Dark Wings Descending

LUGHNSASADH

The origins of Lughnasadh come to us from Ireland, in a town called Tailtiue or modernly “Telltown”. Lughnasadh is the festival of funeral games celebrated for the God Lugh’s foster mother, Tailtiue, who passed away sometime after the first battle of Magh Tuireadh. Lugh learned all of his divine skills and general amazingness from his foster mother, and he regarded her very highly. Upon her death (which cause is never reported), Lugh announced that there would be funerary games held each year in the town that bears her name.

Lughnasadh became a time of celebration for many tribes, who were not allowed to bring their weapons or ill-feelings into the games. The games were strictly a competition of the best warriors and inter-tribal interactions. In a sense, it reminds one of the modern Irish ‘wake’ following a death, in which one celebrates the life of the fallen.

Lughnasadh is strictly an Irish holiday, but the season also had pan-Celtic celebrations as it is also the beginning of the first harvest of summer grains and berries. In later times, it also became Lammas, or loaf mass in the Christian tradition. Lammas was then adopted by Wiccans from pre-Christian and post-Christian customs.

In our modern Druidry, we celebrate Lughnasadh in our Grove as a Warrior’s holiday. In my Irish tradition, I believe that Lugh gave us the first demonstration of how to worship and regard our ancestors. We prepare early harvest foods and play games of a physical nature.

Hutton, Ronald Stations of the Sun, Oxford University Press , 1996

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MIDSUMMER

The Celtic obsession with fire should be blatantly clear at this point. Midsummer marks the middle of summer, in which the day is longest and night is shortest. This is also known as the summer solstice.

There are several unusual traditions that we have record of that have taken place in Ireland and in Gaul. Their significance is mostly lost to us, but in each locale, a tribe would build a massive wooden wheel, light it on fire, roll it down a hill until it hit a stream, then pick up the pieces and reassemble it in a temple in honor of a “sky god”. For the Gauls, this sky god was likely Taranis. For the Irish, if the wheel did not find a stream, it was bad luck.

The celebration of Midsummer with the use of fire is well spread. It was the time when swelling plants and trees were at their fullest, and were starting to bear the fruits of the season, and thus a magical one. To say there was much merriment and sillyness during this time would be a mild gloss of what actually happened, as there are records of herbalists prescribing vervain to townsfolk complaining of liver problems.
Midsummer in Ireland was a time in which many fires would be lit for good luck for the upcoming harvest seasons. The hills would be lit with these sacred fires, and unlit fires would indicate loss or shortage of the population. Many unlit fires were unfavorable, as the Irish were very superstitious people. It meant that more work would have to be done by all to wrangle the harvest and prepare for winter.

In our modern Druidic practice, Cedarlight often turns to tales of sacred silliness in celebration of Midsummer. We light our sacred fires, and accent our rituals with theatrics and gaiety. It’s a good time to celebrate the lighter side of things. I suspect that rolling a flaming wheel into a stream had some religious significance moreso than just good luck, but might have been shadowed by the sheer awesomeness of rolling around a huge wheel of destructive fire. Sometimes you just need an excuse to do things like that.

Hutton, Ronald Stations of the Sun, Oxford University Press , 1996

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BELTAINE

Beltaine is perhaps one of the most widely celebrated of the Celtic holidays. Its precise origins are uncertain, because the ancient people’s festivals correspond with the turning of the seasons and it was spring everywhere in the northern hemisphere. However, the word itself is suspected to have been born in Ireland. It is celebrated as a time of great fertility, both of mind, and body, and of the earth. And to say that it was ‘celebrated ’ may be the understatement of this essay.

As with Samhain, Beltaine is a supernatural time when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. It is also a dual bonfires holiday that the Druids were said to build, bless, and guide cattle between the fires to bless them for the mating season. (Or so it is surmised…) The Celts were rather fond of fires, and this theme of using fire for many sacred purposes is not uncommon.

