I know. We donāt talk a lot about our pasts, there hasnāt been much need to, I donāt think. Weāve both had a good understanding of each other, even without going into incredible detail. But me?Ā If Iām gorgeous, youāre stunning. Youāre stunning anyway, handsome. You know I will. Iām not going anywhere, James. Once Iām attached, Iām attached. Youāre pretty well stuck with me at this point, you know. That still makes my heart skip a beat, you calling me that.Ā
James Moore, my perfect man, my kingā¦I love you.
Itās still incredible to me that you think so. I had given up before you, you know. On everything. Iāve never been one to get along with the world, or most people in it. Not when it comes down to the grit of things. After everything, I figured it was best to just let myself fade away. But I donāt feel that way anymore. I havenāt in a very long time, and thatās thanks to you. You saved me from myself, James. Iāll never be able to repay you for that.Ā You are so much more thanĀ ājust a nerdā, I donāt ever want to hear you say something like that about yourself again. I could never think that about you. You make me feel so much, so many things I canāt even begin to describe. It means more than the world that you think so. And, you should find peace in the fact that you gave it to me, my smile. YouĀ are gorgeous.Ā
I want to tell you something, James. To share something with you.
I think you figured out that I was in the same position before you. I donāt know that anything could have gotten me to call myself someoneās boyfriend. But you... You are the gorgeous one. Thereās nothing to repay me for. Just enjoy this with me. And I will find peace in that, I already do, princess.Ā
Do you know how special you are to me, James? How much I care about you? I saw what you posted. Youāre so good to me. Youāre everything.Ā
Youāre the special one here, Campbell. Iām just a nerd. I like posting about you. Us. Good to know you donāt think Iām a creep. I love that smile. Youāre gorgeous.Ā
It has come to my attention that I have been nominated for Dominant Mark Leader. While this is most assuredly unexpected, if elected I am determined to fulfill my duties to the best of my ability. A position such as this comes with a lot of responsibility, especially when it comes to being able to assist and counsel others if necessary. I can promise that my door and phone are always open for just that. Anyone wishing to communicate further, either about my goals and plans should I win, or about anything in general, please reach out. I hope everyone is having a great week, and enjoying all the Fall Festival has to offer.Ā
An unexpected surprise, huh? Youāll do a great job, we both know that. Iām proud of you for making the post and taking the initiative to take this seriously.
Alyssa: Message heard and received, loud and clear James.
Alyssa: While we're on the topic, how are things going with her? I'm not asking for commentary on your relationship, unless you want to give it because you know Mama loves a good love story. But, in the professional capacity, if you're willing to comment.
James: Thanks.
James: She's doing much better, but honestly I think you could ask her that at this point and she wouldn't mind answering for herself. We are dating, though. I'm sure you've heard. And she's been with me consistently for a while now.
Ancient Celts marked Samhain as the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals, taking place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. During this time of year, hearth fires in family homes were left to burn out while the harvest was gathered.
After the harvest work was complete, celebrants joined with Druid priests to light a community fire using a wheel that would cause friction and spark flames. The wheel was considered a representation of the sun and used along with prayers. Cattle were sacrificed, and participants took a flame from the communal bonfire back to their home to relight the hearth.
Early texts present Samhain as a mandatory celebration lasting three days and three nights where the community was required to show themselves to local kings or chieftains. Failure to participate was believed to result in punishment from the gods, usually illness or death.Ā There was also a military aspect to Samhain in Ireland, with holiday thrones prepared for commanders of soldiers. Anyone who committed a crime or used their weapons during the celebration faced a death sentence. Some documents mention six days of drinking alcohol to excess, typically mead or beer, along with gluttonous feasts.
Mumming and guising were part of the festival, and involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating, and disguising oneself from, the Aos SĆ. Divination rituals and games were also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples. In the late 19th century, Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer suggested that it was the "Celtic New Year", and this view has been repeated by some other scholars.
