The Four Main Festivals of the Celtic Year
Samhain
Samhain is an important fire festival which is celebrated on the evening of 31st of October and throughout the next day. Old fires are extinguished and are then ceremonially relit from a sacred flame offered by the Druids.
Samhain also marked the begining of the new year but it is thought that the festival was then linked with the pastoral or religious cycle rather than the solar and therefor the agricultural year.
The new year coinsided with the time when herds were brought in from the fields and selected for breeding or slaughter. Samhain is also the festival of the dead. At the end of the year the souls of the departed returned to the land of the living and warmed themselves at the hearths of their former homes. Less friendly spirits were also released and had to expelled or appeased with sacrifice.
Imbolc
Imbolc is the second of the Celtic seasonal festivals, covering the months of February, March, and April. The main rituals are carried out on the 1st of February and have strong links and associations with fertiity and birth.
In religious terms, it is linked the almbing season and the time when ewes come into milk.
The festival is also associated with the triple Goddess Brigid. In her different aspects, she has power in the areas of healing, ironworking, and poetry. Poets regarded her as the root of literary insiration and her intervention was frequently sought by mothers in childbirth. In Ireland she was much revered by the 'Filidh' or Sages, who recognized her gift of prophecy. The cult of Brigid is thought to be connected with the worship of the British Goddess 'Brigantia', who also gave her name to the northern tribe of the 'Brigantes', and of course to 'Brigantia' Iron Age re-enactment
Beltayne
The most well known of the great Celtic festivals, Beltayne is celebrated on May the 1st and coinsided with the start of summer and the opening of the pasture to livestock. The name comes from 'Bel-tinne' (The fires of Bel), this suggests that the festical is associated with the God Belenus. The latter is a Gaulish sun God, worshipped under many different guises througout the Ancient world. The cursed Romans likened him to Apollo, and classical authors linked him with shines in Provence, Burgundy and northern Italy.
His memory also survives in a host of proper names among them 'Cymbeline' (or Cunobelin, hound of Belenus) immortalised by the great bard Shakepere in a play of the same name. Billingsgate in London also derives its name from this source.
Beltayne is a fire festival, which is marked with Bonfires on hilltops and at other sacred places. In Ireland, it was customary to drive cattle between two Druidic fires, to gain protection from disease.
Beltayne is the most enduring of the Celtic festivals, in parts of Scotland it survived well into the 18th century, and gave its name to one of the old quarter-days. Along with the other festivals it is now enjoying a revival among the youth of today.
The evening preceding the festival is time of great magic known as 'the time between times' when gates to the otherworld was open and men could enter the realms of the dead and spirits roamed abroad.
Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh is a summer festival, marking the start of the final quarter of the Celtic year. It is celebrated on August the 1st and appears to be linked to the gathering in of the harvest. This connection is maintained in the Christian feast of lammas (Loaf Mass) which superseded it.
The Pagan festival owes its origins to Lugh, a sun God whose name means 'The Shining One'. According to legend, he established a series of funeral games in honour of his foster mother, an agricultural Goddess called Tailtu, who had died after clearing the forest of Breg. These games were held regularly, along the lines of the early greek olympics. Lugh was worshipped by many Celtic peoples in Gaul, for example he was known as Lugus and gave his name to Lyon (Lugdunum).
He was also credited with many powers. In Irish tradition, he was revered both as a formidable warrior and a master magician. Lugh aided Cu-Chulainn in his struggles against the Connacht forces and helped the craft Gods to forge their magic weapons. Later, his craftsman's role became more emphasized and he was known as Lugh Chromain ('Little stooping Lugh') or, in its anglicized form, the prototype of the Leprechaun.