men had different tasks, but both were important for survival. Resources were often shared. During this time, religion was also more balanced. Female gods represented the source of life and creative power across cultures and continents.

When the transition to agriculture occurred about 10,000 years ago, the power balance shifted. Property and food storage became possible, and men often took control over land, livestock, and weapons. This gave men greater economic and military power. As societies grew and competed for resources, war became more common. Men often assumed the role of soldiers and warriors, which made military power masculine-dominated. In all this, a stronger economic system arose, creating rules about family, inheritance, and marriage. Male-dominated religions emerged. Beliefs in a male god exploded and were used to justify dominance over society and new territories. The “marketing” for Christianity and Islam is not like other religions; warm words and inner truth. But crusades, terror, shame, and warfare. And with weapons and social power, there is no longer space for natural medicine, spirituality, and science. With a religion everyone follows, good ethics can be mixed with indoctrination. Religions that believe in a “male” god, with “men” as the focus. Male prophets. And women’s subjugation to men.

The patriarchy used religion as its main weapon to confirm its new system and society. Anyone who threatened the system was condemned for dishonoring God. Whether it was women performing music and dance as psychological therapy in rituals in the Middle East, or scientists claiming the Earth was round. Even the creator of computer systems, who helped save the world during World War II, as late as the 1940s, was punished and forcibly treated for homosexuality. A threat to a religious system that kept society under control. I could talk about this forever, with historical examples galore, but let’s stick to the point for now: The patriarchy focused on men. Ignored women, nature, and the true “God.”

It is therefore interesting to see how our calendar not only comes from Catholic interpretation but is also governed by the nature of man. The sun represents the masculine – the moon represents the feminine

From Indigenous beliefs in the Americas to Inuit stories in Greenland. From ideas in the first civilizations in Mesopotamia (Iraq) to rituals in the deepest Africa. All early peoples saw the connection: Men are like the sun, women are like the moon.These are spiritual connections, but they are deeply linked to anatomical science:

Hormones: Men vs Women throughout a month

Men’s hormone balance and nervous system follow a 24-hour cycle. Similar to how the sun rises in the morning, shining gently to wake civilizations, bringing strong light and energy through the day, and calming us at sunset. Repeating, day after day.

Women, on the other hand, experience enormous hormonal changes throughout the month. While the moon in the sky creates tides in the ocean, it influences statistics on criminal behavior, makes animals act differently, and triggers processes in all seasons. It also affects women through the moon’s position. Her voice gains more breath, her skin glows during ovulation, a time when she is more inclined to gamble, shop, explore, play. She becomes sensitive, tired, ill, and sad during PMS. Some days are a pure mourning process for everything she has carried the past month. During menstruation, the body loses several kilos of water while the mood also lightens. Recent research shows which days of the month she is more empathetic or which days she struggles to formulate words correctly. Elite athletes in the last ten to fifteen years have started scheduling competitions around cycles, as performance levels vary extremely throughout the month. Personally, I swear by freelance life, as I alternate between being a work machine and completely useless. The moon decides.

Nature confirms: The sun and the masculine are equally important!

Of course, we should not say that either the moon or the woman is superior. Both man and sun are equally important. The Earth would not survive without the sun. And it is wrong to say that a calendar system based on the sun is “unnatural.” Animals and plants, as well as humans, live their day according to the sun. Plants close at night. Animals begin their night hunting, or go to sleep. The difference is that the sun is linked to survival and protection, to have the capacity to sustain life. Our seasons depend on the sun’s distance from the Earth, and the seasons determine how we live. Birds fly south for winter, bears hibernate, hare fur turns white.Women and the moon are not directly linked to everyday challenges, as the sun and man are. But they are connected to life and creation. A woman’s cycle concerns life force, wisdom, and fertility. Similar patterns occur in nature. In both Europe and South America, sowing and harvest times are based on moon phases, as seeds sprout more actively at certain lunar times. In the sea, several coral species release eggs and sperm simultaneously around the full moon. Eggs of crabs, fish, and some turtles hatch either at the new moon or full moon. Women and the moon thus represent not only intuition and the unconscious but also the natural cycle connected to life.

Should we follow the solar calendar or the lunar calendar?

The calendar we follow in the West is therefore not only a result of patriarchy and the suppression of nature and women. In a way, we can accept and live with that. Now that we have it, why not just follow it? On my islands, there are many old traditions from oppression that we can keep without problems. I gladly take the last name of a future husband because I consider it romantic, and I have no problem seeing many fine traits in the major religions. (As a spiritual person, I believe much of the essence of many of them is connected to truth). I will, of course, also follow the calendar system we have implemented. This is more than anything a reminder of human ego and the desire for control. It is good to be aware of history.

So let us conclude with one of God’s 10 commandments to humanity:“You shall have no other gods before me.”(He should just have remembered to add: “Including yourself, your ego, and the desire to be more powerful than nature.”)

Happy New Year! <3