In the 9th century, the Western Christian church shifted the date of All Saints' Day to November1st, while November 2nd later became All Souls' Day. Over time, Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' merged to create the modern Halloween. Historians have used the name 'Samhain' to refer to Gaelic 'Halloween' customs up until the 19th century.
Since the later 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed Samhain, or something based on it, as a religious holiday.Ā Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Samhain on or around May 1st.
Samhain is believed to have Celtic pagan origins and there is evidence it has been an important date since ancient times. Some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise around the time of Samhain. It is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter.
As at Beltane, special bonfires were lit, which were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and there were rituals involving them. Like Bealtaine, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos SĆ, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into our world. Most scholars see the Aos SĆ as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos SĆ needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink were left outside for them. The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them.
Samhain Monsters
Because the Celts believed that the barrier between worlds was breachable during Samhain, they prepared offerings that were left outside villages and fields for fairies, or Sidhs.
It was expected that ancestors might cross over during this time as well, and Celts would dress as animals and monsters so that fairies were not tempted to kidnap them.
Some specific monsters were associated with the mythology surrounding Samhain, including a shape-shifting creature called a Pukah that receives harvest offerings from the field. The Lady Gwyn is a headless woman dressed in white who chases night wanderers and was accompanied by a black pig.
The Dullahan sometimes appeared as impish creatures, sometimes headless men on horses who carried their heads. Riding flame-eyed horses, their appearance was a death omen to anyone who encountered them.
A group of hunters known as the Faery Host might also haunt Samhain and kidnap people. Similar are the Sluagh, who would come from the west to enter houses and steal souls.
Myths of Samhain
One of the most popular Samhain stories told during the festival was of āThe Second Battle of Mag Tuired,ā which portrays the final conflict between the Celtic pantheon known as the Tuatha de Danann and evil oppressors known as the Fomor. The myths state that the battle unfolded over the period of Samhain.
One of the most famous Samhain-related stories is āThe Adventures of Nera,ā in which the hero Nera encounters a corpse and fairies, and enters into the Otherworld.
Samhain figured into the adventures of mythological Celtic hero Fionn mac Cumhaill when he faced the fire-breathing underworld dweller Aillen, who would burn down the Hall of Tara every Samhain.
Samhain also figures into another Fionn mac Cumhaill legend, where the hero is sent to the Land Beneath the Wave. As well as taking place on Samhain, it features descriptions of the heroās holiday gatherings.
Samhain in the Middle Ages
As the Middle Ages progressed, so did the celebrations of the fire festivals. Bonfires known as Samghnagans, which were more personal Samhain fires nearer the farms, became a tradition, purportedly to protect families from fairies and witches.
Carved turnips called Jack-o-lanterns began to appear, attached by strings to sticks and embedded with coal. Later Irish tradition switched to pumpkins.
In Wales, men tossed burning wood at each other in violent games and set off fireworks. In Northern England, men paraded with noisemakers.
Dumb Supper
The tradition of ādumb supperā began during this time, in which food was consumed by celebrants but only after inviting ancestors to join in, giving the families a chance to interact with the spirits until they left following dinner.
Children would play games to entertain the dead, while adults would update the dead on the past yearās news. That night, doors and windows might be left open for the dead to come in and eat cakes that had been left for them.
Christian Samhain
As Christianity gained a foothold in pagan communities, church leaders attempted to reframe Samhain as a Christian celebration.
The first attempt was by Pope Boniface in the 5th century. He moved the celebration to May 13 and specified it as a day celebrating saints and martyrs. The fire festivals of October and November, however, did not end with this decree.
In the 9th century, Pope Gregory moved the celebration back to the time of the fire festivals, but declared it All Saintsā Day, on November 1. All Soulsā Day would follow on November 2.
Halloween
Neither new holiday did away with the pagan aspects of the celebration. October 31 became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, and contained much of the traditional pagan practices before being adopted in 19th-century America through Irish immigrants bringing their traditions across the ocean.
Trick-or-treating is said to have been derived from ancient Irish and Scottish practices in the nights leading up to Samhain. In Ireland, mumming was the practice of putting on costumes, going door-to-door and singing songs to the dead. Cakes were given as payment.
