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Post by littleraven on Oct 14, 2008 18:53:37 GMT -1
Following on from the glossary thread is the subject of festivals.
Which ones should we have? What should we call them? etc etc etc
I'll start off and say we should obviously have Beltan and Samhain, although in Samhain's case I would suggest a rename to something along the lines of the 'feast of the dead', or the 'feast of the ancestors'. We should definately stress the beginning at dusk thing IMHO.
What about other ones though? Eponalia for example, but why Dec 18th? A sacred day/period for our Gods doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Thoughts?
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Post by jez on Oct 14, 2008 19:04:12 GMT -1
Following on from the glossary thread is the subject of festivals. Which ones should we have? What should we call them? etc etc etc I'll start off and say we should obviously have Beltan and Samhain, although in Samhain's case I would suggest a rename to something along the lines of the 'feast of the dead', or the 'feast of the ancestors'. We should definately stress the beginning at dusk thing IMHO. What about other ones though? Eponalia for example, but why Dec 18th? A sacred day/period for our Gods doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Thoughts? If you are serious about the Mare, then find some horse people to tell you when the horse festivals should be, what they are, and why. -- Where the gods lead, the herd follows. -- Jez
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Post by Lee on Oct 14, 2008 19:26:07 GMT -1
Beltan and Samhain (Nos Hynafiad = Night of the Ancestors maybe?) are a given for me and have important connections to the landscape and the ancestors.
harvest is another one that i feel a connection to - not in the same sense as what it meant originally, but a certain recognition of things winding own and come to fruition. the beginning of another micro season almost.
other festivals i can do without to be honest.
as you have mentioned Eponalia - yes indeed. i think recognition of the mare and the part she plays for us is important. i should think that we will also have our own festivals too for those who guard and stand at the doorways to our own aelwydau (correct pl. spelling?) within the Dun.
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Post by Lee on Oct 14, 2008 19:26:45 GMT -1
oh and BTW - the progress that FF seems to have catalysed is amazing. almost too much to keep up with.
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Post by Tegernacus on Oct 14, 2008 19:48:23 GMT -1
Nos Hynafiaid works for me. That and Calan Haf (or whatever we call it) are the main ones. Personally I like to celebrate midwinter and some kind of ritual to mark the first flowers after winter (Bridgets day or similar), but that's personal and something I've always done.
(it's Aelwydydd for plural).
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Post by Tegernacus on Oct 14, 2008 20:07:17 GMT -1
no problem celebrating the Mare at that time, already got plans to do it anyway (got a brilliant Mari Lwyd design, but have been let down on the horse-skull front. Ah well, still time)
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Post by Lee on Oct 14, 2008 20:35:52 GMT -1
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Post by Craig on Oct 15, 2008 5:47:04 GMT -1
Personally I like to celebrate midwinter and some kind of ritual to mark the first flowers after winter (Bridgets day or similar), but that's personal and something I've always done. Yes, I vote for Bridget's day too. For us here in Mid-Wales it is lambing and often the time we see the bluebells and snowdrops appear - the first signs of winter's end. A time of hope.
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Post by megli on Oct 15, 2008 6:27:29 GMT -1
I'll definitely put in a vote for Brigit. Incidentally, the name of the R. Braint in Ynys Mon is from Briganti (as are the Brigantes, of course), which is also the etymological source for Irish Brigit. So they did know her. Also, rather nicely, the Welsh word for 'king' (Brenin in ModW, brenhin or breenhin in Middle Welsh) comes from *Brigantinos which would seem to mean 'Husband of the goddess Briganti(a).'
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Post by arth_frown on Oct 15, 2008 7:18:12 GMT -1
I agree with Epona, Brigit, feast of the dead. How about Taranis? IIRC he was celebrated in June or July. How about the Solstices? I like the harvest festival as well, I like to say thank you for the food.
