98-604: Lists of holidays by various categorizations. In the order of the Wheel of the Year : The following table is a chart based on a Messianic Jewish perspective of the 9 biblical holidays (including the Sabbath), along with their times and days of occurrence, references in the Bible , and how they point to Yeshua ( Jesus ). All the holidays shown below are major with the exceptions of
196-584: A "United Kingdom Day". Similarly, attempts were made by the John Major government in 1993 to abolish the May Day holiday and replace it with Trafalgar Day. Unlike the other Bank Holidays and common law holidays, the first Monday in May is taken off from (state) schools by itself, and not as part of a half-term or end of term holiday. This is because it has no Christian significance and does not otherwise fit into
294-573: A May Bush was reported as being suppressed by law and the magistrates in Dublin in the 18th century. The tradition of lighting bonfires has survived in parts of the country, and other traditions continue to be revived as local cultural events. May Day has been celebrated in Scotland for centuries. It was previously closely associated with the Beltane festival. Reference to this earlier celebration
392-476: A May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. Holy wells were also visited, while Bealtaine dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. For almost two centuries, the Dublin suburb of Finglas was well known for its "May Games" and its maypole "was one of the last to survive in Dublin", according to historian Michael J. Tutty. Throughout
490-435: A bundle of wheat ears was carried into a shrine, though it is not clear if this devotion was made to Flora or Ceres . Floralia concluded with competitive events and spectacles , and a sacrifice to Flora. Maiouma was celebrated at least as early as the 2nd century AD, when records show expenses for the month-long festival were appropriated by Emperor Commodus . According to the 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas ,
588-530: A cause or a historical event not officially recognized, while a few others are both celebrated and intended as humorous distractions. Wheel of the Year The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals , observed by a range of modern pagans , marking the year 's chief solar events ( solstices and equinoxes ) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are based to varying degrees on folk traditions , regardless of
686-610: A community. Heathens may add to the demarcations of the Wheel of the Year with various Days of Remembrance celebrating heroes of the Edda and the Sagas and figures of Germanic history such as Leif Ericson , who explored parts of North America . Heathen organisations using the Wheel of the Year framework for their festival calendar include the Swedish group Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige ,
784-534: A festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite held every three years during the month of May. The Floralia opened with theatrical performances. In the Floralia , Ovid says that hares and goats were released as part of the festivities. Persius writes that crowds were pelted with vetches , beans , and lupins . A ritual called the Florifertum was performed on either 27 April or 3 May, during which
882-466: A list of the (then-obsolete) Anglo-Saxon names for the months of the early Germanic calendar . Ærra Liða ( first or preceding Liða ) roughly corresponds to June in the Gregorian calendar , and Æfterra Liða ( following Liða ) to July. Bede writes that "Litha means gentle or navigable , because in both these months the calm breezes are gentle and they were wont to sail upon
980-765: A major event in the town calendar. A traditional sweeps festival is performed over the May bank holiday in Rochester, Kent , where the Jack in the Green is woken at dawn on 1 May by Morris dancers. At 7:15 p.m. on 1 May each year, the Kettle Bridge Clogs morris dancing side dance across Barming Bridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge), which spans the River Medway near Maidstone , to mark
1078-647: A narrative of the Holly King and Oak King as rulers of the waning year and the waxing year respectively. These two figures battle endlessly with the turning of the seasons. At the summer solstice, the Holly King defeats the Oak King and commences his reign. After the Autumn equinox the Oak King slowly begins to regain his power as the sun begins to wane. Come the winter solstice the Oak King in turn vanquishes
SECTION 10
#17327649919021176-573: A song of Spring. In Oxford , it is a centuries-old tradition for May Morning revellers to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6 am to listen to the college choir sing traditional madrigals as a conclusion to the previous night's celebrations. Since the 1980s some people then jump off Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell . For some years, the bridge has been closed on 1 May to prevent people from jumping, as
1274-417: A village green (twmpath chwarae). Many places across Great Britain and the world have begun to syncretize May Day and Beltane customs, hosting events that feature elements of both. On May Day, Bulgarians celebrate Irminden (or Yeremiya, Eremiya, Irima, Zamski den). The holiday is associated with snakes and lizards and rituals are made in order to protect people from them. The name of the holiday comes from