Halloween pranks also have a tradition in Samhain, though in the ancient celebration, tricks were typically blamed on fairies.
Wicca and Samhain
A broad revival of Samhain resembling its traditional pagan form began in the 1980s with the growing popularity of Wicca.
Mabon is a pagan harvest festival which is celebrated on the Autumnal Equinox each year ā around September 21st through September 24th. Also known as Harvest Home, this holiday marks the middle of the harvest cycle ā when both the days and nights are of equal length. It is a time to reap what you sow, a time to give thanks to Mother Earth for the bounty she provides and a time to rest after bringing in the crops. It is also the second holiday on the Wheel of the Year, which includes other harvest festivals such as Lammas and Samhain.
Mabon Customs & Celebrations
Mabon is often celebrated by the Wiccan community by incorporating the symbols and colors of this harvest holiday into their day. Some of the symbols of Mabon includes horns of plenty, ivy vines, pine cones, gourds, apples, dried seed and pomegranates. Some of the colors associated with this holiday include Orange, brown, gold, maroon and red.
Many Wiccans and other pagan groups choose to have a huge harvest feast on this day using foods symbolic of the holiday. Some of the foods that may be served include apples and pomegranates, potatoes, onions, carrots and squash. These foods may, or may not, depending on tradition, be seasoned or severed with herbs of the god Mabon which includes rose, thistle, honeysuckle, ferns, and acorns.
Many neo-pagans will also build an altar to Mabon on this day. This altar is usually on a table or some other suitable surface and contains many of the symbols and colors of the harvest holiday. It can also be adorned with various farming implements which may include hand trowels, baskets or scythes. Usually, an orange or yellow candle is lit on this altar and then a prayer is offered to the Goddess Mother or Green Man.
Other things to do on Mabon include practicing apple magic, going for long walks in the woods, listening to music and spending time with friends and family. It is also a good day to practice arts and crafts ā particularly ones that utilize harvest symbols such as corn, corn silk or acorns.
History of Mabon
Although there had been a variety of different harvest festivals all over the world and all through time, the Wheel of the Year is somewhat of a modern creation that uses traditional pagan imagery. In the past, pagan traditions have always observed equinoxes, solstices and cross-quarter days. Thatās because they were important for agricultural purposes and were, therefore, important to a societyās survival. However, none of them have used as many as the modern Wheel of the Year. It combines several different sacred times from many different cultures.
The modern Wheel of the Year can be attributed to British Paganism that influenced the eight-armed Wheel. During the mid-twentieth century, several different covens and druid practices began to use the Wheel of the Year for their celebrations. Later on, the Wiccan movement began to exert its influence on the Wheel ā which is why many of the names for the various celebrations are from Germanic or Celtic traditions.
In modern pagan cosmology, all things in this life are considered to be on a cyclical trajectory and an endless cycle of birth and death. Things are born, they grow and then they die ā only to be once again, reborn. Each point on this wheel has a particular significance according to paganism. On the Wheel of the Year, there are 8 points which represent equinoxes, solstices, or cross-quarter days on the lunar calendar. These points are Yule (December 20th-23rd), Imbolc (February 2nd), Ostara (March 19th-22nd), Beltane (May 1st), Midsummer (June 19th-23rd), Lughnasadh (August 1st), Mabon (September 21st-24th) and Samhain (November 1st).
According to modern pagan tradition, Mabon is named after a Welsh deity. Mabon was considered to be the god of light and the son of the Earth Mother named Modron. However, some historians dispute that Mabon was ever actually worshiped by Celtic countries and believe that it is merely a construction of the modern pagan movement sometime between the 1950s and 1970s.
Lughnasadh or Lughnasa (/ĖluĖnÉsÉ/ LOO-nÉ-sÉ) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Modern Irish it is called LĆŗnasa, in Scottish Gaelic: LĆ¹nastal, and in Manx: Luanistyn. Traditionally it is held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. But, in recent centuries some of the celebrations shifted to the Sundays nearest this date.