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Post by jez on Oct 15, 2008 7:48:50 GMT -1
Thunor has a festival here in the midlands at the full moon of Weodmonath. Appropriate, when you realise that that is normally the height of August, when Thunderers have their happiest moments -- Jez
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Post by Blackbird on Oct 15, 2008 8:56:12 GMT -1
I do Calan Mai and Calan Gaeaf - as those already exist, I don't think there's any need to make up new names for them! Eponalia is a UPG thing. The 18th of December is mentioned only once, iirc in a fragmentary calendar from some Roman province. My UPG is that the date was moved from its proper time of true Midwinter. After all, Saturnalia was busy enough already with celebrations for the major Roman gods and it's unlikely that they would have had space to add more at the solstice. Although She was popular, it was mostly among the lower classes. Adding Eponalia to the Saturnalia season would have been a people-pleaser, but not something seen as important enough for it to take precedent over the more established Roman Gods. Although we have no surviving contemporary stories about Her, if we look back at Pre-Xian epigraphy, we can see that the horse is almost always a solar symbol. So it would be strange if the Mare herself were not bound up with solar events in some way, either through myth or religious practice. My UPG says Midwinter I'm all for the Feast of Bride too - that's something I do already, as She's another Lady who has helped me out personally a great deal. The Thunderer having a festival in July is a modern idea, there's nothing to tell us if or when such a festival happened. However, given that He is one of my major Patrons, doing something to honour Him would be fantastic. I agree with Jez that celebrating Him during the height of the summer storms makes sense - I usually pour a glass for Him during those times.
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Post by jez on Oct 15, 2008 9:16:15 GMT -1
My major difficulties (which I probably share with at least one person here) is that I was brought up, as it were, in a hybrid tradition of folk-craft and heathenry, and neither skin quite fits.
I celebrated more festivals when I was younger, and was still with a kindred in the midlands, a group I left after a bereavement. They had festivals for every event - first fruits, last harvest, first calf, the festival of the hens, the Thunderer's moon, Mothers' Night, Winternights, Yule (all twelve days/nights have their own dedication), eclipses (lunar and solar), the hay harvest, the chestnut feast...
But they don't have set dates for many of them. And we all know that however humans might like to plan, the first blossom on the hedgerow is going to happen when IT wants to, not when we have decided to go for a celebratory walk with a bottle of mead...
And then there are housewarmings, namings, weddings, buryings, welcoming (which was at around 8 years of age for the children and on marriage for incomers), menarche and adulthood and sending (when someone takes off and leaves the community maybe for university) and so on.
A community needs stuff like this.
--
Jez
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Post by Tegernacus on Oct 15, 2008 9:20:47 GMT -1
Hmm.. have to say I agree with you about Calan Gaeaf and Calan Haf (I never called it Calan Mai, seemed wrong imposing a Greek/Roman monthname on it). Just because the neo-druids use them... well, the Welsh used them first (and still do). We could still do a Feast for the Ancestors on that night, a Gwŷl Hynafiaid, but maybe renaming it is.. like Christians renaming Christmas or something. Not much point really.
The trouble with seasonal festivals, especially now, is that we don't really have seasons anymore. Spring comes earlier, autumn later, all the seasons are kind of merging into one. Which, of course, makes it all the more important to mark them. But we shouldn't get too hung up on dates and such. Afterall, these are a new thing, and December 18th 100ad probably isn't the same day as December 18th 2008, due to months and weeks being skipped and inserted etc. Didn't the Romans have Easter in September one year, due to calendar shift? Something like that. Have to look it up.
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Post by Lee on Oct 15, 2008 9:42:38 GMT -1
what with us being quite a spread out community the more frequent and seasonal festivals are going to be difficult to get together for. others such as the feast of the ancestors, calan haf or eponalia etc are going to be the 'main events' so to speak and those we should aim and plan to be together on.
we will probably end up with two tiers of festivals - the major ones such as eponalia, Nos hynafiad and then a second tier of smaller and more localised/personal feasts such as may blossom, first crocus and household god feasts.
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Post by Craig on Oct 15, 2008 11:14:14 GMT -1
Is there a scholarly soul out there who would like to start bringing these all together into one calendar?
A question for all - do we have a set date, a lunar/solar-derived date or the nearest saturday [as these are supposed to be tribal celebrations and most of this tribe do have to work for a living]?
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Post by Tegernacus on Oct 15, 2008 11:15:03 GMT -1
agreed.
(I'll scan that design and email it to you)
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Post by Craig on Oct 15, 2008 11:15:50 GMT -1
We could then possibly time the rades to coincide with the calender festivals...?
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Post by littleraven on Oct 15, 2008 11:16:54 GMT -1
We need to have the set date as these are often based in fixed circumstances. Realistically there will need to be nearby dates for the gathering of the Aelwyd.
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