1372-512: Is Alban Elfed . It is a neopagan festival of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the Gods during the coming winter months. The name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron , a character from Welsh mythology. Samhain ( / ˈ s ɑː w ɪ n / ), or Sauin ,
1470-531: Is a name for the spring equinox in some modern pagan traditions. The term is derived from a reconstruction produced by linguist Jacob Grimm of an Old High German form of the Old English Ēostre , an Anglo-Saxon goddess for whom, according to Bede , feasts were held in her eponymous month , which he equated to April in the Julian calendar . Known as Alban Eilir in strands of neo-druidry, this holiday
1568-414: Is a sign of dislike. Women usually place roses or rice in the form of a heart at the house of their beloved one. It is common to stick the heart to a window or place it in front of the doormat. In leap years , it is the responsibility of the women to place the maypole. All the action is usually done secretly and it is an individual's choice whether to give a hint of their identity or stay anonymous. May Day
1666-422: Is an emerging Durham tradition, with patchy observance since 2001. Kingsbury Episcopi , Somerset, has seen its yearly May Day Festival celebrations on the May bank holiday Monday burgeon in popularity in the recent years. Since it was reinstated 21 years ago it has grown in size, and on 5 May 2014 thousands of revellers were attracted from all over the south-west to enjoy the festivities, with BBC Somerset covering
1764-416: Is considered a Ysbrydnos or spirit night when people would gather hawthorn ( draenen wen ) and flowers to decorate their houses, celebrating new growth and fertility. While on May Day celebrations would include summer dancing ( dawnsio haf ) and May carols ( carolau mai or carolau haf ) othertimes referred to as "singing under the wall" ( canu dan y pared), May Day was also a time for officially opening
1862-611: Is decorated with springtime greenery, and every year thousands of onlookers attend. Before the 19th century, distinctive May Day celebrations were widespread throughout West Cornwall, and are being revived in St Ives and Penzance . A similar 'Obby 'Oss festival is also held in the Somerset town of Minehead , dating back to at least the 19th century. Kingsand , Cawsand and Millbrook in Cornwall celebrate Flower Boat Ritual on
1960-581: Is found in poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry: At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis To Peblis to the Play, To heir the singin and the soundis; The solace, suth to say, Be firth and forrest furth they found Thay graythis tham full gay; God wait that wald they do that stound, For it was their feast day the day they celebrate May Day, Thay said, [...] The poem describes
2058-416: Is often recited during these days) and Petřín . This is usually done under a cherry, an apple or a birch tree. Traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole , around which dancers often circle with ribbons. Morris dancing is also often performed as part of May Day celebrations. The earliest records of maypole celebrations date to
SECTION 20
#17327649919022156-470: Is the name of a traditional Gaelic festival held around 1 November. Its Welsh name is Calan Gaeaf . For Wiccans, it is a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died. Aligned with the contemporary observance of Halloween and Day of the Dead , in some traditions
2254-573: Is the second of three spring celebrations (the midpoint between Imbolc and Beltane), during which light and darkness are again in balance, with light on the rise. It is a time of new beginnings and of life emerging further from the grips of winter. Beltane comes from the Gaelic name for May Day ( Irish : Bealtaine and Scottish Gaelic : Bealtainn ), with the Welsh names being Calan Mai , Calan Haf , or Cyntefin . Traditionally, it marked
2352-588: Is to prepare "podnici" (special clay pots made for baking bread). This day is especially observed by pregnant women so that their offspring do not catch "yeremiya"—an illness due to evil powers. In the Czech Republic , May Day is traditionally considered a holiday of love and May as a month of love. The celebrations of spring are held on 30 April when a maypole ("májka" in Czech) is erected—a tradition possibly connected to Beltane, since bonfires are also lit on
2450-628: The Celtic names used by Gardner and the Germanic -derived names introduced by Kelly, regardless whether local celebrations are based on those cultures. In many traditions of modern pagan cosmology , all things are considered to be cyclical, with time as a perpetual cycle of growth and retreat tied to the Sun 's annual death and rebirth . This cycle is also viewed as a micro- and macrocosm of other life cycles in an immeasurable series of cycles composing