Lughnasadh is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. It corresponds to other European harvest festivals such as the Welsh Gŵyl Awst and the English Lammas.
Lughnasadh is the first of the three Wiccan harvest festivals, the other two being the autumnal equinox (or Mabon) and Samhain.Ā I will be covering all three of them tonight. Itās also one of the eight yearly "Sabbats" of their Wheel of the Year, following Midsummer and preceding Mabon. It is seen as one of the two most auspicious times for handfasting, the other being at Beltane.Ā Some Wiccans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the "corn god" in bread, and then symbolically sacrificing and eating it.Ā Thatās why @artiesubabrams is here, teaching us how to make bread.Ā
Lughnasadh is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and has pagan origins. The festival itself is named after the god Lugh. It inspired great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests (most notably the Tailteann Games), feasting, matchmaking, and trading. Traditionally there were also visits to holy wells. According to folklorist MƔire MacNeill, evidence shows that the religious rites included an offering of the 'First Fruits', a feast of the new food and of bilberries, the sacrifice of a bull, and a ritual dance-play in which Lugh seizes the harvest for mankind and defeats the powers of blight. Many of the activities would have taken place on top of hills and mountains.
Lughnasadh customs persisted widely until the 20th century, with the event being variously named 'Garland Sunday', 'Bilberry Sunday', 'Mountain Sunday' and 'Crom Dubh Sunday'. The custom of climbing hills and mountains at Lughnasadh has survived in some areas, although it has been re-cast as a Christian pilgrimage. The best known is the 'Reek Sunday' pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday in July. A number of fairs are also believed to be survivals of Lughnasadh, for example, the Puck Fair.
Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans have observed Lughnasadh, or something based on it, as a religious holiday. In some places, elements of the festival have been revived as a cultural event.
Historic Celebration Customs
In Irish mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have begun by the god Lugh (modern spelling: LĆŗ) as a funeral feast and athletic competition (see funeral games) in commemoration of his mother or foster-mother Tailtiu.Ā She was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture.Ā Tailtiu may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind.Ā The funeral games in her honour were called the Ćenach Tailten or Ćenach Tailten (modern spelling: Aonach Tailteann) and were held each Lughnasadh at Tailtin in what is now County Meath. According to medieval writings, kings attended this Ć³enach and a truce was declared for its duration. It was similar to the Ancient Olympic Games and included ritual athletic and sporting contests, horse racing, music and storytelling, trading, proclaiming laws and settling legal disputes, drawing-up contracts, and matchmaking.Ā At Tailtin, trial marriages were conducted, whereby young couples joined hands through a hole in a wooden door. The trial marriage lasted a year and a day, at which time the marriage could be made permanent or broken without consequences.Ā A similar Lughnasadh festival, the Ćenach Carmain, was held in what is now County Kildare. Carman is also believed to have been a goddess, perhaps one with a similar tale as Tailtiu.Ā The Ćenach Carmain included a food market, a livestock market, and a market for foreign traders.Ā After the 9th century the Ćenach Tailten was celebrated irregularly and it gradually died out.Ā It was revived for a period in the 20th century as the Tailteann Games.
A 15th century version of the Irish legend Tochmarc Emire ("the Wooing of Emer") is one of the earliest documents to record these festivities.
From the 18th century to the mid 20th century, many accounts of Lughnasadh customs and folklore were recorded. In 1962 The Festival of Lughnasa, a study of Lughnasadh by folklorist MĆ”ire MacNeill, was published.Ā MacNeill studied surviving Lughnasadh customs and folklore as well as the earlier accounts and medieval writings about the festival. She concluded that the evidence testified to the existence of an ancient festival around 1 August that involved the following:
A solemn cutting of the first of the corn of which an offering would be made to the deity by bringing it up to a high place and burying it; a meal of the new food and of bilberries of which everyone must partake; a sacrifice of a sacred bull, a feast of its flesh, with some ceremony involving its hide, and its replacement by a young bull; a ritual dance-play perhaps telling of a struggle for a goddess and a ritual fight; an installation of a [carved stone] head on top of the hill and a triumphing over it by an actor impersonating Lugh; another play representing the confinement by Lugh of the monster blight or famine; a three-day celebration presided over by the brilliant young god [Lugh] or his human representative. Finally, a ceremony indicating that the interregnum was over, and the chief god in his right place again.
