This is a simple introduction to the traditional Heathen celebratory cycle of the year.
Modern pagans often celebrate eight main festivals during the year:
Imbolc : 1st February
Easter or Spring Equinox : About 21st March
Beltane : 1st May
Midsummer or Summer Solstice : About 21st June
Lammas : 1st August
Autumn Equinox : About 21st September
Samhain : 31st October
Yule or Winter Solstice : About 21st December
In fact this cycle is comprised of the four Celtic quarter days: Imbolc, Beltane, Lunasa (Lammas) and Samhain (the Celtic New Year) together with the solstices and equinoxes.
Firstly it should be noted that for the ancient Germanic peoples, as for the Celtic tribes, the day started not with the morning but with the evening. Also it should be noted that the year was considered to have two halves:winter and summer, rather than the current four seasons. This is shown by the old runic almanacs which are marked on two sides: winter side (vetr-leid) which ran from October 14th to April 13th and the summer side (somar-leid) which ran from April 14th to October 13th.
For the Germanic peoples this first major feast was also the start of their New Year. It may have started on the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year (when the sun moves into Capricorn) and occurs approximately on 21st December. . The boar is anciently connected with the Yuletide feast and this is the sacred animal of Freyr, Freyja and Nerthus.
Yule ran for a number of nights, depending on the country in question. In England it became the Twelve Nights of Christmas (after the christian festival designed to take-over the pagan midwinter festivals).
Bede talked of this festival starting on Modranect, or the "mothers night" i.e. the Night of the Mothers (plural) and not the Night of the Mother. This might suggest some connection with the disir or mother goddesses The Anglo-Saxon name for this festival was Geol, a word which is etymologically linked to a root word meaning 'wheel'. This festival was called Weh nights in Germany and it ran for thirteen nights. Yule is the Norse name for this festival and their Yuletide ran for about three nights from Höku night.
The next major Germanic festival is that to celebrate the summer half of the year. In one sense it could be argued that this should be on or around May 1st. A number of surviving English celebrations for May and Mayday probably include both Celtic Beltane and Anglo-Saxon summer folk celebrations.
The maypole was especially strong in Anglo-Saxon areas. Both Saxon and continental Germanic areas had Walpurgisnact Eve on the evening of 31st April, which was strongly connected with witches. Although Walburga was at one time thought to be a pagan goddess, the celebration's name is now believed to have been named after a christian saint.
Some Scandinavian countries have Valborg celebrations on 31st April and in Iceland on Mayday there was the Sigrblot or "Victory Blessing". It could therefore be said that this is the one truly common Indo-European festival being celebrated by both Germanic and Celtic folk.
However there is even more compelling evidence that for Germanic folk this festival to celebrate the start of the summer was in fact a mid April goddess celebration. Not only did the old runic almanacs run from mid April to mid October for the summer side but also Bede mentioned that the Saxon equivalent to April was Eostre (German = Ostara) which is the root of "Easter".
Since it seems inconceivable that comparatively newly converted christians would name one of their major celebrations after a heathen goddess, it seems more likely that (like Yule at midwinter) they set one of their important celebrations to take-over an important heathen celebration. The Easter "bunny" may be a survival of her sacred creature - the hare - which is an indigenous creature to northern Europe, unlike the Roman introduction (the rabbit).
There are suggestions that the moon may have been important in the timing of this festival and some modern Heathens hold it on the first full moon after the spring equinox. This equinox is when the day and night are of equal length and the sun moves into Aries. The other Mayday celebrations may well be various celebrations, whose timing used to be dictated by the improving weather and local customs, that have been displaced to harmonise at Mayday over time.
This can also be interpreted as one of the major Germanic festivals. The summer solstice, midsummer's day, is the longest day of the year (when the sun moves into cancer) on approximately 21st June. The historian Kathleen Herbert has pointed out an interesting fact about the Saxon name for the month of June - Ærra Liþa - although Bede (a christian) originally claimed Liþa or Litha meant "sailing" but later he mentioned (while discussing October) that the Litha root meant "moon". As Kathleen explains, as neither Anglo-Saxon Heathens or christians used it for mundane purposes, this must have meant "moon" in a holy sense and would have indicated an important festival.