It is difficult to determine who or what religious customs took place or were honored during this season in pre-Christian Britain and Ireland. It seems natural that any God or Goddess viewed as being virile or fertile would be honored, but also those sovereign deities of the earth who would allow for a productive year of crops. Though we have little evidence for exactly what was offered up, (and to whom!), modern adoptions of the holiday combined with folk traditions give us some idea of what they consisted of.

Modern NeoPagans regard Beltaine as the holiday of fertility; a time of unions, sexual congress, and merriment. One would be remiss not to mention the tradition of the maypole, a phallic fertility symbol born in the British Isles, in which courting couples or those wishing to conceive would perform an organized dance around the glorified phallus in hopes of achieving a fertile womb (potentially during the upcoming festival activities). Modern Wiccans recognize Beltaine as the union of the God and Goddess, as the God is now old enough to be her consort. In ADF Druidry, actual celebration varies by Grove. In our Grove practice, we partake in much of the celebrating, feasting, and fire lighting, and keep the heavy petting at home. I suspect this festival was probably a lot more fun back in its day than it is now in our new societal structure which burns of Victorianism.

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SPRING EQUINOX

The Spring Equinox is a time when winter is officially over as day and night are equal once more, and the earth is reborn and becoming green again. In the Irish custom, Imbolc is celebrated as the beginning of spring, but the Asatru celebrate Spring Equinox as the Feast of Ostara.
As with many of the Germanic/Norse customs, Christianity has swallowed much of their symbolism whole. As Ostara is a time of rebirth and the return of the earth and the planting season, symbols such as bunnies, eggs, and other fertility symbols are popular during the season. Many of these have been appropriated by Christianity to celebrate Easter (the rebirth of Christ, rather than the land), but the function of Ostara is quite different.

Modern Asatru celebrate Ostara in the form of a great feast. They honor their gods of fertility: Frigga, Freya, and Nerthus, in hopes of their blessing for the coming planting season. It is a hopeful time of winter leaving, and new life sprouting. Offering a libation of mead onto the ground is appropriate for the season as cheers and thanks for the new planting season.

Works Cited: Asatru Alliance: www.asatru.org

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IMBOLC

In Ireland, Imbolc is celebrated in numerous ways. The word itself means “with milk” and indicates the time when the ewes begin to lactate. This marks the beginning of spring in the Irish year, as the sheep are preparing to birth young. It is difficult to say which rituals or customs occurred in ancient times, but whatever they were it was pointed singularly at the Goddess Brigid who was later St. Brigid, and indicated some kind of purification.

Brigid is an Irish goddess associated with poetry, prophesying, arts, metal working, the forge, fire, and sometimes appeared as a goddess of war. In general, she is one of the most pleasant of the female Irish deities. Her name means ‘fiery arrow’, and even in the twelfth century it had become a custom to keep one of Brigid’s eternal fires lit in Kildare.

The feast of (St) Brigid was a meal to be enjoyed by a family or group together as the last night of winter, and preparing for spring’s arrival. It was customary to create a cross woven of straw (St. Brigid’s cross) over doorways to welcome the blessing of the goddess/saint into their home.

Today, we carry on these traditions by feasting and celebrating the coming of spring, usually in honor of the Goddess Brigid.

Hutton, Ronald Stations of the Sun, Oxford University Press , 1996

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YULE

The festival of Yule originated with the Norse and Germanic tribes, and constituted twelve days of feasting. It marked the return of the sun, and began on Mothernight (around December 20th). Mothernight was the longest night before the shortest day. In other words, it is the winter solstice for those in the northern hemisphere.

During this time, the modern Asatru honor Thor for driving back the frost giants. It is a time in which the ancestors are most near to them, and so they are honored. During the twelve day procession, Odin leads a Wild Hunt of dogs, human spirits, and horses across the sky.