According to MacNeill, the main theme that emerges from the folklore and rituals of Lughnasadh is a struggle for the harvest between two gods. One god ā usually called Crom Dubh ā guards the grain as his treasure. The other god ā Lugh ā must seize it for mankind.Ā Sometimes, this was portrayed as a struggle over a woman called Eithne, who represents the grain. Lugh also fights and defeats a figure representing blight.Ā MacNeill says that these themes can be seen in earlier Irish mythology, particularly in the tale of Lugh defeating Balor,Ā which seems to represent the overcoming of blight, drought and the scorching summer sun.Ā In surviving folklore, Lugh is usually replaced by Saint Patrick, while Crom Dubh is a pagan chief who owns a granary or a bull and who opposes Patrick, but is overcome and converted. Crom Dubh is likely the same figure as Crom Cruach and shares some traits with the Dagda and Donn.Ā He may be based on an underworld god like Hades and Pluto, who kidnaps the grain goddess Persephone but is forced to let her return to the world above before harvest time.
Many of the customs described by MacNeill and by medieval writers were being practised into the modern era, though they were either Christianized or shorn of any pagan religious meaning. Many of Ireland's prominent mountains and hills were climbed at Lughnasadh. Some of the treks were eventually re-cast as Christian pilgrimages, the most well-known being Reek Sundayāthe yearly pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick in late July.Other hilltop gatherings were secular and attended mostly by the youth. In Ireland, bilberries were gatheredĀ and there was eating, drinking, dancing, folk music, games and matchmaking, as well as athletic and sporting contests such as weight-throwing, hurling and horse racing.Ā At some gatherings, everyone wore flowers while climbing the hill and then buried them at the summit as a sign that summer was ending.Ā In other places, the first sheaf of the harvest was buried.Ā There were also faction fights, whereby two groups of young men fought with sticks.Ā In 18th-century Lothian, rival groups of young men built towers of sods topped with a flag. For days, each group tried to sabotage the other's tower, and at Lughnasadh they met each other in 'battle'.Ā Bull sacrifices around Lughnasadh time were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint MĆ”el Ruba).Ā Special meals were made with the first produce of the harvest.Ā In the Scottish Highlands, people made a special cake called the lunastain, which may have originated as an offering to the gods.
Another custom that Lughnasadh shared with Imbolc and Beltane was visiting holy wells, some specifically clootie wells. Visitors to these wells would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well; they would then leave offerings, typically coins or clooties.Ā Although bonfires were lit at some of the open-air gatherings in Ireland, they were rare and incidental to the celebrations.
Traditionally, Lughnasadh has always been reckoned as the first day of August. In recent centuries, however, much of the gatherings and festivities associated with it shifted to the nearest Sundays ā either the last Sunday in July or first Sunday in August. It is believed this is because the coming of the harvest was a busy time and the weather could be unpredictable, which meant work days were too important to give up. As Sunday would have been a day of rest anyway, it made sense to hold celebrations then. The festival may also have been affected by the shift to the Gregorian calendar.
Modern Celebration Customs
In Ireland, some of the mountain pilgrimages have survived. By far the most popular is the Reek Sunday pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick, which attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.Ā
Ā The Puck Fair is held each year in early August in the town of Killorglin, County Kerry. It has been traced as far back as the 16th century but is believed to be a survival of a Lughnasadh festival.Ā At the beginning of the three-day festival, a wild goat is brought into the town and crowned 'king', while a local girl is crowned 'queen'. The festival includes traditional music and dancing, a parade, arts and crafts workshops, a horse and cattle fair, and a market. It draws a great number of tourists each year.
