Lesson 2 - The weel of the year

This is the second lesson in the free druidry course of the Druid Order of Tristram.

1. History

Over the wide sweep of time, the celebration of seasonal festivals came to serve two distinct purposes. One was to foster the spiritual consciousness of the people and guide them in their journey through life towards the Higher Goal. The other was to assist and regulate the necessary mechanics of survival - hunting, planting and reaping in proper season. In the cradle of civilisation (the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East) these two aspects coincided well. But in the broad band across central Europe that was home to the ancient Celts, the coincidence of the seasons with the Sun feasts was not such a good match. It became necessary to define a new set of festivals to regulate the year.

In Northern Europe, the Vernal Equinox on the 21st March is, with the best will in the world, a long way from the balmy flower-filled Spring day that you expect to find in the southern lands. In warmer climates, this is the point at which crop-planting should be finished and celebrations held to mark the successful completion of the second great task of the year, the first being the preparation of the soil from Midwinter onwards.

Here in the North, however, any seeds sown in the open before the Vernal Equinox are at severe risk from lack of sunlight, and frosts and snow that run on to the end of April. You may as well throw half of them away. In our harsher boreal climate, the sowing season has to be postponed for six weeks or thereabouts to guarantee any reasonable chance of success. Thus it starts at the Equinox, and must be completed by the time of a new festivalthat falls roughly midway between the Sun Feasts of Spring Equinox and Midsummer. Originally marked by great celebrations in which giant bonfires figured prominently, this festival is still celebrated in a rather mutedform. We know it as May Day.

As our European winters are long, so our summers are short. We plant late and harvest early. The ancient Celts, under the guidance of their Druids, had to sow their seeds six weeks later than the Solar calendar suggested and reached the high point of their harvest six weeks early. Rather than celebrating the bounty of Nature at the Autumn Equinox in September, it became more appropriate to hold the Northern celebrations seven weeks earlier at the beginning of August, now know as Lammastide, the Feast of Loaves, because of the freshly harvested grain.

This movement of festivals created a fourth Season, the season of lying fallow. This is the time when the year is dying, when leaves fall, nothing grows, no fodder is to be found for the beasts, no seed sprouts, and crops that have not ripened rot on the vine. The start of this season was marked by a festival that closed the year and falls roughly midway between the Solar markers of the September Equinox and Midwinter. Now known as Hallowe'en, the bonfires that always marked this festival have an atavistic echo in the celebrations of Guy Fawkes Night.

The ice, snow and bitter frosts of the deep Northern winter made it impossible to prepare the ground for planting with rudimentary implements in December and January. So the time marked for preparing the soil to receive the seeds of the new planting was postponed from Midwinter to the beginning of February, the Feast of Candles, Candlemas.

The principal effect of this rearrangement of the seasonal markers was to separate the dual aspects of the
original festivals. The Solar Feasts remain; whatever the plants and animals are doing, the Sun will always rise at just this point on Midsummer's Day and always set exactle due Weast on the Equinoxes.
As this is evidently part of the Great Plan manifest, the nature of the four Solar festivals becomes
predominantly spiritual and esoteric. On the other hand, the four markers of the year are critical for the
survival of the community from year to year. They are essentially practical, but nonetheless contain a strong element of awe and wonder at how the mysteries of life, death and rebirth are written large in the cycle of the seasons. The spiritual nature of these festivals is much more personal and introspective.

It is notable that at least three of the festivals have a fire focus. May Day and Hallowe'en feature bonfires and Candlemas emphasises the less considered aspect of fire: light. Lammas may also represent the 'tamed' fire of the hearth that bakes the loaves.In our modern electrical society, we forget that until recent years fire was struck as much for light as for heat. This highlights the distinction between the two sets of festivals. The Solar Feasts now take the nature of celestial fire/light, representing the spiritual planes, while the other festivals or, as I shall now call them, Fire Feasts, in their use of burning wood and candles, relate to corporeal fire and represent the material universe and all creatures that dwell in it.

