The Fire Festivals in history and myth

     The main holidays generally celebrated by CRs and Irish polytheists are Samhain, Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasa; some people also acknowledge the solar festivals, but the four fire festivals are the most commonly celebrated by all. Despite this apparent universal acknowledgement of these holidays there is a variance in how people date them, with some using environmental signs - such as the flowering of the Hawthorn for Beltaine, or the first hard frost for Samhain - and others using more esoteric astrological signs. When looking at the actual references from mythology we find that in many cases very specific calendar dates are given, which are also used by some people to date the holidays. Of course the ancient Irish did not use the Roman calendar system, either the Gregorian or Julian systems, so these specific dates were clearly given during the writing down of the myths which occurred during the later Christian period, which is also why we see some referenced through Christian holy days such as Lammas and All Hallows (i.e. Halloween). However these dates were added based on the monks understanding of when the celebrations occurred and represent a genuine native tradition. The following are all the references I could find to the dating of the holidays, as well as a few extra references to the holidays that support their importance and that the dates they took place on would have been inherently understood even by a Christianized population. Additionally the reference from the Wooing of Emer also note the dividing of the year into summer and winter halves by Beltaine and Samhain.
    A quick note for those unfamiliar with the term "kalends" or "calends" - these words were used to denote the first day of the month for the Roman calendar.

Samhain:

- From the Wooing of Emer:

55. Bend Suain, son of Rosc Mele, which she said this is the same thing, viz., that I shall fight without harm to myself from Samuin, i.e., the end of summer. For two divisions were formerly on the year, viz., summer from Beltaine (the first of May), and winter from Samuin to Beltaine. Or sainfuin, viz., suain (sounds), for it is then that gentle voices sound, viz., sám-son 'gentle sound'.

-From the Cath Maige Tuired

84. The Dagda had a house in Glen Edin in the north, and he had arranged to meet a woman in Glen Edin a year from that day, near the All Hallows [Samain] of the battle. The Unshin of Connacht roars to the south of it.He saw the woman at the Unshin of Corann, washing, with one of her feet at Allod Echae (that is Aghanagh) south of the water and the other at Lisconny, north of the water. There were nine loosened tresses on her head. The Dagda spoke with her and they united. "the bed of the couple" was the name of that place from that time on. (The woman here mentioned is the Morrigan). 

86. So the aes dana did that and they chanted spells against the Fomorian hosts.

87. This was a week before All Hallows [Samain], and the dispersed until all the men of Ireland came together the day before All Hallows. Their number was six times thirty hundred, that is each third consisted of thirty hundred.

- From the Lebor Gabala Erenn:

242. The progeny of Nemed were under great oppression after his time in Ireland, at the hands of Morc son of Dela and of Connand son of Febar, [from whom is the Tower of Conand named, which to-day is called Toirinis Cetne. In it was the great fleet of the Fomoriag]. Two thirds of the progeny, the wheat, and the milk of the people of Ireland (had to be brought) every Samain to Mag Cetne. Wrath and sadness seized on the men of Ireland for the burden of the tax...

- From the Battle of Mag Mucrama:
 3.Ailill went then one Samhain night to attend to his horses on Áne Chlíach [the hill of Aine]. A bed is made for him on the hill. That night the hill was stripped bare and it was not known who had stripped it. So it happened to him twice. He wondered at it. He sent off messengers to Ferches the poet son of Commán who was in Mairg of Leinster. He was a seer and a warrior. He came to speak to him. Both go one Samhain night to the hill. Ailill remains on the hill. Ferches was aside from it.

- From the Battle of Crimna:
Over Ireland there reigned an admirable king: Cormac, grandson of Conn; at which period also over the Ulidians was a king: Fergus Blacktooth, who had two brothers: Fergus Longhair, and Fergus called ‘Fire-Bregia? Where Cormac’s mansion was then was in Tara; and that of every king in Ireland as well, for the purpose of holding Tara’s Feast: for a fortnight before samhain that is to say, On samhain-day itself, and for a fortnight after. And the reason for which they practised to gather themselves together at every samhain-tide was this: because at such season it was that mast and other products were the best matured.

- From the Birth of Aedh Slaine:
 " With the men of Ireland too it was general that out of all airts they should resort to Tara in order to the holding of Tara's Feast at samhaintide. For these were the two principal gatherings that they had: Tara's Feast at every samhain (that being the heathens' Easter); and at each lughnasa, or' Lammas-tide,' the Convention of Taillte."