In recent years, other towns in Ireland have begun holding yearly Lughnasa Festivals and Lughnasa Fairs. Like the Puck Fair, these often include traditional music and dancing, arts and crafts workshops, traditional storytelling, and markets. Such festivals have been held in Gweedore,Ā Sligo,Ā Brandon,Ā RathanganĀ and a number of other places. Craggaunowen, an open-air museum in County Clare, hosts a yearly Lughnasa Festival at which historical re-enactors demonstrate elements of daily life in Gaelic Ireland. It includes displays of replica clothing, artefacts, weapons and jewellery.Ā A similar event has been held each year at Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim.Ā In 2011 RTĆ broadcast a Lughnasa Live television program from Craggaunowen.
In the Irish diaspora, survivals of the Lughnasadh festivities are often seen by some families still choosing August as the traditional time for family reunions and parties, though due to modern work schedules these events have sometimes been moved to adjacent secular holidays, such as the Fourth of July in the United States. The festival is referenced in the 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, which was adapted into a 1998 film of the same name.
Before I get into the specifics of this time of year on the Wheel of the Year, I want to talk about what the Wheel is.
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern Pagans, consisting of the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. While names for each festival vary among diverse pagan traditions, syncretic treatments often refer to the four solar events as "quarter days" and the four midpoint events as "cross-quarter days", particularly in Wicca. Differing sects of modern Paganism also vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, based on distinctions such as lunar phase and geographic hemisphere.
Observing the cycle of the seasons has been important to many people, both ancient and modern. Contemporary Pagan festivals that rely on the Wheel are based to varying degrees on folk traditions, regardless of actual historical pagan practices.Ā Among Wiccans, each festival is also referred to as a sabbat (/ĖsƦbÉt/), based on Gerald Gardner's claim that the term was passed down from the Middle Ages, when the terminology for Jewish Shabbat was commingled with that of other heretical celebrations.Ā Contemporary conceptions of the Wheel of the Year calendar were largely influenced by mid-20th century British Paganism.
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 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.
While the "major" festivals are usually the quarter and cross-quarter days, other festivals are also celebrated throughout the year, especially among the non-Wiccan traditions such as those of polytheistic reconstructionism and other ethnic traditions.
In Wiccan and Wicca-influenced traditions, the festivals, being tied to solar movements, have generally been steeped in solar mythology and symbolism, centered on the life cycles of the sun. Similarly, the Wiccan esbats are traditionally tied to the lunar cycles. Together, they represent the most common celebrations in Wiccan-influenced forms of Neopaganism, especially in contemporary Witchcraft groups.
Celebration commonly takes place outdoors in the form of a communal gathering.
Dates of celebration
The precise dates on which festivals are celebrated are often flexible. Dates may be on the days of the quarter and cross-quarter days proper, the nearest full moon, the nearest new moon, or the nearest weekend for secular convenience. The festivals were originally celebrated by peoples in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Consequently, the traditional times for seasonal celebrations do not agree with the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere or near the equator. Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere often advance these dates by six months to coincide with their own seasons.
Offerings
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 favor of grains, herbs, milk, wines, incense, baked goods, minerals, etc. The exception being with ritual feasts including meat, where 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 a community.
Origins
Historical and archaeological evidence suggests ancient pagan and polytheist peoples varied in their cultural observations; Anglo-Saxons celebrated the solstices and equinoxes, while Celts celebrated the seasonal divisions with various fire festivals.Ā In the 10th century Cormac Mac CĆ”rthaigh wrote about "four great fires...lighted up on the four great festivals of the Druids...in February, May, August, and November."
