Samhain by Dalriada

This was originally found at dalriada.co.uk, but that site appears to no longer be online, so I have reposted it here from my personal archives.

No other festival in the old Celtic year fires the imagination like Samhain. On a material level, it was the time the clan took stock of supplies for the winter ahead, and brought people and cattle in from the hills and glens to their winter quarters, re-tying the social bonds of kinship in the process. On a spiritual level, it was the most magical time of the year. It was the day that did not exist when the barriers between the worlds of life and death faded and the forces of chaos could invade our realms of order.

To be alone and missing at this dangerous time was to expose your spirit to the perils of the chaotic Otherworld. In present times the importance of this part of the festival has diminished for most people living in this country, but you should try to see this from the stand-point of a tribal people for whom a bad season meant facing a long winter of famine in which many would not survive to see the spring.

At this time the Spirits of the Dead and those yet to be born of the Clan walk freely amongst the living. Food and entertainment are provided in their honour. In this way the Clan is at one with its past, present and future. This level of the festival was never totally subdued by Christianity and survives today as Hallowe'en. Sadly, it has been adopted by most as the sum and total of Samhain.

the above text is [© Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust, Isle of Arran, 1992]

Start of the year?

Traditionally, the Tuatha de Bhriain celebrate the new year at Samhain, however according to notes on the Coligny Calendar on Wikipedia:

...the calendar year began with Samonios, which is usually assumed to correspond to Old Irish Samhain, giving an autumn start to the year. However, as Samon is Gaulish for summer (Lambert p.112), this assumed start is disputed. Le Contel and Verdier (1997) argue for a summer solstice start of the year. Monard (1999) argues for an autumn equinox start. Bonsing (2007) argues for a May beginning consistent with Irish Beltaine, and Fennian literature, notably Joyce (2000).

A Shadowy Past / Groundhog's day

by Gail S. Cleere
as printed in Natural History, 2/92

February 2 is Groundhog Day, brought to us by nineteenth century German immigrants. The day is all that is left of an ancient pagan celebration called Imbolog, which marked a "cross quarter" day, one of the four days that fall midway between the four mileposts of the solar year, the spring and fall equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices.

On Imbolog, which means "sheep's milk," the early Celts marked the season of lambing, of driving cattle to the summer grazing lands, and of early spring planting. As in many pagan agricultural festivities, great fires were lit in honor of the sun. A belief arose that if this day were sunny, a long winter was forecast; if the day were gloomy, spring would be early. An early spring meant more than merely nice weather. An early planting meant an early harvest and an end to the hunger of a long winter. The conquering Romans learned this belief from the Scottish Celts and spread it to what is now Germany.

Bride - The Fair Woman of February

This was originally posted on Dalriada.co.uk, a wonderful magazine and online resource of Celtic information for many years, but that site has been offline for over a year now so I am posting this copy from my own archives (without permission).

(From the writings of Fiona MacLeod)

I have heard many tales of Bride, one of the most widely loved and revered beings of the ancient Gaelic pantheon. They are of the Isles, and may be heard in some of the Sgeulachdan Gaidhealach, or Gaelic tales still told among the seafaring and hill folk. Brighid bhoidheach. Bride the beautiful, is not infrequent in songs and seasonal hymns, for when her signals are seen along the grey beaches, on the sandy machairs, by the meadow path, the glen track, the white shore road, the islanders know that the new year is disclosed at last, that food, warmth and gladness are coming out of the south. Everywhere she is honoured at this time. Am fheill Bride was until recently a festival of joy throughout the west, from the Highland Line to the last weedy shores of Barra or the Lews; in the isles and in the remote Highlands, it still is.

It is an old tale, this association of Bride with February. It goes further back than the days of the monkish chroniclers who first attempted to put the disguise of verbal Christian raiment on this fair woman. It is a tale that refers to one to whom the women of the Gael went with offerings and prayers and to one whom the seannachaidh speaks of when he tells of the oath taken by Brighid of the Flame.

They refer to one whom the druids held in honour as a torch bearer of the eternal light, a Daughter of the Morning, who held sunrise in one hand as a little yellow flame, and in the other held the red flower of fire without which men would be as the beasts who live in caves and holes, or as the dark Fomor who have their habitations in cloud and wind and wilderness.

They refer to one whom the bards and singers revered as mistress of their craft, she whose breath was a flame and that flame song; she whose secret name was fire and whose inmost soul was radiant air, she therefore who was the divine impersonation of the divine thing she stood for, poetry.

She herself and no other, is she, that ancient goddess whom our ancestors saw lighting the torches of sunrise on the brows of hills, or thrusting the quenchless flame above the horizons of the sea; whom the druids hailed with hymns at the turn of the year, when, in the season we call February, the first comers of the advancing spring are to be seen on the grey land or on the grey wave or by the grey shores; whom every poet, from the humblest wandering singer to Oisin of the Songs, from Oisin of the Songs to Angus Og on the rainbow or to Midir of the Underworld, blessed because of the flame she put in the heart of poets as well as the red life she put in the flame that springs from wood and peat.