Imbolc:

From the Wooing of Emer -

55 To Oimolc, i.e., the beginning of spring, viz., different (ime) is its wet (folc), viz the wet of spring, and the wet of winter. Or, oi-melc, viz., oi, in the language of poetry, is a name for sheep, whence oibá (sheep's death) is named, ut dicitur coinbá (dog's death), echbá (horse's death), duineba (men's death), as bath is a name for 'death'. Oi-melc, then, is the time in which the sheep come out and are milked, whence oisc (a ewe), i.e., oisc viz., barren sheep.

From the Metrical Dindshenchas - 
iar n-imbulc, ba garb a ngeilt - after Imbolc, rough was their herding

Beltaine:

- ‎From The Wooing of Emer: 

55 "To Beldine, i.e. Beltine, viz., a favouring fire. For the druids used to make two fires with great incantations, and to drive the cattle between them against the plagues, every year. Or to Beldin, viz., Bel the name ofan idol. At that time the young of every neat were placed in the possession of Bel. Beldine, then Beltine."

- From the Cath Maige Tuired:
 [on the arrival of the Tuatha De Danann] "Then they all set sail, and after three years and three days and three nights landed at wide Tracht Mugha in Ulster on Monday of the first week in May."

- From the Lebor Gabála Érenn:

209. Partholon s. Sera s. Sru s. Esru s. Baath s. Rifath Scot from whom are the Scots. He came from "Micil" [Sicily]. He had a voyage of a month to Aladacia. A voyage of nine days had he from Aladacia to Gothia. A voyage of another month had he from Gothia to Spain. A voyage of nine days had he from Spain to Ireland. On a Tuesday he reached Ireland, upon the seventeenth of the moon, on the kalends of May.

221. His four sons divided Ireland into four parts : that is the first division of Ireland. Ireland remained so divided till the plaguing of his people. There came a plague upon them on the kalends of May, the Monday of Beltene; nine thousand died of that plague until the following Monday, upon Mag Elta, five thousand and four men and four thousand women, who were dead between the two Mondays. From that is the plaguing of the People of Partholon in Ireland."

327a. There is the course and the cause of their arrival, after their education : [others say that it was in ships that they all came]. However, they had completed all their education among the Greeks, and they took territory and estate in the north of Alba, at Dobar and Urdobar, for seven years, Nuadu being king over them. And they came to Ireland, on Monday, the kalends of May, in ships [and vessels]. And they burn their ships, and advanced unperceived by the Fir Bolg, till they landed on Sliab in Iairnn. And they formed a fog for three days and three nights over sun and moon, and demanded battle or kingship of the Fir Bolg. And the battle of Mag Tuired was fought between them, as we have said above, and afterwards one hundred thousand of the Fir Bolg were slaughtered there.

Thereafter the Tuatha De Danann took the kingship of Ireland. It is they who brought with them the Stone of Fal, which was in Temair, unde dicitur Inis Fail."

418. The Sons of Mil came into Inber Scene and Inber Feile, and Erimon went left-hand-ways toward Ireland, till he landed in Inber Colptha. That was in the year when Alexander broke the great battle in which Darius the Great son of Arsames fell, at the end of two hundred thirty and seven years, save three years, after the slaying of Baltasar, and after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus son of Darius, whereby the Captivity was released from the Babylonian bondage, according to synchronism and harmony. If we follow according to common belief, it was in the Third Age of the World that the Sons of Mil came into Ireland, a Thursday according to the day of the week, on the seventeenth day of the moon, on the kalends of May according to the day of the solar month. The company of the sons of Mlil took Ireland, and then it was that Amorgen the poet made this poem, as he set his right foot upon land, dicens."

Belltaine .i. bil tene .i. tene ṡoinmech .i. dáthene dognítis druidhe tria thaircedlu...móraib combertis na cethrai arthedmannaib cacha bliadna cusnaténdtibsin (MARG-L eictis na cethra etarru)
Sanas Cormaic B102

Belltaine that is lucky fire that is fire of prosperity that is a festival held with two fires Druids made with incantations...making the offspring of the herds receive blessing every year against illness (left hand marginalia - they needed the herds between)

In other words: "Bealtaine, meaning lucky fire or fire of abundance, a festival with two fires made by Druidic incantations...made for the young herds to receive blessing every year against illnesses (note - the herds need to be driven between the fires)

Lughnasadh:

From the Cath Maige Tuired 1:
"It was on Saturday, the first day of August, that Slainge put into Inber Slainge;" (the arrival of the Fir Bolg in Ireland)

- From the Lebor Gabála Érenn:

