Celtic Festivals

Beltane, celebrated as the Celtic May Day, is the season of maturing life and deep found love. This is the time of vows, handfastings and commitment. The Lord and his Lady, having reached maturity, come together in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust to celebrate the joy of their union. This is a time to celebrate the coming together of the masculine and feminine creative energies.

 Happy Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bone) which is the celtic celebration of the Autumn Equinox. The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. As an equinox celebration, Mabon (like Ostara) focuses on balance because this is one of the few times throughout the year that true balance can be observed in nature. 

Also called St. Brigid's Day, Imbolc honors the Celtic goddess of fire, fertility, midwifery and the young. February 1st-2nd is one of the cornerstones of the Celtic Calendar, as the first day of Spring heralds the underground movements of renewed life beneath the earth's belly.

We have reached the boundary between this Celtic year and the next, with the festival of Samhain, which is October 31. You may have heard this boundary expressed as the “veil” between worlds, which is said to be at its thinnest on this day, allowing many folks to feel a closer connection with the spirits of our ancestors. 

Imagine living in the olden times, when your feet could feel the plants easing through the earth.  On May Day, in small Gaelic villages, ritual bonfires were lit.  The people danced around the flames, bathing in smoke and ash that brought blessing and protection from natural and the supernatural.   Embers taken from the sacred central fire were used to rekindle household flames. Beltane is midway point between spring equinox and summer solstice.  

Samhain has been celebrated as a festival for the dead, spanning three days that begin on October 31. There are many traditions, old and new, for honoring our varied ancestral spirits. We invite you to share your own traditions, or perhaps take one of these elements of celebration and make it your own.

Bushels of apples, patches of pumpkins and burnished leaves crunching underfoot herald the approach of the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”), better known by most folks as Halloween. The Gaelic word “samhain” means literally “summer’s end,” and its celebration on October 31 is significant because that date lies exactly between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice.