Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Saint John's Eve. Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European origin.
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year 's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are based to varying degrees on folk traditions, regardless of the historical practices of world civilizations. [1]
In France, the "Fête de la Saint-Jean" (feast of St John), traditionally celebrated with bonfires (le feu de la Saint-Jean) that are reminiscent of Midsummer's pagan rituals, is a Catholic festivity in celebration of Saint John the Baptist. It takes place on June 24, (St John's day). Nowadays it is seldom celebrated.
May Day, Calan Mai, Walpurgis Night. Bealtaine (anglicised as ' Beltane ') (/ ˈbɛl.teɪn /; Irish pronunciation: [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠəʲnə], approximately / ˈb (j) ɒltɪnə / B (Y)OL-tin-ə) [5][6] is the Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the spring equinox ...
The Gaulish Coligny calendar is the oldest known Celtic solar-lunar ritual calendar. It was discovered in Coligny, France, and is now on display in the Palais des Arts Gallo-Roman museum, Lyon. It dates from the end of the second century AD, [2] when the Roman Empire imposed the use of the Julian Calendar in Roman Gaul.
The modern Icelandic festival of Þorrablót is sometimes considered a "pagan holiday" due to folk etymology with the name of the god Thor. [5] The name, while historically attested, is derived from Þorri which is not explicitly linked to Thor, instead being the name of a month in the historic Icelandic calendar and a legendary Finnish king.
Samhain (/ ˈsɑːwɪn / SAH-win, / ˈsaʊɪn / SOW-in, Irish: [ˈsˠəunʲ], Scottish Gaelic: [ˈs̪ãũ.ɪɲ]) or Sauin (Manx: [ˈsoːɪnʲ]) is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter, or the "darker half" of the year. [1] It is also the Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Galician name for ...
Floralia by Antonio María Reyna Manescau (1888). Maypole dancing in the Netherlands, by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (16th century).. The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held from 27 April–3 May during the Roman Republic era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma, a festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite held every three ...