2548-903: The European witch trials , including a 1661 trial record from Forfar , Scotland, where the accused witch (Issobell Smyth) was alleged to attend witches meetings " every quarter " at Candlemas (2 February), Roodmas (3 May), Lammas (1 August), and Hallowmas (1 November). The White Goddess (1948) by Robert Graves suggested that, despite Christianisation , the importance of agricultural and social cycles had preserved eight holidays of "the ancient British festal system", consisting of Candlemas (2 February), Lady Day (25 March), May Day (1 May), Midsummer Day (24 June), Lammas (1 August), Michaelmas (29 September), Halloween (31 October), and Christmas (25 December). Two neopagan streams in Britain popularised these seasonal festival calendars in
2646-586: The Kingdom of Great Britain . In Cambridgeshire villages, young girls went May Dolling (going around the villages with dressed dolls and collecting pennies). This dressing of dolls and singing was said to have persisted into the 1960s in Swaffham Prior Sing a song of May-time. Sing a song of Spring. Flowers are in their beauty. Birds are on the wing. May time, play time. God has given us May time. Thank Him for His gifts of love. Sing
2744-579: The Maiouma was a "nocturnal dramatic festival, held every three years and known as Orgies, that is, the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite " and that it was "known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of May-Artemisios". During this time, enough money was set aside by the government for torches, lights, and other expenses to cover a 30-day festival of "all-night revels." The Maiouma
2842-567: The Octavia Hill Birthplace House, Wisbech has a flagpole which converts into a Maypole each year, used by local schools and other groups. Records from the early 1730s indicate that May Day was the date the new Mayor of Norwich was elected "for the ensuring year". The "Day of Swearing" occurred the following month - June - which saw the Mayor Elect receive his chains of office . The early May bank holiday on
2940-467: The lunar phase and geographic hemisphere . Some Wiccans use the term sabbat ( / ˈ s æ b ə t / ) to refer to each festival, represented as a spoke in the Wheel. Seasonal festival activities of pagan peoples differed across ancient Europe . Among the British Isles, Anglo-Saxons primarily marked the solar stations (solstices and equinoxes), while Insular Celtic peoples marked
3038-521: The 14th century, and by the 15th century the maypole tradition was well established in southern Britain. The tradition persists into the 21st century across the UK. The village of Ansty in Wiltshire has a maypole that has stood in the middle of a road junction in the village since before 1881; it continues in use every May Day, having been replaced by a less tall pole in the 1990s. Centenary Green part of
Lists of holidays - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-476: The American inclusive group The Troth , and the folkish Ásatrú Alliance . According to some pagan traditions , for each holiday on the wheel, different colours are displayed. This practice is not universal, however, and there are a wide range of ways which different sects or individuals would decorate for the sabbats. Many of these colours are also used in the different holidays interchangeably with
3234-661: The Blessed Virgin Mary . It has also been associated with the ancient Roman festival Floralia . International Workers' Day observed on 1 May is also called "May Day", but the two have different histories. The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia , festival of Flora , the Roman goddess of flowers, held from 27 April–3 May during the Roman Republic era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma ,
3332-495: The Christian festival of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day, Hallowmas), and All Hallows' Eve, are appropriations of Samhain by early Christian missionaries to the British Isles. Celebration commonly takes place outdoors in the form of a communal gathering. The precise dates on which festivals are celebrated often vary to some degree, as would the related agricultural milestones of the local region. Celebrations may occur on
3430-660: The Feast of Dedication and the Feast of Lots which are minor festivals. The following holidays are observed to some extent at the same time during the Southern Hemisphere 's summer, with the exception of Winter Solstice. Many other days are marked to celebrate events or people, around the world, but are not strictly holidays as time off work is rarely given. These are holidays that are not traditionally marked on calendars. These holidays are celebrated by various groups and individuals. Some are designed to honor or promote
3528-605: The Germanic and later Northern European winter festival of the same name, those celebrations by Germanic heathens likely followed the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples . Historical sources indicate those observances coinciding with the full moon of the lunisolar month following the winter solstice, ranging between January 5 and February 2 in the Gregorian calendar. The reversal of the Sun 's ebbing presence in
