Early Nordic/Saxon Calendar and Festivals

(April 7, 2024) A Yule Full Moon


The earliest calendars were fixed into year by one of the sun's equinox's or solstices (usually winter solstice). The months themselves were then counted down relative to that time by the  new moons after that events  Consequently, the full moons then always occurred on the 13th day of the month. (this is the source of the unlucky number 13 and is the Ides in the Roman calendar). The months were then counted down until harvest time. Not until the Roman Julian calendar which fixed everything to the sun cycle were the fall months added
The word Yul is Akkadian YuLu (ILu) meaning "high-powers" so its month would be "high-power's month." This is an appropriate name for the first sun fixed month.
The other early Nordic month is Disthing where Dis is Akkadian DiŠu meaning "manifestation of same-things." The word "thing" is Indo-European and seems to be a redundant addition. This is a reference to annual life manifestations so this would be a spring month.
The Nordic word blot meaning a "sacrificial festival" derives from the Akkadian phrase B.LT or Bu.Letu meaning "Nourishments for the Splitter" where the "Splitter" is an epithet for the life network editing goddess Ayu.

Abstract of Book "Yule, Disthing and pre-Julian Time-Reckoning - Calendars and Calendric Rituals in pre-Christian Scandinavia" by Andreas Nordberg

(April 7, 2024) This 2006 book by Andreas Nordberg is the most detailed investigation into this Nordic month question to date. A "Disablot" is a sacrificial festival (blot) which was held  to convince personified female deities called dísir (Akkadian "manifestors of things") to enhance the coming harvest. It is mentioned in Hervarar saga, Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla. The book's abstract is:


The study starts with a discussion of two ancient lunar months called  Jultungel ‘Yule moon’ and  Distingstungel ‘Dis-thing’s moon’. There is evidence of the  Jultungel throughout the Nordic region – the earliest in a source dating from the 12th century, while the  Distingstungel has been pre-served in local dialect in central Sweden. The author argues that both lunar months constitute remnants of a pre-Christian time-reckoning system. The  Distingstungel is linked to the time of the major Disablot sacrifice in Uppsala and the  Jultungel with the pre-Christian feast, Yule. Further, the  Jultungel should be linked to the old Germanic month names:  Jólmánuðr  and Ylir in Old Norse, the Anglo-Saxon Giuli and Geola, and Gothic Jiuleis.
The study then discusses the calendric structure of the pre-Christian year. The argument is that there were two parallel calendars before the introduction of the Julian calendar. The weeks were calculated in a week year, in which each week was fixed to established dates in the solar year. The week year also determined the quarters of the year; the idea was that each quarter would start four weeks after the astronomical solstices and equinoxes. It is suggested that this week calendar was developed in conjunction with the Germanic peoples adopting Roman culture. Another (probably older) calendar was used alongside this week year and was based on lunar months that were linked to the solar year by being rectified in relation to the winter solstice. This lunisolar calendar seems to have dictated the time for several feast days, thing meetings and markets, and the author argues that the Jultungel and Distingstungel were originally part of this particular system. The pre-Christian Yule feast occurs at the first full moon after the first new moon following the winter solstice, while the disting took place at the third full moon according to the same method of calculation. The study concludes with three appendices; the first on etymological issues concerning the words jul and hokunótt, the second on identification of the enigmatic figure Mundilfœri in Old Norse mythology, and the third about the 300-year-old king, Aun, in Uppsala, mentioned by Olof Rudbeck in the late 17th century. (Quote from Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).

References


Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006)  Yule, Disthing and pre-Julian Time-Reckoning. Calendars and Calendric Rituals in pre-Christian Scandinavia.  Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi 91. 169 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-85352-62-4.
Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006) Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning - Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden.  ACTA ACADEMIAE REGIAE GUSTAVI ADOLPHI 91. 169 pp. UPPSALA . Online at: https://www.academia.edu/1366945/Jul_disting_och_f%C3%B6rkyrklig_tider%C3%A4kning
Robert Sass (Feb 18, 2019) The Old Saxon Heathen Calendar. Online at: https://www.aldsidu.com/post/the-old-saxon-heathen-calendar
Pre-Christian Yule-months are found in Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon and Gothic sources. During the first century AD the Goths inhabited the lands surrounding the mouth of the river Wisla, south of the Baltic Sea, while the Angles and Saxons inhabited the areas around the present Danish-German border. This, together with the Nordic examples, presents a concentrated geographical area containing evidence of the Nordic, Anglo-Saxon and Gothic Yule-months. (Quote from page 23 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).

How the Names of the Early Nordic Months Were Found

 (April 6, 2024) Quote from Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006) Chapter 1


When in 1927 the collection of dialect words in upper Dalarna was started and one of the sent out questionnaires asked for old month names. From several parishes, answers were received which showed that time according to old popular reckoning could be measured with the help of the moon's course in the firmament. It appeared that the lunar months that were remembered occurred mainly during the first quarter of the year. The names of the lunar months could differ somewhat in different parishes and with different informants, but two lunar months kept repeating the same name. The first of these was called jultungel and the other was called distingstungel. (Quote from chapter 1 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).

When was the Pagan Calendar Replaced by the Christian Roman Calendar?


