Extract from "Principles
of Druidry" by Emma Restall Orr, (Thorsons,
HarperCollins, 2000)
The Festivals of the Sun
Establishing a calendar at this latitude is
best effected by the sun, watching the clear
stretch in its path through the year from winter
to summer. While other calendars may be created
by the rising and setting of more distant stars,
our climate doesn’t allow such reliable
sky watching. The dramatic shifts in light and
temperature we experience through the year direct
our focus to the sun, the source of the change,
the centre of our circling world’s view.
Midwinter
In our cool temperate climate it is the rebirth
of the sun at midwinter, when the days start
to get longer, that is seen by many as the time
of greatest celebration. No one of the eight
festivals is more important than any other,
but this festival has grown and grown : the
winter solstice is now blurred in many non-Pagan
minds with the commercial exuberance of Christmas.
The instinctive relief that the days are getting
longer, that darkness has reached its peak,
floods through the festival, secular, Christian
and Pagan. Our Germanic ancestors, who called
the festival Yule, established the tradition
of celebrating for twelve days - another aspect
of Paganism taken up by Christianity.
It is celebrated in Druidry around 21 December,
when the sun enters Capricorn, or three days
later on the date we call Midwinter, 24 December,
when after a pause at its lowest point the sun
once again starts its journey back towards the
centre. Because in Druidry, as in Judaism, the
day begins at dusk, celebrations kick off the
evening before.
The festival is also called Alban Arthan.
The word alban is thought to come from an early
Brythonic (British) word meaning ‘bright’,
while arthan is a later Welsh word possibly
referring to the constellation of the Great
Bear in the northern winter sky. The alternative,
Alban Arthuan, is a later corruption and refers
to the old British hero king, Arthur. The newborn
sun is symbolic of so much in our lives : the
sun returns as saviour, changing the tides,
bringing light into the darkness, in the same
way that all great heroes have come into lands
under threat, including Jesus and Arthur.
From a female perspective, where the darkness
of winter is felt to be the nourishing womb,
the rich fertile earth, the sun is seen as the
spirit light which is never extinguished, shining
even in the void of death, inspiring conception,
new growth, rebirth.
Midwinter is celebrated, as are all the eight
and indeed most rites in the tradition, with
a ceremony held within the temple sanctuary
of stones or wood or simply energy, where peace
is affirmed, the circle cast, consecrated and
blessed, and into which are invited the spirit
presences, the ancestors and deities, with whom
the grove normally work.
The heart of the ceremony is the ritual ending
of mourning for the death of the light, in whatever
godform or abstract that is perceived. The year
which was drawn to its close with the onset
of winter, bringing with it the chaos and uncertainty
of darkness, is now left behind. The miracle
of birth has stopped the running flow into the
dark : the tide is turned.
A new world is emerging, albeit still enfolded
in the arms of its dark mother, and her energy
still surrounds us. With reverence we acknowledge
her being and her gift, the infant light. The
spirit child is reborn and all who have gathered
in sacred space honour its arrival with wonder,
bringing vows of dedication together with offerings
of their own spirit, strength and beauty.
Folk customs may be incorporated into the
ceremony or brought to the celebrations around
the fire and the feast afterwards, depending
on what is local or appropriate, including the
burning of the winter oak log symbolising the
spirit of the hearth fires that warm the community.
Mistletoe is distributed, carrying its magical
blessings of healing, fertility and presence.
Boughs of evergreen decorate the house, holding
the spirit of life through the dark winter months.
Presents are given, expressing the energy of
our spirit, honouring the new year that is born,
affirming bonds of love and community.
It is often an intimate celebration, in the
heart of winter when few will or can travel
far, a time of caring, sharing and feasting
with our close friends and family around us.
Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox is celebrated between 20
and 23 March, on the date when the sun moves
into Aries and day is the same length as night.
It is also known as term Alban Eilir, eilir
meaning in Welsh regeneration or spring, sometimes
written as Eiler. Alban Eiler is translated
poetically as ‘light of the earth’.
Christian tradition has again used many Pagan
symbols evident in Eilir celebrations, although
in Christianity the festival is aligned with
the Judaic Passover and called Easter. The Germanic
name for this Pagan celebration is Ostara, a
fertility goddess whose name comes from the
same root as the word Easter as do the words
oestrus and oestrogen.
The equinox is a time of new life, daffodils
and cherry blossom, fledglings, lambs running
in the fields. The symbolism of the egg is prominent.
It is a time of celebration of childhood, with
games to be played. This is another turning
point in the year, not across a peak but across
a point of balance. The darkness is behind us
and ahead is the light into which we can grow.
As with the autumn equinox, many who are sensitive
to the energy of the cycle feel drawn into the
balance over a few weeks before and after the
actual date, as if the process of settling is
unsettling in itself. At the spring equinox
this is particularly difficult, with the energy
running fast and increasing all the time. The
sap is rising.
The core of the Eilir ceremony is the blessing
of seeds that will become the year’s harvest.