3626-610: The Goddess at Beltane , reaches his peak at the summer solstice , wanes in power at Lammas , passes into the underworld at Samhain (taking with him the fertility of the Goddess/Earth, who is now in her crone aspect ) until he is once again born from Her mother/crone aspect at Yule. The Goddess, in turn, ages and rejuvenates endlessly with the seasons, being courted by and giving birth to the Horned God . Many Wiccan, modern Druids , and eclectic modern pagans incorporate
3724-471: The Holly King. After the spring equinox the sun begins to wax again and the Holly King slowly regains his strength until he once again defeats the Oak King at the summer solstice. The two are ultimately seen as essential parts of a whole, light and dark aspects of the male God, and would not exist without each other. The Holly King is often portrayed as a woodsy figure, similar to the modern Santa Claus , dressed in red with sprigs of holly in his hair and
3822-583: The May Day/Beltane customs which persisted in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out. In the nineteenth century, folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912), collected the song Am Beannachadh Bealltain ( The Beltane Blessing ) in his Carmina Gadelica , which he heard from a crofter in South Uist . Scottish May Day/Beltane celebrations have been somewhat revived since
3920-546: The May"), weaving floral garlands , crowning a May Queen (sometimes with a male companion ), and setting up a Maypole , May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance and sing. Bonfires are also a major part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaelic festival Beltane , the Welsh festival Calan Mai , and May devotions to
4018-488: The Northern hemisphere, is celebrated by neopagans under various names, including Midwinter and Yule . A name used by neo-druids is Alban Arthan . It has been recognised as a significant turning point in the yearly cycle since the late Stone Age . Ancient megalithic sites Newgrange and Stonehenge were carefully aligned with the winter solstice sunrise and sunset. While commonly referred to as "Yule", after
Lists of holidays - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-477: The Oak King as a fertility god . May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May , around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's Spring equinox and June solstice . Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve . Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches ("bringing in
4214-504: The Southern Hemisphere often advance these dates by six months to coincide with their own seasons. Offerings of food, drink , various objects, etc. have been central in ritual propitiation and veneration for millennia. Modern pagan practice strongly avoids sacrificing animals in favour of grains, herbs, milk, wines, incense, baked goods, minerals, etc. The exception being with ritual feasts including meat , where
4312-474: The Universe. The days that fall on the landmarks of the yearly cycle traditionally mark the beginnings and middles of the four seasons . They are regarded with significance and host to major communal festivals. These eight festivals are the most common times for community celebrations. In addition to the quarter and cross-quarter days, other festivals may also be celebrated throughout the year, especially in
4410-421: The astrologically precise quarter and cross-quarter days, the nearest full moon , the nearest new moon , or the nearest weekend for contemporary convenience. The festivals were originally celebrated by peoples in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere . Consequently, the traditional timing for seasonal celebrations do not align with the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere or near the equator. Pagans in
4508-469: The beginning of summer. It is known as Walpurgis Night in Germanic countries. Ancient Rome observed Floralia at the same time of year. Following the Christianisation of Europe, the May Day festival was generally associated with maypole dancing and the crowning of the May Queen . May Day is celebrated in many neo-pagan traditions; in neo-druidry, it recognises the power of life in its fullness,
4606-835: The benefit of better aligning celebrations between the two neopagan groups. Gardner's first publications refer to the Celtic festivals as "May eve, August eve, November eve (Hallowe'en), and February eve". The phrase 'Wheel of the Year' was in use by the mid-1960s to describe an annual cycle of eight observances. Prominent Wiccan Aidan Kelly gave names to the Wiccan summer solstice (Litha) and equinox holidays (Ostara and Mabon) in 1974, which were then promoted by Timothy Zell through his Green Egg magazine. Popularisation of these names happened gradually; in her 1978 book Witchcraft For Tomorrow , influential Wiccan author Doreen Valiente did not use Kelly's holiday names, instead simply identifying
4704-605: The celebration in the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders , which continues to stage a parade and pageant each year, including the annual ‘Common Riding’, which takes place in many towns throughout the Borders. As well as the crowning of a Beltane Queen each year, it is custom to sing ‘The Beltane Song’. John Jamieson , in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808) describes some of