There are some popular symbols of Yule that have become synonymous with modern Christian Christmas traditions worth mentioning. The Christmas tree represents the eternity of Yggdrasil, the world tree, as it remains green throughout the leafless months of winter. The Yule log was traditionally a large section burnt in honor of Thorr. Smaller versions today are burnt with the charred remains of the previous year’s Yule log to protect against lightning and fire.

The twelve days of Yule have been adopted into Christian celebrations of Christmas and end on January 1st, or New Years. This marks the end of the season, but the Germanic ancestors had another custom worth mentioning on this day. They would bless a boar, sacred to Freyr, and each person would put their hands on the blessed boar and swear a solemn oath. Oaths made during this time were serious, as they were promises to the gods. Think of it as a time to make new year’s resolutions that you were sworn to keep.

Works Referenced: Asatru Alliance: www.asatru.org

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In ancient Celtic culture, Samhain (the month of November) marked the opening of the gates to the season of winter. It was a time to cull the weaker animals and brace their food supplies to last until the spring. Though it is likely that the festival of Samhain (one of the four Irish-Celtic fire festivals) bore some profound religious significance, records of exactly what that entailed have been lost to the post Christianized era. We can examine what we do know of it instead.

In Irish lore, the three days before, during and after Samhain were a time of gatherings and conventions because the time of harvest and war was at its completion. This is recorded in a 12th century translation of the Serglige Con Culainn, which describes the feis of the Ulsterman as being several days of partying. Samhain was a time of gatherings, and so is often quoted in modern times to mark the beginning of the new year. Though this is not much in the way of evidence to support this claim, there is even littler evidence to deny it. It was a time that marked the undeniable transition of fall into winter, and a supernaturally charged time which spurred many favored tales. It was a time of year in which the veils between the worlds was thinnest.

In modern day Paganism, Samhain is celebrated in its slightly more Christianized form as a feast of the dead, the beginning of the new Pagan year, and a time of transition and change. It is an Irish custom (whether truly ancient or not is uncertain, but the tradition has existed for hundreds of years) to guide cattle through two sacred Samhain bonfires to bless them. Because Samhain is a fire festival, it’s celebration is often accompanied by bonfires of sacred and mundane purpose. Those without fires were thought to be in danger of imminent attack as the evening wore on, as the fire would protect (called lating, or hindering) from attack by witches.

In Ireland, superstitions run high especially around the festivals of Samhain. They created beta versions of many of our modern traditions that served to protect their homes and their loved ones from the spirits that walked in the nights of Samhain. It was referred to as Oicha Shamhna or “Goblin/puca night”. They invented the jack-o-lantern by hollowing out a turnip, lighting it from within, and carving a face onto it to ward off evil spirits. They also created woven crosses of sticks/straw called a parshell which hung over the entrance to their homes. Some Irish created a mysterious charm of ‘fire, iron, and salt’ against the puca. Obviously, this was a dangerous and exciting time of year!

Works Referenced:
Hutton, Ronald Stations of the Sun, Oxford University Press , 1996

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Mabon: The Celebration of the Harvest Home

Beneath the sweltering sun of late summer, the fruits of the planting season have ripened. The golden grains of once-green stems sway beneath the winds of tumultuous weather as they lay in wait for their reaping. The wheel of the year having turned once more, we arrive at Mabon: the celebration of the second harvest and the Autumn Equinox.

Mabon, perhaps moreso than any other of the festivals on the widely accepted Pagan Calendar year, is a joyful celebration of community and the true reward that comes of hard labor. It is a time of coming together as a community to acknowledge the accomplishments of hard work to enjoy the freshly harvested fruits that it yields; a time of good food, good company, and thanksgiving. The festival is a blending of Celtic and Germanic traditions that coincide with the Autumn Equinox; the time when day and night hold equal time with one another. The neo-Pagan term ‘Mabon’ was coined in recent years by Aidan Kelly in reference to a Welsh god, Mabon ap Modron, whose name derives from the Brythonic and Gaulish name Mapanos. However, the equinox harvest celebrations were not only limited to the world of the Celts; it was also celebrated in ancient Greece as a celebration of the harvest of the grapes and grain, and to the colder northern reaches of Europe, the Norse began the celebration of Winter Finding. In fact, it is fair to say that most cultures in the northern hemisphere celebrate this time of the second harvest in ways unique to their own local customs and flavor. While the equinox itself takes place on a singular day, the harvest festival season spanned the time of nearly a month as dictated by nature herself.