None forgot that she was the daughter of the ancient God of the Earth, but greater than he, because in him there was but earth and water, whereas in her veins ran the elements of air and fire. And how could one forget that at any time she has but to bend above the dead, and her breath would quicken, and a pulse would come back into the still heart, and what was dust would arise and be once more glad. Yes, the Fair Woman of February is still loved, still revered.

Interesting Links

If you have links to more resources about Imbolc, here's a page to add them. If you are not familiar with creating links in standard HTML, just paste the URL on this page someplace and others can fix it up later. This page will be set as writable by TdB Members and Official Friends.

Here's a link to a very interesting scholarly article written by Seamus O'Caithain of University College Dublin called The Festival of Brigit the Holy Woman http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c23/c23-231.pdf [PDF]

Norse tradition of Maiden's Day as related to Imbolc

Past member Erlan Nordenskol submitted this essay comparing and contrasting the pagan holidays of Celtic Imbolc and Norse Maiden's Day and how these relate to the Christian holidays of Candlemas and the Feast of St Brigit. Attached as a 2 page PDF.

Secrets of the women

Graham Webster, in his book The British Celts and their gods under Rome, states that Imbolc or Oimelg [was] celebrated on the 1st February. It was based on the old pastoral lambing season and therefore had powerful fertility associations. Little is known about it, presumably as it was mainly practised by the women and carried out in secret, away from profane male eyes.

About Bealtine by Mainlia

(The following comment from AOL message board provides more details about the holiday)
From: Mainlia Mar 29, 1998

Bealtaine usually held on May first, is the feast of the god Belenos. Bealtaine as well as Belenos are symbols of fire and sun. The feis is symbolized with fire, purification, and fertility. Beltaine hails the beginning of summer, the herds are driven out to summer pasture. The clans gather and hold a feis, making plans for the coming season. Druids called Brehon judges are available to give judgments, and settle debates. Beltaine is a time in Brehon law that trial marriages started at the previous Lughnasadh could go to divorce if the couple found the confinement of winter incompatible. Rents and debts were paid, and legal contracts made. The Fianna (professional standing army of the high king) gathers and lives off the land hunting, training, raiding, and waring for the warmer months. Religion/festival: The evening of Bealtaine was one of the two nights (Samhain , and Bealtaine) in which the barriers to the otherworld are thin. The doors of the sidhe (Fairy) mounds are open. Care must be taken not to anger the spirits, or fall under the spell of the otherworld. Beasts and clan members are purified from their long winter confinement, by being driven between two bonfires. This kills off any lingering infection, gives fertility, and personal success in the coming months. Bands of young men run around the tuath bearing branches of blazing foliage to purify and protect their homes. All fires are put out, and renewed from the sacred Bael fire. --Mainlia

Bealtaine by Dalriada

The festival of Beltaine, which literally means "Bel's fire" (Beal-teinne) marks the beginning of the summer and the light half of the Celtic year. Traditionally, all fires were extinguished on the eve of Beltaine, to be re-lit from the sacred 'needfire' kindled at dawn. The Celts were predominantly pastoral people and Beltaine was the time when the cattle were put out to their summer grazing on the higher slopes. The cattle were driven through the sacred Beltaine fires for purification. The sacred fire would also, it was believed, bring protection, good fortune and fertility to the people.

It was also the time when young Celtic warriors would put their fighting skills to the test in the challenges of the Beltaine Games. With the hard work of planting accomplished, it was a time when the clans came together in celebration of the sun and to hope that the crops would grow and flourish in the months ahead.

[Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust, Isle of Arran]

More on Bealtaine by Comyn

As we approach Beltaine, please be mindful of the wise words of the Druid Mainlia from the north that are written above. I would add only to ask that you consciously spend a few minutes each day before the festival mentally noting the position of the sun in the sky; pay attention to the movement of the shadows as they cross the yard. Subtle mysteries are revealed in these shifting patterns of light. Be aware of the caress of the wind and the songs of birds, so recently returned.

We are farther removed from the natural world than any people that have ever lived on the face of this earth, for we do not witness or participate in the planting and harvesting of our own food nor the carrying of our own water from the spring; and it is easy for us to miss a glorious sunrise and sunset and difficult for us to find the time to bear witness to the slow opening of flower petals to the sun; but the will of the Gods is revealed in these NATURAL things alone. Bel's fire will only purify those who are spiritually ready for that purification, PREPARE!

Comyn

Summer

from A Celtic Miscellany: Translations from the Celtic Literatures
By Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, 1971

A good season is summer for long journeys; quiet is the tall fine wood, which the whistle of the wind will not stir; green is the plumage of the sheltering trees; eddies swirl in the stream; good is the warmth in the turf.
- Irish, author unknown, eleventh century