4802-536: The celebrations. These include traditional maypole dancing and morris dancing , as well as contemporary music acts. Whitstable , Kent, hosts a good example of more traditional May Day festivities, where the Jack in the Green festival was revived in 1976 and continues to lead an annual procession of morris dancers through the town on the May bank holiday. A separate revival occurred in Hastings in 1983 and has become
4900-452: The community. On the last three days of April, all houses were fumigated with juniper and rue incense. At sunset on May Day, the people held a ceremony they called "burning out the witches". The church bells were rung and people made as much noise as possible by shouting, banging pots and pans, ringing bells and cracking whips. Men carried lighted bundles of herbs fasted on poles, while women carried censers . Then would run seven times round
4998-546: The context of polytheistic reconstructionism and other ethnic traditions. While festivals of the Wheel are steeped in solar mythology and symbolism , many Wiccan esbats are commonly based on lunar cycles . Together, they represent the most common celebrations in Wiccan-influenced forms of modern paganism, especially in Neopagan witchcraft groups. The winter solstice , falling on or about 21 December in
SECTION 50
#17327649919025096-425: The different Celtic nations . Slavic mythology tells of a persisting conflict involving Perun , god of thunder and lightning, and Veles , the black god and horned god of the underworld . Enmity between the two is initiated by Veles' annual ascent up the world tree in the form of a huge serpent and his ultimate theft of Perun's divine cattle from the heavenly domain. Perun retaliates to this challenge of
5194-401: The divine order by pursuing Veles, attacking with his lightning bolts from the sky. Veles taunts Perun and flees, transforming himself into various animals and hiding behind trees, houses, even people. (Lightning bolts striking down trees or homes were explained as results of this.) In the end Perun overcomes and defeats Veles, returning him to his place in the realm of the dead. Thus the order of
5292-526: The eighteenth century, the Finglas maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'." In a letter written by Major Sirr on 2 May 1803 (shortly after the turbulent 1798 Rebellion ), he writes: Public celebrations of Bealtaine fell out of popularity by the 20th century and many old traditions are no longer widely observed. The tradition of
5390-600: The fires for luck. Since the 18th century, many Roman Catholics have observed May – and May Day – with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary . In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May crowning . 1 May is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker , a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary , and foster father of Jesus . Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date
5488-582: The first Monday in May was created in 1978; May Day itself – 1 May – is not a public holiday in England (unless it falls on a Monday). In February 2011, the UK Parliament was reported to be considering scrapping the bank holiday associated with May Day, replacing it with a bank holiday in October, possibly coinciding with Trafalgar Day (celebrated on 21 October), to create
5586-456: The flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Bealtaine bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the aos sí , the 'spirits' or 'fairies'. Doors, windows, byres and cattle would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make
5684-541: The four midpoints between them. The four Celtic festivals were known to the Gaels as Beltane (1 May), Lughnasadh (1 August), Samhain (1 November), and Imbolc (1 February). Influential works such as The Golden Bough (1890) by James George Frazer explored various European seasonal festivals and their possible pagan roots. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) by Margaret Murray examined reports of
5782-400: The greening of the world, youthfulness, and flourishing. The summer solstice , falling on or about 21 June in the Northern hemisphere, is celebrated by neopagans under various names, including Midsummer and Litha . A name used by neo-druids is Alban Hefin . The name Litha , is found in Bede 's The Reckoning of Time ( De Temporum Ratione , eighth century), which preserves
5880-413: The harvest. After the harvest, however, Jarilo is unfaithful to his wife and she vengefully slays him, returning him to the underworld and renewing enmity between Perun and Veles. Without her husband, god of fertility and vegetation, Morana – and all of nature with her – withers and freezes in the ensuing winter. She grows into the old and dangerous goddess of darkness and frost, eventually dying by
5978-438: The historical practices of world civilizations . British neopagans popularized the Wheel of the Year in the mid-20th century, combining the four solar events (" quarter days ") marked by many European peoples, with the four midpoint festivals ("cross-quarter days") celebrated by Insular Celtic peoples. Different paths of modern Paganism may vary regarding the precise timing of each observance, based on such distinctions as
SECTION 60
