IMBOLC – ST. BRIGIT DAY – 5^TH February

The Celtic Festival of Imbolc is the official beginning of spring! It is the festival of the first milk. Imagine! No milk since December as the cows are drying out before calving! Only old rinds of cheese left and NOW!

Early days, we know and yet, the season is turning. There are buds on the trees, the snow drops are peeping from the grass and there might even be some crocuses too.

This is a day to celebrate new life, new starts, a day to look at your seeds box and start planning your kitchen garden.

Today is a day to ponder and then decide. What are your first hopes for this Spring 2025? 

In this online workshop we will journey/meditate, journal, draw, and discuss your ideas until you have a clear picture of what you want to create.gain and keep it safe to inspire and guide you in this new season.

We will then create a ritual to solidify your resolve.

Interested?

BELTAINE – 1^st May

Beltaine is the Great Marriage of the God and the Goddess. Now it is May Day a festival for Labour. This one is still celebrated quite a bit in Europe with May Poles and dancing.

Traditionally there were fires lit on top of hills. The cattle would be taken through the fires to get rid of the vermin they had accumulated during the Winter.

It was time to send the animals and the young shepherds (boys and girls) up into the summer pastures.

Sex, procreation as the God and the Goddess come together to fructify the earth.

Time to sow seeds and make summer plans.

Create May Bushes to protect the home.

LUGHNASA or LAMMAS – 5^th August

The festival of the end of summer. A paradox as it is also the hight of summer but by now the nights are getting longer and longer and there is a sense of autumn in the air, if you can catch it.

It used to be huge festival in Ireland until the 1980s when it fell into some decline

The first harvest, the grain harvest.

The time when originally, whoever represented the sun God at the Beltane Festival is put to death. Time of sacrifice so the earth can be plentiful again next year.

Parties and celebrations as neighbours help neighbours harvest their grains.

The first bread.

Sharing.

SAMHAIN/HALLOWEEN – 31^st October

The end of the Celtic Year. The festival of death (and rebirth).

At Samhain, all the ports were closed , wars stopped and truce were declared. Chieftains and clan leaders exchanged hostages to guarantee peace. Storytellers and bards looked for somewhere safe for the winter. Housekeepers checked their larders and made sure everything was safely stored away.

If you had not stored enough away, you would be in terrible trouble later.

There would be a huge feast at this time to eat up all the perishable food.

Animals are brought into their winter housing, often sharing space with the house holders.

The Goddess of this time is The Morrigan (in Ireland) and Ceridwen (in Wales).

To pass the time, men mended fishing nets and their swords and weapons and women wove the cloth that would make next year garments.

It was the time for storytelling and story making.