It probably took a relatively long time, maybe as long as 150 to 200 years, to the level that the Nordic countries officially had Christian holidays and the Julian calendar was taken seriously by ordinary men with the intention of carrying out a regular events.  It is usually assumed that the change took place room in the middle of the 12th century. (Quote from page 24 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).
Graphical representation of the “Nordic” quarters in the year’s cycle, which occurred about four weeks after the astronomical solstices and equinoxes.  (Quote from page 36 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).
Quarter Festival Dates in the Julian calendar. Read as day/month. (Quote from page 42 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).
Converting those quarter festival dates from the Julian calendar of that era to dates of the modern Gregorian calendar.

The Quarter Festivals Introduced With the Fixed Roman Julian Calendar After 1200 BCE

(April 6, 2024) With the sun-fixed months of the Julian calendar the quarter festivals were developed to better align with the climate.


In addition to the quarterly division that followed the annual division of the Julian calendar which may possibly have coincided with the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes in the pre-ecclesiastical time reckoning, reminiscences are found of another quarterly system in the Nordic countries. This annual division also seems to have been of importance to both the legal and the religious organizations. (Quote from page 35 of Andreas Nordberg (Jan 1, 2006).

(April 7, 2024) This is a list of Anglo-Saxon months (monath) which existed just after their Christianization and adoption of the sun fixed Julian calendar (This happened earlier in Britain than in the Nordic/Germanic lands:

  1. January - Giuli (Akkadian phrase Gi.Lu meaning "energy lagging month" 
  2. February - Solmonath (Akkadian ŠeLu meaning "Selu's/Selene's month"
  3. March - Hrethmonath (Akkadian phrase Hu.ReṬu meaning "Hu''s channeling month")
  4. April - Eosturmonath (Akkadian phrase Ea'u.ŠuTu meaning "Yahu's time month." Since life manifestations are normally associated with women giving birth this became the goddess Eostara.
  5. May - Thrimilchi (Indo-European meaning "time of milk"
  6. June - Litha (Akkadian phrase LuṬu meaning "harmony" or "lack of Thu"")
  7. July - Litha (Akkadian phrase LuṬu meaning "harmony" or "lack of Thu"")
  8. August - Woadmonath (Akkadian phrase W'a.Du fate-cursed month as in the time of the fall equinox)
  9. September - Halegmonath (Akkadian phrase Ḫu.Lu.Gi meaning "Hu's lagging energy month")
  10. October - Winterfillith Indo-European "winter fill-up" as in the month in which winter supplies are gathered and stored.
  11. November - Blodmonath (Blood month as in the time in which food animals are killed and salted for the winter)
  12. December - Giuli (Akkadian Gi.Lu meaning "energy lagging month" 

The Anglo-Saxon Months as Described by Bede (673-735 CE)

(April 6, 2024)


In olden times the English people - for it did not seem fitting to me that Ishould speak of other nations’ observances of the year and yet be silentabout my own nation’s - calculated their months according to thecourse of the Moon. /330/ Hence, after the manner of the Greeks andthe Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for theMoon is called mona and the month monath.
The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February iscalled Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May,Thrimilchi; June, Litha; July, also Litha; August, Weodmonath;September, Halegmonath; October, Winterfilleth; November, Blodmo-nath; December, Giuli, the same name by which January is called. Theybegan the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when wecelebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold sosacred, they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is,‘‘mother’s night’’, because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enactedall that night.
Whenever it was a common year, they gave three lunar months toeach season. When an embolismic year occurred (that is, one of 13 lunarmonths) they assigned the extra month to summer, so that three monthstogether bore the name ‘‘Litha’’; hence they called [the embolismic] year‘‘Thrilithi’’. It had four summer months, with the usual three for theother seasons. But originally, they divided the year as a whole into twoseasons, summer and winter, /331/ assigning the six months in whichthe days are longer than the nights to summer, and the other six towinter. Hence they called the month in which the winter season began‘‘Winterfilleth’’, a name made up from ‘‘winter’’ and ‘‘full Moon’’,because winter began on the full Moon of that month.
Nor is it irrelevant if we take the trouble to translate the names of theother months. The months of Giuli derive their name from the daywhen the Sun turns back [and begins] to increase, because one of [thesemonths] precedes [this day] and the other follows. Solmonath can becalled ‘‘month of cakes’’, which they offered to their gods in that month.Hrethmonath is named for their goddess Hretha, to whom they sacri-¢ced at this time. Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated‘‘Paschal month’’, and which was once called after a goddess of theirsnamed Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month.Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys ofthe new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance. Thri-milchi was so called because in that month the cattle were milked threetimes a day; such, at one time, was the fertility of Britain or Germany,from whence the English nation came to Britain. Litha means ‘‘gentle’’or ‘‘navigable’’, because in both these months the calm breezes aregentle, and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea. Weodmonathmeans ‘‘month of tares’’, /332/ for they are very plentiful then. Halegmo-nath means ‘‘month of sacred rites’’. Winterfilleth can be called by theinvented composite name ‘‘winter-full’’. Blodmonath is ‘‘month ofimmolations’’, for then the cattle which were to be slaughtered wereconsecrated to their gods. Good Jesu, thanks be to thee, who hastturned us away from these vanities and given us [grace] to offer to theethe sacrifice of praise. (Pages 53 to 54)

References

Bede The Reckoning of Time - translated, with introduction, notes and commentary by FAITH WALLIS (1999).  Online at: https://ia601403.us.archive.org/12/items/bede-the-reckoning-of-time-2012/Bede%20-%20The%20Reckoning%20of%20Time%20%282012%29.pdf