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Like the Celts, Heathens held eight elaborate seasonal festivals. They were Yule, Disfest, Ostara, May Eve, Midsummer, Loaf Fest, Harvest Moon and Winternights. Heathen festivals marked the equinoxes, the passage of the seasons and the solstices. Bonfires often commemorated the changes that ensued from the turning of the calendrical yearly cycles. Yule (Jol-Tide, The Wheel of the Sun Herself, Winter Finding, Winter Solstice) was held beginning on the 21st of December each year. The first night of Yule was called Mother Nights. This was a festival time when the Heathen Alfar and Valar sky ancestors paid close attention to their kinfolk on Earth. Yule was also a time when the Landvaettir like the Tomte were invited as friends to the festivities. Yule festivities, runes and symbols included banquets of food, burning Yule logs, holly, evergreen boughs, Gebo (root force), Jera (cyclic completion), pine cones, pot lucks with family/friends and Uruz (creative potentials). Disfest (Festival of the Maiden, Imbolc) was held beginning on February 1st each year. This Festival was a time of cleansings, of growth and of renewal. It promised fertility after the rigidity of winter. The familial goddess was greeted and vegetation revived. Disfest festivities and symbols included ashes and flames, corn and rushes; as well as, dolls made from the last harvest. Candles were burned throughout the night for prosperity and well being. Ostara (The Spring Equinox, Spring Moon, Sacred Marriage, Summer Finding) was held beginning on March 20 each year. This was a festival time of awakening when the light overtook the darkness. Ostara festivities, runes and symbols included Berkana (growth), eggs, hares, hot cross buns, Peorth (birth) and Wynn (joy) In the painting below of Scandinavian Nature Spirit Ostara festivities, hare and smiling face rock couples watched as Älvorna elves (who had come out to dance beneath the Full Moon) played seesaw with Tomte children of the forest.
May Eve (Beltaine, Merry Moon) was held beginning on May 1st each year. This was a festival time of green turnings, of fertility fires, of spring celebrations and of veil lifting between the worlds. Merry Moon was a festival that celebrated spring and marked the "turning of the green" when the veils between worlds are the thinnest. May Eve festivities, runes and symbols included bonfires on hilltops, dancing and singing around May Poles, Lagu (flowing), pilgrimages to sacred wells and Sowilo (sunny). Midsummer (Summer Solstice) was held beginning on Jun 21st each year. This was a festival time of action taking, of pivotal power points and of yearly apexes. Midsummer was the season of Full Leafed Trees when the Landvaettir flourished. Midsummer (Summer Solstice) festivities, runes and symbols included consecrated water, Daeg (day), feathers, flowers, Ken (torch), kindling of fires and seed wreaths. In the colder climates where many people spend their Midsummer in the countryside outside towns, bonfires were an integral part of the festivities. Loaf Feast (First Sheaves, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Spirit of the Field) was held beginning on August 1st each year. Loaf Feast was a pre-harvest festival of ripening fields which marked the turning point on the seasonal cyclic wheel where the summer holidays ended and the hard work of the harvest began. Loaf Feast festivities, runes and symbols included corn dollies, decorated wells and springs and Othel (ancient knowledge). Harvest Moon (The Fall Equinox, Mabon) was held beginning on September 21st each year. This was a festival time of dressings down, of cyclical reflection, of harvests feasting, of recuperative rest, of simple enjoyments and of thanks giving. Harvest Moon festivities, runes and symbols included dark breads, fruits, leaves, nuts, stories and the entire Futhark.
Winternights (Elf Blessings,
Fog Moon, Need Fire, Samhain, Winter Full Moon) was held beginning on October
31st each year. This was a festival time of affirming life, of honoring
ancestral spirits, of land hallowing, of remembering the deceased, of limitless
clan creativity, of repelling evil and of the landscape spirits. Winternights
festivities, runes and symbols included drinking horns, remembrance mementoes,
Hagall (shamanism), Radiho (afterlife) and sweet sounding bells.
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