#17327649919026076-448: The holiday is named, while others draw on more eclectic sources. While Lughnasadh is one of the most common names for the holiday in Wicca currently, in early versions of Wiccan literature, the festival is referred to as August Eve . Lammas is often referenced interchangeably with Lughnasadh, though the two are sometimes recognised as distinct and separate holidays. While Lughnasadh has Celtic origins, Lammas has Anglo-Saxon origins, and
6174-429: The home and tree decorating are also common during this time. Imbolc is the traditional Gaelic name for 1 February and traditionally marks the first stirrings of spring . In Christianity it is Saint Brigid's Day, while 2 February is Candlemas . It aligns with the contemporary observance of Groundhog Day . It is time for purification and spring cleaning in anticipation of the year's new life. In ancient Rome, it
6272-605: The houses and the village, so that the witches would be "smoked out of their lurking-places and driven away". In Sweden, there are bonfires and outdoor celebrations on May Eve or Walpurgis Night ("Valborgsmässoafton"). Most of the traditions associated elsewhere with May Day are held at Midsummer instead; such as Maypole dancing. Up until the 19th century, on May Day itself, there were mock battles between Summer and Winter. Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough (1911): on May Day two troops of young men on horseback used to meet as if for mortal combat. One of them
6370-428: The inedible parts of the animal are often burned as offerings while the community eats the rest. Sacrifices are typically offered to gods and ancestors by burning them. Burying and leaving offerings in the open are also common in certain circumstances. The purpose of offering is to benefit the venerated, show gratitude, and give something back, strengthening the bonds between humans and divine and between members of
6468-413: The late 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing some of the older pagan festivals and combining them with more recently developed European secular and Catholic traditions, and celebrating May Day as a pagan religious festival. In rural regions of Germany, especially the Harz Mountains, Walpurgisnacht celebrations are traditionally held on the night before May Day, including bonfires and
6566-430: The late twentieth century. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow organise May Day festivals and rallies. In Edinburgh , the Beltane Fire Festival is held on the evening of May eve and into the early hours of May Day on the city's Calton Hill . An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the morning dew will have lifelong beauty. At the University of St Andrews , some of
6664-399: The lighting of bonfires at night. In the Germanic countries, this became Walpurgis Night , commemorating the official canonization of Saint Walpurga on 1 May 870. It continued the tradition of lighting bonfires. Folklorist Jack Santino says "Her day and its traditions almost certainly are traceable to pre-Christian celebrations that took place at this time". In Gaelic culture, 1 May
6762-416: The official start of their morris dancing season. The Maydayrun involves thousands of motorbikes taking a 55-mile (89 km) trip from Greater London ( Locksbottom ) to the Hastings seafront, East Sussex . The event has been taking place for almost 30 years now and has grown in interest from around the country, both commercially and publicly. The event is not officially organised; the police only manage
6860-428: The others, and colour decorations are not exclusively these colours. However, it is widely believed that Samhain has a particular association with black (and orange) only. Colour associations vary across sects and practice, nor are they an integral part to a holiday. Some practitioners do not have colour associations for sabbats at all. It is a misconception in some quarters of the modern pagan community, influenced by
6958-410: The prophet Jeremiah , but its origins are most probably pagan. It is said that on the days of the Holy Forty or Annunciation snakes come out of their burrows, and on Irminden their king comes out. Old people believe that those working in the fields on this day will be bitten by a snake in summer. In western Bulgaria people light fires, jump over them and make noises to scare snakes. Another custom
7056-452: The same day. The event is similar to German Walpurgisnacht, its public holiday on 30 April. On 31 May, the maypole is taken down in an event called Maypole Felling. On 1 May, couples in love kiss under a blooming tree. According to the ethnographer Klára Posekaná, this is not an old habit. It most likely originated around the beginning of the 20th century in an urban environment, perhaps in connection with Karel Hynek Mácha 's poem Máj (which
7154-403: The sky symbolises the rebirth of the solar god and presages the return of fertile seasons. From Germanic to Roman tradition, this is the most important time of celebration. Practices vary, but sacrifice offerings , feasting, and gift giving are common elements of Midwinter festivities. Bringing sprigs and wreaths of evergreenery (such as holly , ivy , mistletoe , yew , and pine ) into