The four markers of the ancient Druidic Year are still known to us in corruptions of their late Irish names:
Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas, or Lughnasad. Even after successive waves of invaders and proselytisers, the ancient and sacred Calendar of the Celts was established too deeply to be entirely overlaid by Romans, Saxons or Christians. Admittedly, Samhain could not be celebrated except under the guise of All Hallows, nor Imbolc except as Candlemas, but the pegs of the Sacred Calendar remained. Of the four-and-four Great Feasts, the names of the other four, much older, Sun Feasts of Midsummer (Litha), Midwinter (Yule) and the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes (Ostar and Mabon), have not survived. Today we call them Alban Hefin, Alban Arthuan, Alban Eiler and Alban Elued.

We now see a calendar of eight festivals, four of the Spirit and four of the Material World, alternating
throughout the year like the interlocking teeth of two cogwheels. The cycle of the Druidic Year appears quite straightforward. It is generally agreed that the end of harvest festival of Samhain marked the turning of the year.

In this context, 'harvest' does not mean the gathering of corn and first fruits which happens around August, but when the Earth is exhausted at the turning of November and has nothing more to offer, neither bounty for man nor fodder for beast. The next Celtic festival is not Midwinter but Imbolc. Midwinter is a much more ancient feast which, then as now, belongs to the ethos of Europe, and seems to resonate with the rocks and very fabric of the land rather than the culture of the current dominant race.

2. Festivals

For the modern Druid, these eight sacred days of the year, celebrating the timing of the earth's natural cycles, have a far more spiritual significance. What is imperative is that one comes to a conclusion as to what these festivals mean to you as an individual. To most Druids, these days particularly lend themselves for meditation, introspection, healing and magick, by tapping into the larger amounts of energy which exist at these times.

- Samhain
October 31st, Major
Samhain is commonly accepted as the Druidic New year and it is also seen as a time when the spirits of the dead come to visit with the living. It is a time for celebration and consideration of ones own place in the cycle of nature.

- Alban Arthuan
December 21st, Minor
Alban Arthuan falls on the shortest day of the year and designates the beginning of winter. This festival is of religious significance due to the divine rebirth.

- Imbolc
February 2nd, Major
Imbole is also often referred to as Imbolg, Brigit's Day and Oimkelc. This day is most recognized in Druidry as the day to give homage to the Celtic Goddess Brigit, known as the keeper of the fire. A popular part of celebrating this special day is the lighting of candles in recognition of the suns power and energy.

- Alban Eiler
March 21st, Minor
Alban Eiler falls on the spring equinox. It commemorates the onset of spring and the beginning of new growth. This festival is a time to examine new ideas and plant seeds of hope for the coming seasons.

- Beltane
May 1st, Major
Beltane is also commonly referred to as May Day and is recognized as being the pinnacle of the spring season. This is recognized as a time when Druids celebrate relationships and marriages.

- Alban Hefin
June 21st, Minor
On the day of this festival the daylight hours are the longest and the night time hours are the shortest of any day in the year. This is a day when many Druids picnic ands celebrate outside to watch the sun go down on this longest day. It has traditionally been a day to celebrate the bounty of the coming harvest.

- Lughnasadh
August 1st, Major
Lughnasadh is a day to recognize the mid point of summer and has been traditionally a time for celebration of the first early harvest. It is a time to hold out hopes for favourable weather and good fortune, so that unfinished projects come to fruition.

- Alban Elued
September 21st, Minor
Alban Elued commemorates the autumn equinox and is the time for the second harvest. This is the day when daylight and nighttime hours of the day are perfectly equal, so it is a time to recognize the balance which exists in nature. The second harvest is also the last harvest, so it is a time to look forward to a time of relaxation, as the work is done for the season. This is also a time to make plans for the coming year and feast in celebration of the bountiful harvest.