59. Tailltiu daughter of Mag Mor king of Spain, queen of the Fir Bolg, came after the slaughter was inflicted upon the Fir Bolg in that first battle of Mag Tuired to Coill Cuan: and the wood was cut down by her, so it was a plain under clover-flower before the end of a year. This is that Tailtiu who was wife of Eochu son of Erc king of Ireland till the Tuatha De Danann slew him, ut praediximus: it is he who took her from her father, from Spain; and it is she who slept with Eochu Garb son of Dui Dall of the Tuatha De Danann; and Cian son of Dian Cecht, whose other name was Scal Balb, gave her his son in fosterage, namely Lugh, whose mother was Eithne daughter of Balar. So Tailltiu died in Tailltiu, and her name clave thereto and her grave is from the Seat of Tailltiu north-eastward. Her games were performed every year and her song of lamentation, by Lugh. With gessa and feats of arms were they performed, a fortnight before Lugnasad and a fortnight after: under dicitur Lughnasadh, that is, the celebration (?) or the festival of Lugh. Unde Oengus post multum tempus dicebat, "the nasad of Lug, or the nasad of Beoan [son] of Mellan."  

From the Wooing of Emer: 

55. To Brón Trogaill, i.e. Lammas-day, viz., the beginning of autumn; for it is then the earth is afflicted, viz., the earth under fruit. Trogam is a name for 'earth.'’

- From the Birth of Aedh Slaine:
"...and at each lughnasa, or' Lammas-tide,' the Convention of Taillte. All precepts
and all enactments which in either of these festivals were ordained by the men
of Ireland, during the whole space of that year none might infringe."

References:

The Wooing of Emer http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T301021/text056.html

Macalister, R., (1940) Lebor Gabala Erenn, volumes3 and 4

Gray, E., (1983). Cath Maige Tuired
The Battle of Mag Mucrama http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mucrama.html
The Battle of Crimna http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cathcrinna.html
The Birth of Aedh Slaine http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/aedhslaine.html
Metrical Dindshenchas

the Third Day of Samhain - Life without electricity

  So hurricane Sandy has come and gone and my family is left without electricity. I spent the first day trying to take the romantic view and imagine that I was getting a feel for what life was like for my ancestors, but around the second day reality set in - my ancestors lived in homes designed without electricity, heated by fireplaces, with hearths to cook on. I do not. I am still trying to make the best of the situation, such as it is. As I have only random internet access when not at home I'm not in a position to put up any in depth blogs, but I will share how I have spent the first two days of Samhain and my plans for today.
  My town canceled trick or treating, as 90% of people have no power, and rescheduled it for next Monday. My children were very disappointed so I decided to make the best of it. We bought some candy and the girls trick or treated from room to room, which they enjoyed very much. Then we huddled around my laptop and watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown as a family, which was also more fun than anticipated. Finally we held a small but meaningful ritual for the first night of Samhain were we honored the wandering dead and the daoine sidhe. A small food offering was left out and the girls went to bed. I stayed up and held a second ritual to renew my oath as a Druid of the White Oak, a yearly practice since my initiation. This year I found myself reflecting more on everything that has come to pass in the past year, the things that have changed and the accomplishments and personal challenges that have filled my life.
   Last night, the second night of Samhain, we celebrated especially in honor of the Dagda and the Morrigan and their joining on Samhain before the second battle of Maige Tuired. I told the children stories about the Morrigan and the Dagda and talked about who each deity was and why we honor them. The girls shared that their "favorite" goddess is Brighid and we ended up talking about the Tuatha de Danann at some length, with me telling stories about different deities. My oldest daughter asked if there was a goddess associated with deer because she said she had dreamed about one, so I told her what I could about Flidias. We lit candles for the Gods and a special incense blend that I had made for the holiday as well and all in all had a very nice, if casual, ritual.
   Today is the third day of Samhain, the time when Irish folk belief tells us that our beloved dead come back to visit. Tonight we will set out an extra plate for any who visit and an extra chair. We will light the candles on the ancestor altar and I will tell my children stories about each of their family members who rest there, as many as I can remember for as long as they will listen. The dead never truly leave us until they are forgotten.

 

Samhain

 I love this time of year. Halloween has been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember and when I became pagan I incorporated the practices that I loved about Halloween with the ones I learned went along with Samhain; luckily for me trick'or'treating and dressing up in costume are pretty strongly connected to the old Celtic custom of guising which have continued until today. In Ireland up until around  a hundred years ago there was still a practice of  a small parade led by someone dressed as a white mare that would go from house to house singing and asking for "tolls" (Estyn Evans, 1957; Danaher, 1972) . In some parts of modern Ireland  children still  chant “Help the Halloween party! Any apples or nuts?” when trick or treating (Danaher, 1972)  All through Scotland it was the custom of groups of boys in costume to go door to door  asking for money or treats, often while singing or chanting which slowly became the custom of younger children that we consider trick or treating in modern times (McNeill, 1961) .
   I took my children out trick or treating, with the girls dressed up as Cleopatra and a pirate queen respectively. It was extremely fun being out at night with the children, under the crescent moon, with the snap of snow in the air. We had actually had an unusual early snow storm last Saturday that knocked out power and generally mucked things up for awhile, but by yesterday everything was enchanted.

