#hollantide

[lailoken]

Hollantide Neep Lantern (2023)

[lailoken]

The Astronomical Cross-Quarter Days & the Traditional Cross-Quarter Days

April 30th is a very special day for my tradition, as it is for many others. Though, I think I approach it a little differently than most.

In the Wending Way, the Cardinal Sabbath of Amplemas is celebrated upon the Astronomic Cross-Quarter midpoint between the Equinox and Solstice—which is May 5th, this year. When I discuss "astronomic" versus "traditional," I am referring to the long-held belief that the Cross-Quarter days hold power because they represent liminal midway points between the Solstices and Equinoxes; these celestially based windows of time change year to year and are what I refer to as "Astronomic." In the past, though, these seasonal points became more standardized and syncretized within the framework of the Gregorian calendar, resulting in the static dates that are generally regarded today; these are the dates I refer to as "traditional." Using our Sabbath of Amplemas as an example, it is related to the folk-celebrations of Beltane, May Day, and the like, and as such, the traditional date of celebration would seemingly be on May 1st. However, since we observe the Astronomic date of celebration, the actual date depends on the given year.

Even with the Wending Way celebrating the Celestial Sabbath days, though, the traditional Spirit Nights—which we generally call Maedoc's Feast (late night of January 31 & early morning of February 1,) Walpurgis (late night of April 30 & early morning of May 1,) Neot's Night (late night of July 31 & early morning of August 1,) and Hollantide (late night of October 31 & early morning of November 1)—are still enthusiastically observed.

In conclusion, I do believe there are eight times a year that represent astronomical periods of heightened energy and spirit activity, which fall strictly upon the equinoxes, solstices, and cross-quarter days between them. But that being said, there is a very real power to thousands of people coming together in worship and celebration—especially when it's been going on for so very long. That much veneration creates a lot of energy and spirit activity in its own right. What's more, there is a sacredness to the fact that these traditional dates have been passed down to me by my mother.

[lailoken]

As part of a specific rite we undertook for Hollantide/Hallowe'en, we created this Jack-O-Lantern, inscribed with a compound-sigil that was generated using the ideographic sigilry my husband developed.

I was very pleased with the ultimate effect—both aesthetically, and magically.

[lailoken]

The Neep: A Hollantide Family Tradition

One of my very oldest familial traditions, which I've decided to share about some here, is the creation of Hallowed Lanterns called 'Neeps' on the Spirit Night of Hollantide/Hallowe'en. These Lanterns are made from hollowed root vegetables—with the Turnip serving as the most propitious—which are then carved with phantasmic faces and Illuminated from within using candles. They are meant to honor the dead, and most especially, the Forgotten Dead, who build the framework of our existence, but whose stories have been lost to the ages. What's more, they serve to connect us to our Beloved Dead, and helps guide those recently gone.. Additionally, the Neep is a powerful ward, which protects the home and household from the sway of the Restless Dead, and any wights of the Secret Commonwealth who may be up to mischief during this time betwixt.

They are constructed at Twilight, prayed over and/or sung to, and then fumigated, before being arrayed about the home as seen fit by the Neep-maker. Generally, they are arranged around the outer thresholds of the home, facing the comimg shadows of night, and are lit come nightfall.

If these sound suspiciously familiar to the more culturally familiar Jack-o-Lantern, that's because they were once essentially synonymous. The tradition is traced back to pagan festivals of the insular Celtic Isles, and it was only when the jack-o-lantern was gradually commercialized in the modern day that these pagan uses were forgotten by many. Though, of course, not all.

While I wasn't able to share pictures of the main "troops" of Neeps from this year, I have been given leave to share the above pictures of a particular Neep we constructed for our Quietus Altar, which was made using a Mangelwurzel, or Fodder Beet, from our Garden. Additionally, I can share one more picture of another beet Neep we made, from before its kindling, which was hung above the front step.

[lailoken]

Recently, I experienced a very striking and powerful occurrence, and it has since been indicated to me that this was something I’m free to share when and if I choose to. And so, having given it some thought, I share it here now.

As I drove along a rural section of highway on my way to our home in the countryside, I was suddenly afflicted with an overwhelmingly strong sense of knowing. Which is to say that, all at once, I felt in my very bone marrow that I needed to park in the dirt pullout directly ahead of me. I was hesitant to do so initially, given my speed, but my instincts were screaming at me to bring the car to halt. And besides, the feeling was physical as well as mental—like a heat inside me that made me feel dissociated and short of breath, but which seemed to draw me onward—so pulling over seemed like the safer option.

So I parked and then walked, until I found myself standing between the intersection of a stream and a roadway named “Suttle.” When I looked down, I saw the virtually unscathed body of a freshly dead Black Cat. She appeared to be feral, and struck by a passing vehicle that snapped her spine without doing any real damage to the rest of her body.

As I stared down at the poor creature—that intense, almost foreboding, sense of purpose finally lifting from me—the import of it all began to sink in; I had been inexplicably drawn, at sunset, to the intersection of a roadway and running water, where I found the body of a Black Cat. What’s more, when I later looked up the origin and meaning of the name “Suttle,” I found that it was an East Anglian nickname for a clever individual, meaning ‘subtle’ or ‘cunning.’ For what I think are pretty obvious reasons, the ramification of that particular etymology, in relation to a way of crossing, left me somewhat gobsmacked. It was clear enough to me that I was meant to find the cat as I did, and accordingly, I carried the slain animal back to my car, where I wrapped her in a sweater until I could lay her remains to rest in the manner asked of me.

Immediately upon returning home, sortilege explicitly directed me to arrange a ceremonial internment, which was to be tendered by those flowers of the land still in bloom. Entirely by the hand of serendipity, I ended up ornamenting the burial with nine specific plants—significant both for its connection to my Current of the Craft, and for the folk-belief that a cat possesses nine lives. With the creature now laid to rest, the skeleton is to be uncovered again upon the Spirit Night of Hollantide, and a special selection of bones consecrated to my purposes on the proceeding Spidereal Sabbath of Hallowmas, before the abiding remains of the Suttle Cat are ritually reinterred.

What a fascinating and potent reminder to trust both my instincts and the divine forces that help to underpin them.

[maypoleman1]

12th November

Hollantide/ Old Samhain

Hollantide stock image. Source: Alamy Stock Photos

Today is Hollantide, a pagan origin feast day almost forgotten outside the Isle of Man where the occasion is celebrated as Hop-tu-naa. According to the Old Calendar, today would be the date of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, when cattle were brought down from summer pasture to their winter shelter or slaughtered. The evening is marked by young children seeking alms from door to door and bearing turnip lanterns. The lanterns, many of which are noticeably more grotesque than their Halloween cousins, are probably the remnants of charms to ward of evil and the power of witches. Hop-tu-naa remains very popular on Man but it has all but died out in Scotland and North West England where it survived, its games and rituals now encompassed by the all-consuming event that is Halloween. Even on Man, the Hop-tu-naa traditions are tending to gravitate to October 31st.