On a practical level within the rite, seeds
might be blessed and sown in pots that will
be cared for on windowsills or in greenhouses,
protected still from the frosts. While these
seeds will usually be a part of the work of
caring for the land which the Druid takes part
in through the year, they also represent other
projects. The seeds are ritually blessed with
the elemental forces, of flowing breath air,
of sun
ire warmth, of moisture and rain and, of course,
rich soil earth, an act which blesses simultaneously
those plans which we are beginning to put into
action, consecrating them with elemental strengths
: our intellect and knowing, courage and energy,
intuition and motivation, and our ability to
stabilize and manifest.
The sun child has grown and its heat is touching
the earth, drawing us up into growth. In the
rite this is often played out by the spring
maiden and young sun god, aware of their sexuality
yet not old enough to use it. They dance, not
touching, shy and innocent, filled with the
energy of life renewed.
The tides are high, the moon is large and
bright. Eilir is a festival filled with laughter
and anticipation, excitement for the growth
ahead as the balance tips towards the light.
Midsummer
The summer solstice is the festival most often
associated with Druids, though it is of no more
importance in the tradition than any other festival.
It is celebrated around 21 June when the sun
rises at its most northern point, climbing highest
in the sky, as it passes from Gemini into Cancer,
or on Midsummer’s Day three days later
on 24 June, after the pause when the sun begins
its descent.
The festival is also known as Alban Hefin,
the Welsh word hefin meaning summer, sometimes
written as Heruin. Alban Heruin is referred
to as ‘light of the shore’, with
the tide of the year turning towards the dark
once more.
The festival is a celebration of the peak,
and the further north we travel the more potent
is this rite. The sun born at midwinter has
pushed back the powers of darkness to just a
few night hours. But in the process he has exhausted
himself (in many solar myths he is wounded in
the fight) and it is at this point that his
hold relaxes. Darkness once again begins to
creep silently in.
The interplay of the forces of nature continues,
weaving threads of tension, life and death,
dark and light, male and female, pushing and
pulling. If midwinter is about the power of
the dark feminine, the shrine of the womb, the
deep valley, the cauldron, the ‘inner’
and receptive, then midsummer is a time of honouring
the power of the light, the masculine, the mountain
top, the sword’s blade, the outer and
assertive. Both qualities exist within every
soul and are expressed in the changing flows
of life : at Hefin we acknowledge the outward
expression of ourselves, our vitality and strength,
all we have used in the push for growth and
progress, and we learn when to stop.
The celebrations for Alban Hefin often begin
at dusk the evening before, and include three
distinct parts : the rite that initiates the
night vigil, the rite of dawn and that of noon.
There is high celebration of the power of the
Sun King, often enacted through the replaying
of a myth. Thanks and honour is given, dedications
made to the power and glory of the solar deity,
saviour, hero. Through the night vigil the eisteddfod
keeps the focus strong and laughter loud, and
at dawn the power of the sun is honoured, with
awe and offerings. At noon the rite changes,
as the turning tide is acknowledged. Teachings
are shared of the need to balance power with
justice, strength with wisdom. Our attention
is drawn from the light that glints off the
sword to the earth, the goddess of our land.
As with all the festivals there is a mine
of folklore connected to Midsummer. Though the
sources of many are lost in the mists of time,
there is good literary evidence that the ancient
Celts of France and Wales celebrated midsummer
by rolling burning wheels down hillsides from
great hilltop fires. Divination was common practice.
The waxing half of the year from midwinter to
midsummer was said by the writer Robert Graves
in ‘The White Goddess’ to be ruled
by the Oak King who signifies strength, endurance,
eternity, the waning by the Holly King, the
tree lord of sacrifice. Symbolism of these trees
is common in the rites.
Autumn Equinox
The Autumn Equinox is celebrated between 20
- 23 September when the night is as long as
the day once again and our sun star slips in
front of the constellation Libra. Also known
as Alban Elfed, elfed meaning autumn, it is
sometimes written as Alban Elued and translated
as ‘light of the water’.
The balance is more poignant at this time
than in the rush of spring. It is often the
quietest of the festivals. The harvest is in
: it is a time of acceptance of all we have
and what we lack, a time of reflection on what
we have achieved. The element of water is strong,
the ebb and flow of the ocean tide, as we stand
in the west of our sacred circle, reaching out
to understand the mysteries of balance. It is
a time of sharing gifts of abundance and strength,
when participants bring to the rite offerings
and presents for each other and the gods.
At many groves it is usual to bless and share
food and drink at all the festival rites. This
is often in the form of a large round loaf of
homebaked bread and honey mead (or cider, ale
or wine) passed around the circle in a drinking
horn. After giving thanks to the goddess of
the land, to the lord of light, and acknowledging
the alchemy that transforms the grain into bread
and blossom’s nectar into mead, their
blessings are asked on the loaf and the horn.
The first break of bread, the first drink of
mead, is given back to the land, to Mother Earth,
the spirits of place, and if appropriate for
the rite more is given to the ancestors through
the flames of the fire. If a grove does not
celebrate this feast at every rite, most will
do so at the harvest equinox.
Also check: Festivals
of the Seasons