 Now the modern dating of Samhain is given as October 31st and this is when I choose to celebrate it for convenience, but in reality the date was originally not a set calender or astrological date, as far as we know, but rather was an agrarian date In Ireland and Scotland; although the Coligny calendar of Gaul does list three specific days as "Trinuoxtion Samonii" or the three nights of summers end (Kondratiev, 1999). In practice Samhain celebrations occurred in November because this was the end of the harvest and the time when the herds were brought back in from the fields, but it wasn't until the Catholic church moved their celebration of All Saints and All Souls day to the first days of Novemeber that Samhain seem to have gotten a set calendar date in a modern context (Estyn Evans, 1957; McNeill, 1961). Of course then the switch was made from the Julian to Gregorian calendar and so you still see people celebrating Samhain on November 12th, refusing to acknowledge the change (McNeill, 1961). I debated for awhile trying to hold to a more traditional agrarian marking of the date, perhaps at the first hard frost each year, but with the kids it was just too difficult to get them engaged and excited about it when it seemed random to them. I do however follow what Caesar said about the Celts starting the new day at sunset and the new year at Samhain and begin my celebrations at sunset of the 31st and I also generally make it a three day celebration, something that is supported by the Coligny calendar and at least tenuously by the Irish belief that it was actually on November 2nd that the spirits of the dead returned to visit the living (Freeman, 2002; Danaher, 1972).      
    After trick or treating we came home and had a small ceremony together. We lit a candle for those we love who have passed and talked about them, things we remembered and missed.

My cauldron with the candle for the ancestors burning inside; the skull in front is from my ancestor altar and represent all of my ancestors whose names I do not know, but who are still with me, who I also honor

It was an old practice in Ireland to light a candle for each deceased member of the family and to leave the doors unlocked - in some cases even open - and to leave out either fresh water or porridge as an offering to those ancestors who chose to visit (Estyn Evans, 1957; Danaher, 1972). Our lighting the candle carved with their names is our way of carrying on this tradition. Then, in honor of the idea of leaving out food for the dead, we took a cake that we had baked earlier in the day and put pieces outside for the Gods, daoine sidhe, and ancestors, all in different places, as well as leaving out something for any wandering spirits. And we went back inside and each had a little piece of cake ourselves. Then the children went to bed and I did some divination on my own.
  Tonight is the second night of my Samhain celebration. I will honor an Morrigan and an Dagda who united on Samhain, and who are both deities I am personally close to. I will kindle a sacred fire symbolically relighting the fire of my hearth and of the world* and  I will do some more divination and make charms to bless my home in the coming year; Samhain was associated with a solar cross charm similar to the Brighid's cross of Imbolc and with using fire to sain the property (Danaher, 1972; McNeill 1962). Tomorrow will be focused especially on honoring the dead and on blessing the people of the house for the year to come using the ashes of tonight's fire. And then Samhain will be over for another year.

 References:
Danaher, K., (1972) . The Year in Ireland. Mercier Press
Estyn Evans, E., (1957) . Irish folk Ways. Routledge and Kegan Paul
Freeman, P., (2002) War, Women, and Druids. University of Texas Press
Kondratiev, A., (1998) . The Apple Branch: a path to Celtic Ritual. Citadel Press.
McNeill, F., (1961) . The Silver Bough, volume 3: Halloween to Yule. Stuart Titles Limited

* If anyone is curious about why I place the ceremony with the ritual fire on the second day and not on the first where it should more logically be - the first night is very much about doing as much as I can with my children and my youngest daughter, at this point, has several issues that make anything involving total darkness a bad idea. I am still working out what exactly should go where, ritually speaking, and next year I hope to have the fire on the first night in a more "traditional" way since fire was such a major part of this holiday. But this year, this is how things worked out. Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Scél lemm dúib...

In honor of our unusual October snow storm, arriving today, and Samhain:

Scél lemm dúib:
Dordaid dam,
Snigid gaim,
Ro-fáith sam;
Gáeth ard úar,
Ísel grían,
Gair a rith,
Ruirthech rían;
Ro-rúad rath
Ro-cleth cruth,
Ro-gab gnáth
Guigrann guth;
Ro-gab úacht
Etti én
Aigre re
É mo scél.

- 9th century Irish

 

 

I have news for you:
The stag bells,
Winter snows,
Summer has gone;
Wind high and cold,
The sun low,
Short its course
The sea running high;
Deep red the bracken
Its shape lost,
The wild goose has
Raised its accustomed cry;
Cold has seized
The birds’ wings
Season of ice
This is my news.