7252-403: The smooth sea". In some neo-druid traditions the festival is called Alban Hefin . The sun in its greatest strength is greeted and celebrated on this holiday. While it is the time of greatest strength of the solar current, it also marks a turning point, for the sun also begins its time of decline as the wheel of the year turns. Arguably the most important neo-druidic festival, due to the focus on
7350-505: The solstices and equinoxes ("Lesser Sabbats") by their seasons. Valiente identified the four "Greater Sabbats", or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe'en, while also naming their Gaelic counterparts Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasa, and Samhain. Due to early Wicca's influence on modern paganism and the syncretic adoption of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic motifs, Wheel of the Year festival names in English commonly combine
7448-457: The spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the Wheel by the festival of Beltane , which is celebrated as a festival of light and fertility. Many neopagans believe that the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the year at Samhain, making it easier to communicate with those who have departed. Some authorities claim
7546-534: The students gather on the beach late on 30 April and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked. This is accompanied by torchlit processions and much elated celebration. In Wales the first day of May is known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf , and parallels the festival of Beltane and other May Day traditions in Europe. Traditions would start the night before ( Nos Galan Haf ) with bonfires, and
7644-403: The sun and its light as a symbol of divine inspiration. Neo-druid groups frequently celebrate this event at Stonehenge. Lughnasadh or Lúnasa ( / ˈ l uː n æ s ə / ) is the Gaelic name for a harvest festival held on or around 1 August. Its Welsh name is Calan Awst . In English it is Lammas . Some Wiccan traditions base their celebrations on the Celtic deity Lugh , for whom
7742-563: The sun up' on May Day morning. Jack in the Green is an English folkloric figure who parades through the streets on May Day, accompanied by musicians, beggars, and various other characters. 'Dancing the sun up' is a tradition among Morris dancers to dance at sunrise on May Day, to welcome in the sun and the summer season. It began in Oxford in 1923, and includes dances, traditional May Day songs, and sometimes other activities such as mummers' plays or bonfires. This tradition has since spread across
7840-473: The time of the spring equinox, Jarilo returns across the sea from the world of the dead, bringing with him fertility and spring from the evergreen underworld into the realm of the living. He meets his sister Morana and courts her. With the beginning of summer, the two are married bringing fertility and abundance to Earth, ensuring a bountiful harvest. The union of Perun's kin and Veles' stepson brings peace between two great gods, staving off storms which could damage
7938-562: The traffic, and volunteers manage the parking. Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual 'Obby-'Oss (Hobby Horse) day of festivities. This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even though the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing traditional May Day songs. The whole town
8036-521: The twentieth century: the Bricket Wood coven , a Wiccan group founded by Gerald Gardner , and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids , a neo-Druidic group founded by Ross Nichols . Legend holds that Gardner and Nichols harmonised an eight-fold calendar during a naturist retreat, merging the four solar stations alongside their four midpoints as a unified festival cycle. Coordination eventually had
8134-540: The two also echoes the ancient Indo-European narrative of a fight between the sky-borne storm god and chthonic dragon . On the great night ( New Year ), two children of Perun are born, Jarilo , god of fertility and vegetation and son of the Moon, and Morana , goddess of nature and death and daughter of the Sun. On the same night, the infant Jarilo is snatched and taken to the underworld, where Veles raises him as his own. At
8232-483: The usual school holiday pattern. (By contrast, the Easter Holiday can start as late—relative to Easter —as Good Friday , if Easter falls early in the year; or finish as early—relative to Easter—as Easter Monday, if Easter falls late in the year, because of the supreme significance of Good Friday and Easter Day to Christianity .) Other prominent English May Day customs include Jack in the Green , and 'dancing
8330-482: The water under the bridge is only 2 feet (61 cm) deep and jumping from the bridge has resulted in serious injury in the past. There are still people who climb the barriers and leap into the water, causing themselves injury. In Durham , students of the University of Durham gather on Prebend's Bridge to see the sunrise and enjoy festivities, folk music, dancing, madrigal singing and a barbecue breakfast. This
8428-421: The world is maintained. The idea that storms and thunder are actually divine battle is pivotal to the changing of the seasons. Dry periods are identified as chaotic results of Veles' thievery. This duality and conflict represents an opposition of the natural principles of earth, water, substance, and chaos (Veles) and of heaven, fire, spirit, order (Perun), not a clash of good and evil. The cosmic battle between
8526-621: The world, with Morris dance teams dancing the sun up in Asia, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and the USA. May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by Puritan parliaments during the Interregnum , but reinstated with the restoration of Charles II in 1660. 1 May 1707, was the day the Act of Union came into effect, joining the kingdoms of England (including Wales) and Scotland to form
8624-490: The wrapping of a Maibaum (maypole). Young people use this opportunity to party, while the day itself is used by many families to get some fresh air. Motto: "Tanz in den Mai" ( "Dance into May" ). In the Rhineland , 1 May is also celebrated by the delivery of a maypole, a tree covered in streamers to the house of a girl the night before. The tree is typically from a love interest, though a tree wrapped only in white streamers
8722-552: The writings of Robert Graves , that historical Celts had an overarching narrative for the entire cycle of the year. While the various Celtic calendars include some cyclical patterns, and a belief in the balance of light and dark, these beliefs vary between the different Celtic cultures . Modern preservationists and revivalists usually observe the four 'fire festivals' of the Gaelic Calendar, and some also observe local festivals that are held on dates of significance in
8820-467: The year's end only to be reborn again with her brother in the new year. In Wicca , the narrative of the Wheel of the Year traditionally centers on the sacred marriage of the God and the Goddess and the god / goddess duality. In this cycle, the God is perpetually born from the Goddess at Yule, grows in power at the vernal equinox (as does the Goddess, now in her maiden aspect ), courts and impregnates
8918-611: Was a shepherd's holiday, while the Gaels associated it with the onset of ewes' lactation, prior to birthing the spring lambs. For Celtic neopagans , the festival is dedicated to the goddess Brigid , daughter of The Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann . In the Reclaiming tradition , this is the traditional time for pledges and rededications for the coming year and for initiation among Dianic Wiccans . Ostara
9016-480: Was a workday. In Ireland, May Day has long been celebrated as the festival of Bealtaine . It marks the beginning of summer and historically was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires, and sometimes leap over
9114-460: Was celebrated with splendorous banquets and offerings. Its reputation for licentiousness caused it to be suppressed during the reign of Emperor Constantine , though a less debauched version of it was briefly restored during the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius , only to be suppressed again during the same period. During the Middle Ages, May Eve was celebrated in much of northern Europe with
9212-521: Was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers' Day celebrations on May Day. The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in Europe and North America, include dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May . Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the tradition of giving of "May baskets", small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps. In
9310-479: Was led by a representative of Winter clad in furs, who threw snowballs and ice in order to prolong the cold weather. The other troop was commanded by a representative of Summer covered with fresh leaves and flowers. In the sham fight which followed the party of Summer came off victorious, and the ceremony ended with a feast Sweden's first May Day celebration was held in Halmstad on 2nd of May, 1897 because 1st of May
9408-502: Was not established as a public holiday until Nazi Germany declared 1 May a "national workers' day" in 1933. As Labour Day , many political parties and unions host activities related to work and employment. In The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion , Sir James George Frazer reported May Day customs in Tyrol during the 19th century. It was a time for banishing evil powers from
9506-473: Was often marked with the blessing of loaves of bread by the church. The name Lammas (contraction of loaf mass ) implies it is an agrarian-based festival and feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolises the first fruits of the harvest. The holiday of the autumnal equinox is known variously among neopagans as Mabon , Harvest Home , or Feast of the Ingathering . A name used by neo-druids
9604-463: Was the celebration of Beltaine or Cétshamhain , while for the Welsh it was Calan Mai or Cyntefin . First attested in 900 AD, the celebration mainly focused on the symbolic use of fire to bless cattle and other livestock as they were moved to summer pastures. This custom continued into the early 19th century, during which time cattle would be made to jump over fires to protect their milk from being stolen by fairies . People would also leap over
#901098