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Post by nellie on Feb 18, 2011 17:14:59 GMT -1
Thinking about this idea that seems to make a lot of sense that there was a proper ime to honour a diety as in Bridget and Imbolc, Lugus and Lughnasa. Are there any other Brythonic gods that are known to have had their 'proper' time?
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Post by Lee on Feb 18, 2011 21:00:03 GMT -1
i cant recall any off the top of my head, maybe a beer or two has addled me somewhat.
that said, i think one of the useful things we are doing is working on a new set of seasonal markers and times when it feels right to pay note to different gods. So for instance, as i think blackbird has mentioned- the first thunderstorms of late summer is a time to honour Taranis. for me Mokkonos is honoured from the first frosts onwards, Ambactonos will have dates set out for him appropriate to the growing year and also tying in with other IE agricultural dates; the Romans provide some nice options here.
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Post by nellie on Feb 18, 2011 21:29:01 GMT -1
I agree that'd be really useful in forming a relevant religious/spiritual framework. Are you looking at something very flexible that would change from one area to the next or would it be more beneficial to have a particular date that brings the community together? Is this something that has been talked about much by the members of Brython? I'd love to hear more  Any thoughts about how you might approach a proper time to honour a god such as Nodons, that might not be based upon a distinct seasonal occurance? |
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Post by deiniol on Feb 19, 2011 14:33:11 GMT -1
Well, we've got the Eponalia in honour of Epona (obviously), and hence Rigantona, recorded for the 18th of December. While in honour of a Celtic deity, this is only attested as a Roman festival and might not correspond exactly to any "Celtic" date. However, not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath-water, it's hardly implausible to assume that it does reflect a pre-Roman Celtic festival, so we've got "somewhen around the winter solstice" as the proper time for Rigantona.
Like Lee says, it's probable that deities with connections to agriculture or seasonal activities had their festivals at times of year which correspond to their patronages. Ambaxtonos, for example, was probably honoured at or just before the first ploughing of the year, Taranis during the thunder season, deities of war (Taranis again, probably) at the beginning and end of the campaigning season and so on.
An interesting thing to do is to take existing seasonal festivals, attested for mediaeval Britiain, and to see if they work in a Brythonic context. Not because they neccessarily have any authentic pagan precursors (they might do, but it's more likely that they don't), but because they're how the people of this island historically have responded to the land. For example, Rogation Sunday on the 25th of April, was historically celebrated by a circumambulation of the fields with prayers to bless the growing crops. It's likely that the festival itself derives from either the Roman Robigalia (with which it shares a day) or the Ambarvalia, which is somewhat closer in practice. Either way, it seems like a good time of the year to me to pray to agricultural deities: Sucellos and Nantosuelta, perhaps.
Another good place to look is continental folk tradition: again, not neccessarily because of "pagan survivals", but because these are all ways in which people have responded to the land and the changing of the seasons. In the Auvergne, there used to be the tradition of carrying lighted torches fields and orchards on the first Sunday in Lent: these torches were accompanied by the singing of a bit of doggerel going Granno mo mio, Granno mo pouère, Granno mo mouère "Granno my friend, Granno my father, Granno my mother". Some have suggested that this "Granno" is none other than Grannos, the Gaulish sun-god. It's possible, although chance resemblances between languages are far from uncommon. Nevertheless, the elements are right (fire and protection), and the connection is evocative enough that it does not seem outlandish to suggest that mid-spring (about the equinox, when the sun is getting noticeably warmer) would be an appropriate time to honour Grannos.
All that said, however, one should be careful of thinking of festivals as like Catholic saints' days. It's not likely that each deity had an associated "feast day": the annual round of festivals likely had more to do with a community's response to the changing activities of the year than the actual gods themselves. Cut off from the actual work which goes with the seasonal changes, we've largely lost sight of that and have come to see festivals as times for certain deities rather than times for certain activities.
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Post by Heron on Feb 19, 2011 19:24:55 GMT -1
Well, we've got the Eponalia in honour of Epona (obviously), and hence Rigantona, recorded for the 18th of December. While in honour of a Celtic deity, this is only attested as a Roman festival and might not correspond exactly to any "Celtic" date. However, not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath-water, it's hardly implausible to assume that it does reflect a pre-Roman Celtic festival, so we've got "somewhen around the winter solstice" as the proper time for Rigantona. I've never been sure about Eponalia in December, although we have worked it into our observances. My feeling is that Rigantona's festival should be in May when gates of Annwn are open and she rides forth. |
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Post by nellie on Feb 19, 2011 19:42:46 GMT -1
deiniol, that's an interesting point you make about the distinction between a festival that accompanies a certain action and a festival that honours a deity. I'm going to try to keep that in mind!! Possibly there were both?
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Post by nellie on Feb 19, 2011 19:55:08 GMT -1
heron, I have associated May with Rhiannon too. I can't say I've got anything to ground that in though. She seems complex enough to me that the two very different times of the year would be appropriate to honour the different sides of Her. Just from my own experience of Her I would say there is a very passionate and vibrant feeling about Her that I would also associate with May, but I also get a feeling of Her as being very raw and wild and darker that I associate with the cold time of the year.
I suppose going a little bit deeper into my own question - SHOULD each deity have their own proper time to be honoured? Would that have been the case or is that arising from my modern response to the gods? Even if that is my modern take, and a contempory need am I alone in feeling the desire for a special day for particular gods? Is it appropriate to create new celebration days or festival days? Hmmm...
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