Nature Festivals

(July 3, 2022) Nature based Festivals honor the Divine through nature's annual cycle which today is called the "Wheel of the Year." These holidays probably existed throughout Eurasia in ancient times although surviving written evidence for their pre-Christian existence only exists in one French witch trial transcript dating to 1598 and in a medieval Irish commentary called Hibernica Minora on the Psalter (Hebrew Scripture book of Psalms). The names used today derive from Irish and Scottish Gaelic where these holidays persisted the longest in Pagan form.

The  French witch trial transcript from 1598 (Boguet, 1598) is probably from Celtic Britany and was found by Margaret Murry who says this in chapter 4 of her book:

Murry believed male warrior dominated Indo-European invaders introduced the astronomical holidays surrounding the solstices  and that the equinoxes were never observed (contrary to Bede's statement on Ostara). The French word “Esbat” meaning “frolic” was used by Murray for any other sort of meeting and again she adapted it from only one French source (Cambrue, 1567).​

The starting season of the Wheel of the Year varied depending on climate. In Europe with its mild winters it began with the winter solstice. In Persia and probably further north in the steppe lands it began with the Spring Equinox. In the Levant and Mesopotamia it began with the Autumn Equinox. 

References

(July 3, 2022) Yule eve is the longest night of the year and thus it is a time for reflection on the past. Traditionally this connection to the past is represented by the Yule log which is piece of wood taken from last year’s fire and placed into this year's fire.

Yule was also a time of feasting, mostly on pig because the forest floor nuts which they ate were almost be gone now. Consequently, any pigs not destined for breeding had to be killed before they starved.  After a Yule ceremony at Stonehenge such feasting commenced the next day at nearby Woodhenge where archaeologists found lots of yearling pig bones.

This festival is called Yalda in ancient Persian and Syriac suggesting it originated as an Indo-European word where it means "birth."

(July 3, 2022) Imbolc is a time of perseverance to get through the last stages of winter. It is the light at the end of a tunnel which is why candles, home fires, and oil lamps are associated with this holiday. In Christianity the holiday came to be called Candlemas. In Ireland it is also called Saint Brigid's Day

The word "Imbolc" is Gaelic from Ireland and Scotland and is pronounced "imbolg." There this holiday is associated with the goddess Brigid who later became a Christian saint. She seems to have originally been the goddess of the home fire. Later traditions associated her with both home activities and fire activities. The home activities involved making a straw doll to represent her while the fire activities involved baking, metal forging, and the poetry sung around the community fire.  

In more moderate climates such as the Levant this holiday signals the start of Spring with the birth of lambs and the greening of the grass. In the Jewish customs recorded in the Mishna (200-300 CE) this time is called Tu B'Shevat and it is the time when the age of trees is calculated.​

A Pagan festival day in February was also important to Swedish Pagans around 1200 CE before it was re-dated to Christian Candlemas:

(July 3, 2022) This is the time in which the conditions for new life are set.  It is a time of preparation and planning for the buzz of summer. It is the time of new green grass and Spring cleaning. Eggs are the ultimate representation of something ready to support new life.

The word Ostara is the modern Pagan spelling of the goddess Eostre (Easter) who is mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede (672-735 CE) as giving her name to the month which the English Christians were then trying to change to Paschal month. Here is the quote:

(July 3, 2022) Beltane is a celebration of Spring. This is the time when flowers appear and the buzz of summer begins releasing the feelings of new energy.

Beltane's main symbol today is the maypole which originally was a public pole on which were placed flower garlands. In the Nordic countries in which summer comes late, Maypoles are associated with the Midsummer festival and not with Beltane.

Colorful ribbons replaced garlands in some areas. The earliest picture of a maypole with ribbons dates to a private garden party held in 1759 at Ranelagh Garden in London. This was a for-profit public garden which charged an entrance fee. See it at: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=6819&WINID=1649681830068

Maypoles were not a phallic symbol. Historian Ronald Hutton who has studied historical Paganism extensively says this: 

References

Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198205708. pages 233-235

(July 3, 2022) This is the first of three harvest holidays of the year. Because grains were the fastest growing this holiday typically focuses on the virtue of growth.

The word Lammas comes from the Old English word meaning “loaf mass.” This holiday is celebrated by baking a loaf out of the first grains of the season.​ Lammas is also celebrated as Lughnassadh after the Celtic god called Lugh. ​

(July 3, 2022) This is the second of the three harvest holidays and it is the Fall equinox in which night is balanced with day. Mabon focuses on tree fruits and bush berries.

Fruits represent a life balance because trees and bushes must balance their need for survival versus their need to reproduce by committing energy to fruits. The cornucopia is a balance symbol representing both male (phallic) and female (receptive) components. This holiday is a good time to focus on various spiritual balance practices.

(July 3, 2022) Samhain is the last of the three harvest holidays. Samhain focuses on the virtue of connection in general and specifically on the connection between life and death. Life cannot exist without death to make room for new living things.

This is the time of year when plants begin to go dormant in preparation for the winter. This was also the time when farm animals (except for free ranging pigs) not saved for breeding or farm work were killed and their meat preserved. This is why spiritually attuned people say that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest at this time of year.

 Samhain was also a time of giving thanks for the sacrifices of food animals as well as for the sacrifices made by one's own ancestors. Due to historical circumstances in the United States, Thanksgiving was shifted to the fourth Thursday of November in an attempt to ignore its religious origins. This artificial split left Halloween as the celebration part of the holiday.