The contemporary Neopagan festival cycle, prior to being known as the Wheel of the Year, was influenced by works such as The Golden Bough by James George Frazer (1890) and The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) by Margaret Murray. Frazer claimed that Beltane (the beginning of summer) and Samhain (the beginning of winter) were the most important of the four Gaelic festivals mentioned by Cormac. Murray used records from early modern witch trials, as well as the folklore surrounding European witchcraft, in an attempt to identify the festivals celebrated by a supposedly widespread underground pagan religion that had survived into the early modern period. Murray reports a 1661 trial record from Forfar, Scotland, where the accused witch (Issobell Smyth) is connected with meetings held "every quarter at Candlemas, Rudāday, Lambemas, and Hallomas."Ā In The White Goddess (1948) Robert Graves claimed that, despite Christianization, the importance of agricultural and social cycles had preserved the "continuity of the ancient British festal system" consisting of eight holidays: "English social life was based on agriculture, grazing, and hunting" implicit in "the popular celebration of the festivals now known as Candlemas, Lady Day, May Day, Midsummer Day, Lammas, Michaelmas, All-Hallowe'en, and Christmas; it was also secretly preserved as religious doctrine in the covens of the anti-Christian witch-cult."
The Witches' Cottage, where the Bricket Wood coven celebrated their sabbats. 2006.
By the late 1950s the Bricket Wood coven led by Gerald Gardner and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids led by Ross Nichols had both adopted eight-fold ritual calendars, in order to hold more frequent celebrations. Popular legend holds that Gardner and Nichols developed the calendar during a naturist retreat, where Gardner argued for a celebration of the solstices and equinoxes while Nichols argued for a celebration of the four Celtic fire festivals, and combined the two ideas into a single festival cycle. Though this coordination eventually had the benefit of more closely aligning celebrations between the two early Neopagan groups,Ā Gardner's first published writings omit any mention of the solstices and equinoxes, focusing exclusively on the fire festivals. Gardner initially referred to these as "May eve, August eve, November eve (Hallowe'en), and February eve." Gardner further identified these modern witch festivals with the Gaelic fire festivals Beltene, Lugnasadh, Samhuin, and Brigid.Ā By the mid-1960s, the phrase Wheel of the Year had been coined to describe the yearly cycle of witches' holidays.
Aidan Kelly gave names to the summer solstice (Litha) and equinox holidays (Ostara and Mabon) of Wicca in 1974, and these were popularized by Timothy Zell through his Green Egg magazine.Ā Popularization of these names happened gradually; in her 1978 book Witchcraft For Tomorrow influential Wiccan Doreen Valiente did not use Kelly's names, instead simply identifying the solstices and equinoxes ("Lesser Sabbats") by their seasons.Ā Valiente identified the four "Greater Sabbats", or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe'en, though she also identified their Irish counterparts as Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnassadh, and Samhain.
Due to early Wicca's influence on Modern Paganism and the syncretic adoption of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic motifs, the most commonly used English festival names for the Wheel of the Year tend to be the Celtic ones introduced by Gardner and the mostly Germanic-derived names introduced by Kelly, even when the celebrations are not based on those cultures. The American ĆsatrĆŗ movement has adopted, over time, a calendar in which the Heathen major holidays figure alongside many Days of Remembrance which celebrate heroes of the Edda and the Sagas, figures of Germanic history, and the Viking Leif Ericson, who explored and settled Vinland (North America). These festivals are not, however, as evenly distributed throughout the year as in Wicca and other Heathen denominations.
Celtic Narrative: See also:Ā Celtic mythology
It is a misconception in some quarters of the Neopagan community, influenced by the writings of Robert Graves,Ā 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 the different Celtic nations.
SlavicĀ Narrative: See also:Ā Slavic mythology
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 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 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 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 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 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 ā and all of nature with her ā withers and freezes in the ensuing winter. She grows into the old and dangerous goddess of darkness and frost, eventually dying by the year's end only to be reborn again with her brother in the new year.
Modern Wicca and Neo-druidism Narrative: Further information:Ā Wiccan views of divinity
In Wicca, the narrative of the Wheel of the Year traditionally centres 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 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, Neo-Druid, and eclectic Neopagans incorporate 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.Ā 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 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 the Oak King as a fertility god.