In the ancient British Isles, the very early autumn was simultaneously one of the most stressful and rewarding times of year. After a few months of lighter field work, it was a time to buckle down and harvest all of the crops that needed reaping. The reaping itself was performed by hand, and once the corn had been felled there was only a small window of time to gather the fallen grain before the next rains fell. Every able bodied man, woman, and even child was out in the fields reaping and gathering as quickly as possible. Games quickly grew out of the hard labor, and homesteads began competing with one another over who could finish the task of harvesting their crops first. As help was often necessary, travelers and members of other families would often work in exchange for a share of food and drink. Other larger farmsteads partitioned some of the crop off to the smaller farms and their families under them. Once the act of reaping the entire field had been completed (a task largely dominated by men), the task was then turned over to the women to glean the remainder of the crop. Gleaning is the act of gathering remnants of the harvest from the field, which was even a legal right in nineteenth century England, and often the women of the town would elect a ‘harvest queen’ to organize the gleaning efforts.

Perhaps one of the more controversial of the harvest celebrations was the ceremony and mystery surrounding the last sheaf of a crop. Many of the beliefs of ancient religious significance have been lost to time, although there is still evidence to suggest that there is a decidedly religious aspect to the festivals following the harvest. Some communities believed that the spirit of the fallen grain would concentrate into the last standing few, and so that last sheaf would have its own personification of the crop-that-was. In this sense, the essence it carried would bear some form of the power of the spirit of the crop. Others believed that the last sheaf bore a different sort of symbolism unrelated to religious notions: that it was the final stretch of the hard work that had been done, and it became as a trophy of the harvest experience. Belief in the significance of the last sheaf, of a crop varied by region, and as such each region also applied their own custom as to its treatment. Much of the time, it is transformed into a humanoid shaped corn dolly. (The corn referenced here is not the maize we are familiar with in North America, but the grain crop of old.) These dollies were offered a place of honor in the harvest home, included in parades and festivals, and sometimes presented to other homesteads who’s reaping had not yet concluded as a jesting reminder to ‘hurry up the process, our reaping is already finished’. Ronald Hutton tells us that the dollies were given names appropriate by region, such as: the Cailleach, Carline, Carley, Wrack, the Old Witch, the Queen, the Mare, the Maiden, the Hare or the Gander. The names support the supposition that the dolly was believed to possess an animism which represented the spirit of the crop, or even a grain goddess whose name has been lost to time.

In modern times, the traditions of harvest festivals and corn dollies are retained and given new life as symbols of a time long past, before the birth of mechanized farming. The spirit of these autumn harvest festivals have carried on through fairs held in farming towns and in Christian churches who aimed to offer a celebration with which to boost the morale of the community. Houses and public buildings are bedecked in the trappings and fruits of the season to help rejoice in hard work and good company. It is a time to give thanks for all of the hard work that has been achieved, take comfort in knowing that all are prepared for the oncoming winter, and enjoy the good bounty of the harvest.

References:

Hutton, Ronald The Stations of the Sun, Oxford University Press 1996

The Asatru Alliance: http://www.asatru.org/ Asatru Holidays, The Asatru Alliance of Independent Kindreds POST OFFICE BOX 961, PAYSON, AZ 85547 USA/VINLAND

Nilsson, Martin P. Greek Popular Religion: Rural Customs and Festivals (1940), http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gpr/gpr06.htm

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