|
Beltane
Beltane () or ''Bealtaine'' () is the Gaels, Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the March equinox, spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In Ireland, the name for the festival in both Irish language, Irish and English is (). In Scottish Gaelic it is called (), and in Manx language, Manx Gaelic or . It is one of Quarter days, the four main Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh . Beltane is mentioned in the Early Irish literature, earliest Irish literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also known as ('first of summer'), it marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were Transhumance, driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Traditions include gathering green branches and wildflowers ("bringing in the May"), which are used to decorate buildings and made into wreaths; crowning a May Queen, sometimes with a Jack in the Green, male companion decked in greenery; setting up a Maypole, May Tree, or May Bush, around which people dance and sing; as well as parades and processions involving these. Bonfires are also a major part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaels, Gaelic festival Beltane, the Wales, Welsh festival Calan Mai, and May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has also been associated with the Religion i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wicca
Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was Witchcraft Today, introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon paganism, ancient pagan and Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, 20th-century Hermetic motif (folkloristics), motifs for theology, theological and ritual purposes. Doreen Valiente joined Gardner in the 1950s, further building Wicca's liturgical tradition of beliefs, principles, and practices, disseminated through published books as well as secret written and oral teachings passed along to Initiation, initiates. Many variations of the religion have grown and evolved over time, associated with a number of diverse lineages, sects, and Religious den ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh, Lughnasa or Lúnasa ( , ) is a Gaels, Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Traditionally, it is held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and september equinox, autumn equinox. In recent centuries, some celebrations have shifted to Sundays near this date. Lughnasadh is one of Quarter days, the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Beltane. It corresponds to the Welsh and the English Lammas. Lughnasadh is mentioned in early Irish literature and has Celtic polytheism, pagan origins. The festival is named after the god Lugh. In the Middle Ages, it involved great gatherings that included ceremonies, athletic contests (most notably the Tailteann Games (ancient), Tailteann Games), horse racing, feasting, matchmaking, and trading. According to folklorist Máire MacNeill, evidence suggests that the religious rites in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German language, German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve) and Walpurgisnacht, is the Vigil#Eves of religious celebrations, eve of the Christianity, Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. This feast memorialization, commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870. Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling "pest, rabies, and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft". Christians Christian prayer, prayed to God in Christianity, God through the Intercession of saints, intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft, as Saint Walpurga was successful in conversion to Christianity, converting the local populace to Christianity. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calan Mai
( ' first day of May') or ( 'first day of Summer'), also historically called , is the Welsh celebration of May Day (1 May). It marks the beginning of summer and traditionally it involved festivities around bonfires, maypoles, and carol singing. Some of its traditions parallel the Gaelic May Day festival Beltane, and other May Day and Walpurgis Night traditions in Europe. Customs Traditionally, bonfires () were lit at in parts of Wales. They were lit in Glamorgan until the 1830s. Nine men would gather branches of nine different trees, remove all metal, then light the fire by friction between wood. A fire kindled in such a way is known as a need-fire. Sometimes two fires were built side-by-side. Round cakes of oatmeal and brown-meal were sliced and placed in a bag, and participants each chose one; those who chose a brown-meal slice had to leap three times over flames, or run thrice between the bonfires. This was believed to ensure a good harvest. bonfires were also recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaels
The Gaels ( ; ; ; ) are an Insular Celts, Insular Celtic ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Goidelic languages, Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish language, Irish, Manx language, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic. Gaelic language and culture originated in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland, extending to Dál Riata in western Scotland in the Middle Ages, Scotland. In antiquity, the Gaels Hiberno-Roman relations, traded with the Roman Empire and also End of Roman rule in Britain, raided Roman Britain. In the Middle Ages, Gaelic culture became dominant throughout the rest of Scotland and the Isle of Man. There was also some Gaelic settlement Wales in the Roman era#Irish settlement, in Wales, as well as cultural influence through Celtic Christianity. In the Viking Age, small numbers of Early Scandinavian Dublin, Vikings raided and settled in Gaelic lands, becoming the Norse-Gaels. In the 9th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uisneach
