Fragallia

Pirts day

December 20, 2025 · computed for Rīga

The time shifts the planetary hours and the lunar-day boundary; the sun and phase readings stay day-based.

New moon 0% illuminated

During the new moon, the body's strength was considered at its lowest ebb. Folk tradition favoured a shorter, gentler pirts visit over this phase — little vigour was expected, and rest mattered more than a vigorous whisking.

1 5 10 15 20 25 30
30

The golden swan

Neutral day

It does not fall every month, and may last only a few hours. The day for closing the circle: settling accounts, forgiving, giving thanks to the departing month.

Was favoured
  • + Finishing what was begun this month
  • + Returning debts and borrowed things
  • + Cleansing the home, pirts, work with stones
Was avoided
  • − New plans and beginnings
  • − Coarse food and meat
  • − Investing money
Symbol
a golden swan
Body
the heart; the pineal gland
Stones
marble, black garnet, rock crystal

Health — a divinatory system, not medicine

The heart and the pineal gland. Heart attacks today were held to be dangerous; other illnesses begun now do not retreat quickly, but overcoming them was said to bring a lengthening of life.

Dreams

True and wise; they show the month's mistakes.

Moon in Sagittarius fire

The road, wide space, learning, faith. You are drawn to distance and to meaning. A good time to travel, to study, to plan in broad strokes. The risk is to promise more than you can carry out.

Sources disagree on this day

Canon: The golden swan; the body — the heart and the pineal gland.

epadomi.com: A separate Russian source (luna.rf) gives “the mountain” and the brain hemispheres. An exception, not the norm.

epadomi.com is a divergent branch, shown for cross-checking — not the reference.

Latvian folk tradition

a separate layer · by moon phase, not by numbered day
  • The new moon is met with full hands, not empty.
  • You must not look at the new moon with an empty pocket — rub a coin in your pocket without taking it out.
  • On first sight: “The itch to the fence, sleep to the pig, health from God to me!”

Source: Pēteris Šmits, Latviešu tautas ticējumi. Not the numbered-day corpus above.

☿︎ Mercury 7. of the night

Planetary week

a third, independent system

Saturday · Saturn ♄︎. Limits, discipline, ordering, closing off. Slowness is an advantage here: a day for what needs patience, repetition and clearing out — archives, debts, repairs, fasting, casting off the old. Anything where you must say “no” goes well. New beginnings and celebrations go poorly. The shadow side is heaviness of heart, meanness, and fear.

Current planetary hour: ☿︎ Mercury — hour 7 of the night.

Words, documents, roads, trade, talks. The best hour to write, study, buy and sell, bring people together, sort papers. The mind is quick but shallow — a large decision is better not settled right now.

♈︎ ♉︎ ♊︎ ♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎ ♎︎ ♏︎ ♐︎ ♑︎ ♒︎ ♓︎ Meteņi Lieldienas Ūsiņi Jāņi Māras Miķeļi Mārtiņi Ziemassvētki ☉︎ 6.7 h

The year wheel

Last: Mārtiņi
Next: Ziemassvētki, in 2 days

96% through this eighth of the year

The sun

Sign
♐︎ in Sagittarius, 28.3° fire
Day of the solar month
day 28
Next turning point
the winter solstice, in 2 days
Day length
6.7 h · sunrise 08:58 · sunset 15:42

In Sagittarius the sun rode low and the days grew short, yet tradition held that inner fire, not outer warmth, carried a person through this stretch toward the solstice. It was a season for journeys of the mind if not the body — for looking ahead rather than settling in. A restless spirit now was taken as natural, not a fault.

The day, read as one

Four strands met here with unusual agreement: lunar day 30 called for closing accounts and giving thanks rather than opening anything new, Saturday's Saturn echoed the same note of discipline, slowness and clearing out, and even the new moon's low-strength, thought-rather-than-work counsel pointed the same way — making this a day tradition reserved for settling debts, forgiving, and cleansing the pirts and home rather than starting fresh work. The one tension ran through Sagittarius, in both moon and sun: a pull toward distance, learning and broad plans that sat awkwardly against the closing, inward mood of the day and the week alike, and old lore warned against promising more than could be carried out. Folk custom added its own small rite, meeting the new moon with full hands and a coin turned in the pocket rather than empty-handed. Heart matters were held sensitive on this lunar day, with illness begun now said to linger, though overcoming it was thought to lengthen life. Altogether, the quieter, settling currents outweighed the restless ones, making this a day better suited to finishing and giving thanks than to beginning.

Generated with Claude · cached for this day and updated when the corpus changes

Your lunar birth day

computed on your device · only the day (1–30) is used, never the date

This is folk and divinatory material, not health advice. It is written in the past tense on purpose — "was avoided", "was considered" — and describes what tradition held, not what you should do. A pirts visit is a real load on the heart and circulation; judge heat, duration and frequency for your own body.