Na Làithean àrda - The High Days

Winter Solstice (Yule) (Alban Arthan)

The Winter Solstice, or Yule, or Alban Arthan is the return of the sun. Being the longest night of the year it brings hope to those who celebrate it as they know the sun will raise tomorrow and stay up just that little bit longer. We have many traditions that are socially very accepted but traditionally for others it's often a time just for family.

Yule for me has always been a holiday about celebrating friendship and family. It’s about celebrating that community you surround your self with. It is about taking a moment of your life and saying thanks and showing appreciation to those you include in your life. Be it with feast, or gift or just shared merriment.

Imbolc (Candlemas)

The first of three spring Festivals Imbolc is often the hardest festival for any Canadian. The ground is often still frozen, there is snow on the ground and your back is sore from all of the labour required to get any where or get anything done. Deep down, down in the earth below your feet the seeds from years past have begun to sprout. They begin to crack from their tiny shells, destined to become something greater. The festival it self belongs to the goddess Brigid the light bringing. She would bring milk of life forth and bring life back to the land after the deep dark winter months have past. She is the patron kindred for us at this time of the year. Imbolc is also the start of the great remembering after the great forgetting that is Autumn and winter. We use this time to inspire our selves for self growth and reconnecting with community after a cold harsh winter.

Spring Equinox (Ostara) (Alban Eilir)

Alban Eilir is the first time we truly see the signs of spring. Those seedlings from Imbolc have now broken through the earths surface and are beginning to show them selves. the second of the spring Festivals Ostara is the time of awakening. The animals begin to stir and show life once again, the lands begins to show promise and growth just as the community begins to once again come back together and show connections. A wide variety of agricultural rituals begin to take place at the time of the year as well. Routines begin to change and adapt for the seasons and Animals begin to shed their winter coats. Homes begin to prefer for the upcoming warmth.

Beltane (May Eve)

Beltane, the festival of fertility and growth. Fertility of course representing many things in our practise. Relationships grow and are born here, families are planned and thought out. Beyond the concept of the female body and her fertility is also the ability to be fertile in ones mind. The ability to be inspired and create is also born here. The Beltane ritual can be viewed as one asking for the ability to remain fertile in mind and body, the ability to create that creative flow going as well as keeping your family growing. For us we view this as a very family centric high day. We involve all the children of our grove as well we we participate in a variety of creative activities and even have a may pole we have had in our grove for a few years now. Part of our ritual is unwrapping the pole from the previous year and allowing our wishes to fall out that we made the year before. Beltane is also a time for personal purification as we move deeper into the year. A time to cleanse the pallet as you would when preparing to enjoy a new taste or feeling.

Summer Solstice (Litha) (Alban Hefin)

Alban Hefin, comes with it great rejoicing and great sorrow at the same time. With Alban Hefin the sun is at its full strength and potential and this is a time to celebrate and enjoy the time that we can bask in its glory. But with this day also comes the sorrow and understanding that between now and Alban Arthan the power of the sun will only wane as the days become shorter and shorter. The celebration mostly focuses on celebrating and honouring the sun in some way. Often rituals are performed in the early morning  or late evening and praise the rise or setting of the sun. 

Lughnasadh (Lammas)

Lughnasadh for me is one of the more meaningful rituals we perform all year. Lugh is a god I associate with greatly as he is the master of crafters and creation. I grew up on a farm as a young child so the first day of Harvest was always important in our family. As we have grown though and stepped away from farming I still realize the importance in our society this is. It may not be seen in a day to day practise but it is still there. Also for many years our local pagan community held their festival on this holiday. The Festival which existed for 20 years always held a Lughnasadh ritual on the main field with all involved. We very much focused on the concept of creation and inspiration. Lughnasadh is of course the first harvest festival of the year. Where we can reap the rewards of all the hard work put in the months before.

Autumn Equinox (Mabon) (Alban Elfed)

The second harvest. Mabon is a more difficult holiday to celebrate as its a more recent creation instead of one steeped in lore and myth. There is no knowledge of ancient Celts celebrating the Autumn Equinox that I could find. But today is today and not ancient day of the Celts. Modern day Pagans often use this day to celebrate the Greenman and thank the earth for its abundance and giving nature. We have lined this up with the solar cycle of the Summer Solstice as there sun is the same height as it was then. In modern day society this lines up nicely with Thanks Giving and our society celebrating with friends and family.

Samhain (Hallowe’en)

The Holiday representing the death of the year past and the birth of the new. In a sense the Pagan new years. This time for us and our Grove is central to ancestor worship as we believe the veil between the living and dead is at its thinest. This was the time of the year were we held a feast in honour of our ancestors past and we would set table places for them so they may join us in our celebration. For us Samhain is not to be a moment of mourning but a moment of celebration that these people were a part of our loves and that we had the honour of knowing them. This also gives us the opportunity to ask those ancestors to walk with us in the new year, to guide us in our practises and ritual.