The Hill of Uisneach or Ushnagh ( or ) is a hill and ancient ceremonial site in the barony of Rathconrath in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is a protected national monument. It consists of numerous monuments and earthworks—prehistoric and medieval—including a probable megalithic tomb, burial mounds, enclosures, standing stones, holy wells and a medieval road. Uisneach is near the geographical centre of Ireland, and in Irish mythology it is deemed to be the symbolic and sacred centre of the island.Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees. ''Celtic Heritage.'' Thames and Hudson: New York, 1961. . pp. 159-161. It was said to be the burial place of the mythical Tuatha Dé Danann, and a place of assembly associated with the druids and the festival of Bealtaine. The summit is above sea levelOrdnance Survey map . Select ''Wind Report'' option f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Summer
Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The earliest sunrises and latest sunsets also occur near the date of the solstice. The date of the beginning of summer varies according to definition, climate, tradition, and culture. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa. Etymology The modern English ''summer'' derives from the Middle English ''somer'', via the Old English ''sumor''. Timing From an astronomical view, the equinoxes and solstices would be the middle of the respective seasons, but sometimes astronomical summer is defined as starting at the solstice, the time of maximal insolation, often identified with 21 June or 21 December. By solar reckonin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imbolc
Imbolc or Imbolg (), also called Saint Brigid's Day (; ; ), is a Gaels, Gaelic traditional festival on 1 February. It marks the beginning of Spring (season), spring, and in Christianity, it is the calendar of saints, feast day of Brigid of Kildare, Saint Brigid, Ireland's patroness saint. Historically, its many Folk Catholicism, folk traditions were widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Imbolc falls about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox (Northern Hemisphere), spring equinoxMcNeill, F. Marian (1959, 1961) ''The Silver Bough'', Vol. 1–4. William MacLellan, Glasgow; Vol. 2, pp. 11–42 and is one of Quarter days, the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Imbolc is mentioned in early Irish literature, although less often than the other seasonal festivals. Historians suggest that Imbolc was originally a pre-Christian (or Ancient Celtic religion, pagan) festival associated with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarter Days
In British and Irish tradition, the quarter days are the four dates in each year on which servants were hired, school terms started, and rents were due. They fell on four religious festivals roughly three months apart and close to the two solstices and two equinoxes. The significance of quarter days is now limited, although rents for properties in England are often still due on the old English quarter days. The quarter days have been observed at least since the Middle Ages, and they ensured that debts and unresolved lawsuits were not allowed to linger on. Accounts had to be settled, and a reckoning had to be made and publicly recorded on the quarter days. England and Wales The English quarter days (also observed in Wales and the Channel Islands) are * Lady Day (25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation); * Midsummer Day (24 June, the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist); * Michaelmas Day (29 September, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels); and *Christmas Day (25 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent Islands of Scotland, islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. To the south-east, Scotland has its Anglo-Scottish border, only land border, which is long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The population in 2022 was 5,439,842. Edinburgh is the capital and Glasgow is the most populous of the cities of Scotland. The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, forming a personal union of the Union of the Crowns, three kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samhain
Samhain ( , , , ) or () is a Gaels, Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "Celtic calendar#Medieval Irish and Welsh calendars, darker half" of the year.Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth Legend and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p. 402. Quote: "The basic Irish division of the year was into two parts, the summer half beginning at Bealtaine (May 1st) and the winter half at Samhain (November 1st) ... The festivals properly began at sunset on the day before the actual date, evincing the Celtic tendency to regard the night as preceding the day". It is also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October, since the Celtic calendar#Medieval Irish and Welsh calendars, Celtic day began and ended at sunset. This is about halfway between the September equinox, autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It is one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