Also, like Yule (which was held in the Saxon month of Ærra Geola or 'Before Yule' with the month that followed it being called Æftera Geola or 'After Yule'), the month that followed June was Æftera Liþa or 'After Litha'. This would appear a most propitious time to honour Njörðr - the god in the ‘ship yard’ hall.
A number of folk practises surviving on midsummer's eve, such as bonfires on high places, may be surviving heathen practises. Although this would definitely appear to be a solar celebration, i.e. at the solstice, the name of the month may suggest it should be timed by a phase of the moon. Also it was during the midsummer festival that the Scandinavians raised their maypole (echoes of Irminsul and the god Tyr) and Iceland held their Althing (a counsel where disputes were settled) during the summertime.
The final major festival was in October - a counterpart to the Eostre festival to welcome summer. The Saxon name for the month was Winter-fylleth or "Winter Full Moon". Some modern Heathens hold it on the first full moon after the autumn equinox while Icelandic practise set it approximately between the 12th and 15th October. Like the Celtic Samhain, this festival honoured the dead as the Norse festival names: Alfablót and Disablót show.
The Norse also called it Freyrsblót after the fertility god Freyr and it appears to have been a combination of feasting to give thanks to the gods and goddesses for the harvest just in, to greet the winter and to honour the ancestors and land wights.
There was also a whole range of other, more minor, celebrations which were often locally based.
Between Midwinter and Summer Cummin’
Anglo-Saxon : February - Offering of Cakes This was probably timed to coincide with the start of the spring ploughing. Bede said the English (Anglii) made offerings of cakes to the gods during this month.
Scandinavian : February - Disting A big festival of the disir was held at Uppsala in Sweden. Kveldulfr Gundarsson has suggested around 2nd while Edred Thorsson has suggested 14th.
Icelandic : January - Thorrablót Held on the Friday between 19th and 25th. Thorri was a personification of winter.
Between Summer Cummin’ and Midsummer
There were various May customs across the countries which were harmonised over the centuries to Mayday. These would include maypoles, preparing and wearing garlands, dancing and brewing (whitsun ales).
Between Midsummer and Winter Nights
Anglo-Saxon : September - Harvest Celebrations One Saxon name for this month was "Holy Month". Bede said this was the month in which the Saxons paid their "devil tribute". Various traditions around the harvest include celebratory "suppers" (feasts really) with music and dancing for the agricultural workers. There were also celebrations called "harvest home" for the last sheaf cut with decorated wains, horse brasses, corn dollies and bawdy songs sung as it travelled back to the store.
Scandinavian : August - Fairs/Horsefighting This was the month during which fairs were held and horse-fighting would be a feature. This is held to date from Heathen times and, as the horse was one of his sacred animals, probably connected to Freyr.
Icelandic : September - Harvest Festival
What about Lammas (1st August) which is Anglo-Saxon for 'loaf mass', you may say ? This may appear to be appropriate within this section however, although it is marked on an old runic almanac, I believe this was a christian Saxon festival inspired by the existing Celtic celebrations held in this land. This name would have been suggested by the original existing Saxon and continental Germanic folk traditions concerning the first ears or sheaves of grain. These folk traditions though appear to have been more personal offerings, timed for celebration at the right part of a particular year's growing cycle rather than a fixed communal celebration. The lack of a Heathen name for a festival and the lack of major German or Scandinavian festivals at this date would not preclude a Heathen Anglo-Saxon festival but Bede talked only of August as "weed month".
Between Winter Nights and Midwinter
Anglo-Saxon : November - Blood Month
Bede records that this was the month when the Saxons dedicated, as sacrifices to the gods, the cattle that had to be killed as they could not be over-wintered. There were early English laws which forbade eating food sacrificed to "idols" which probably referred back to this practise.
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