You are everything Iāve needed, and more. You cannot know how thankful I am for you, James. You say all these amazing things about me and I justā¦I donāt know what to do with myself. You are each of those things too. Handsome too. Sexy is just the cherry on top. Then the genius is just to be funny. I donāt know. You shouldnāt have to do that. It doesnāt happen now as often as it does. With time Iām sure that fear will dissipate. I just donāt want to lose you. And I know Iām not perfect. Iām a lot, and I have a lot of baggage. You handle me perfectly but Iāmā¦Worried a time will come where thatās more than what you want to do. To give.Ā
I didnāt mean to be too forward. I can see how that may have or could have come off as such. But, I donāt disagree with what youāre saying, either. You were? I know we talked. You came to my writing workshop. Iāve always thought you were handsome. I wondered about you, but didnāt know how to ask. I want you to see. I want to show you. Oh, you. Youāre funny. I wouldnāt mind, youāll be hot no matter what you are or arenāt wearing. I cannot express to you how ready I am. For this. For you. This is, quite possibly, the hottest thing Iāve ever done.
You donāt have to say anything. Iām just as grateful for you, you know.Ā I know we havenāt really talked about it, but you know that things havenāt always been good for me either. I donāt trust people. Before you, Iād only ever been used. The last guy used me to get his submission in. It was sex before that. And my money and status before that. I want you. And you want me too. Thereās nothing you could want that Iām not prepared to give.
Itās not too forward. Weāll see what happens, then. Youāre cute, Iām glad my stupid jokes make you smile. I like making you smile. I like making you cum too, so tonight is going to be a thrill. I might even slid under the blanket completely and see how long you can stand me teasing you with my mouth. Iām here to make sure it isĀ the hottest thing youāve ever done.
Where do you even come up with these things? Youāre unreal, totally. Iām still wondering what I did to deserve you. Iām realizing that. Still, itās a big thing for me. You know this, and you know why. Sometimes I still have mornings where I worry when I wake up in the morning, youāll justā¦Be gone.Ā
Maybeā¦The truth is, we were made for each other. Do you believe in that? In soulmates? Hypothetically speaking, even? Thereās more where this comes from. So much more, babe.Ā I canāt either. Iām already quite excitedĀ for the movies to begin. Not at all. Iāll wear a dress, too. Just for you. Easy access.
Itās all the truth, thatās all it is. I see you, I see how strong you are. And I donāt pull punches, I donāt lie to you. Thereās no reason to sugar coat things either, Iāve never done it before. Why be any different with the good stuff? Youāre talented, kind, loving, powerful, and brave. What can we do about that? Iām serious, Iāll handcuff myself to the bed if thatās what you need.
Thatās an interesting topic. Funny to come up during this time of year too. Halloween and Christmas both bring out the extraordinary thoughts, I think. Itās the spirit of things. But youāre not wrong. I do think weāre good together, I was drawn to you from the start. Even before we started fucking. I canāt wait to see.Ā Good girl, thatās even better. Youāll have to stop me from wearing a dress too- you know, to make things easier.Ā
You flatter me, babe. It is, yes. Iām so blessed that youāre so good at it. We are. Youāre still here.
Iām so very glad you think so. I hope they do. I definitely wonāt last long with you talking like that. You know exactly what I like.
You flatter yourself by existing, youāre incredible. Of course Iām still here, Iām not going anywhere.
Your mind was made for my mind, Iām beginning to think. Or perhaps itās my mind thatās meant for yours. I love the way you think.Ā I canāt wait. Needless to say, underwear isnāt needed tonight.
You are incredible, James. Did you know that? I need you to know that. Arenāt you just reading my mind tonight? Youāre hot.
Wellllllllā¦I donāt know, I was thinking perhaps a littleā¦Exhibitionism might not be a terrible idea. In fact I think itās a very, very, very goodĀ idea. Iām not suggesting we fuck in front of everyone, butā¦Who knows? Under those blankets, in the darkā¦I canāt say my hands wonāt wander.
Youāre the incredible one, Campbell. Mind reading is a good skill, glad to know weāre on the same wavelength. Youāre hot.
And there you go proving my point. Youāre right, that is hot. I canāt say my hands wonāt wander either. I wonder how many times I can make you cum before you tell me itās time to go back inside.Ā
