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Post by KittyLane on Jan 25, 2007 15:02:05 GMT -5
PART 3Author: A.C. Fisher Aldag
Posted: December 3rd. 2006
Times Viewed: 2,303
This is part three in a series of essays about the likely age and origins of common neo-Pagan rituals, magical tools, beliefs, spells, and liturgy. This article is the second segment of "Gardner's Sources... and Inventions". Last time, we talked about the Circle, initiations, the Great Rite, the directions and elements, and the ritual implements commonly used by Wiccans in their ceremonies. Some of these things have their origin in magical fraternities, such as the Golden Dawn. Others can be traced to various cultures, including Malaysian, East Indian and Native American Indian societies. However, many of the common neo-Pagan and Wiccan rites, tools, chants and beliefs really do come from British Traditional Witchcraft and the folkloric religions of individuals who lived right up to the 20th century. Which leads us to...
More of Gardner's Sources... and Inventions:
High Priest and High Priestess – Likely an invention. Most pre-Christian rituals were performed by one leader, or a group of theatrical performers acting out sacred legends. Shamanic rites are usually performed solo. (Yes, I know that they weren’t called “shaman” in Britain. This term originally came from a language called Tungus, now extinct, and refers to indigenous peoples’ spirit journeys. But for expediency’s sake, I’m going to use the words people are most familiar with.) Gerald Gardner’s original term for the role of leader was “magus”, referring to a male, borrowed from ceremonial magic. Nevertheless, in many non-Abrahamic cultures the ritual leaders may be either female or male. There were Priestesses and Priests dedicated to individual gods in Sumeria, Greece, Rome and other ancient civilizations. According to Julius Caesar’s documentation, the Druids were both male and female. Shamanic practitioners of intact Pagan cultures are both genders. Gardner’s idea of Priest and Priestess, duality and polarity may have been derived from the older rituals relating to sacred sexuality and fertility, including the rite of Heiros Gamos or Tantra. Aleister Crowley’s "Gnostic Mass" required a male priest and female priestess, and Gardner may have borrowed from this source.
Grimoire or Book of Shadows – A few fragmentary “recipes” for spells or amulets exist from Egypt and Greece dated to the 4th century C.E., hand-printed on papyrus, but no real grimoires appeared until the late middle ages. The oldest magical texts were found in the Middle East from around the 1400s, painted on parchment or animal skin. There are also some sacred texts of India from this time period, inscribed in Sanskrit on palm leaves. There were few magical books published in the British Isles, although numerous grimoires were printed in Italy and France during Medieval days. _The Key of Solomon_ was first published in the late 1400s, but this manual contained heavy doses of Judaism and Christianity. Henry (Henri, Heinrich) Cornelius Agrippa’s _Three Books of Occult Philosophy_ were published in 1531, and may have influenced later magic-users. Other written works of poetry and legend from Medieval times exist in Europe, not mass-produced but handmade.
Not that most people would have been able to read them. English law in the middle ages forbade “villeins” or commoners to educate their children. Until the late 1700s, most of the working-class people of Britain were functionally illiterate. The invention of the printing press initiated the reproduction of some of the old tales and herbal manuals, but even after the advent of public schools, paper was a scarce commodity, and books were beyond the financial means of most laborers and tradesmen. Books including the _Bible_ and the works of Shakespeare were owned by few families until the nineteenth century.
The word grimoire probably came from “grammar”, but may also be connected to Grim, a colloquial name for the gods Arawn or Odin. It has also been spelled “gramarye”. Gardner may have gotten the name “Book of Shadows” out of a magazine about Eastern mysticism published in the 1940s. The oldest grimoire or “black book” probably dates from the late 1700s. One such mystery journal still exists in the Cornish Witchcraft Museum. Magical tomes for the scholar became popular in the mid-1800s, but many did not contain authentic information. Current Craft grimoires may have come from individual families’ oral traditions. If one excludes the initiation ceremonies, much of the magical information can be found in older sources, including spells and magical recipes. Gardner himself stated that his “Ye Bok of Ye Arts Magickal” wasn’t to be equated with the _Bible_ or _Koran_, but rather a personal recipe book of spells that worked for him, with the purpose “to get you started”.
The Rede and the Law – Most of the poetic laws, from the Rede to the Ardanes, I believe are Gardner’s own writing. However, their subject matter was inspired by actual lore and pre-Christian tradition. Some of the language is arcane, and may have been cribbed from older documents, or the words may have been still used by hereditary Pagans of that era. The threefold aspect of the Law of Return may have come from Celtic Triads, poetic ideals containing three lines or three specific concepts.
“Do as Thou Wilt” was borrowed from Aleister Crowley, who wrote “Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law; love is the law, love under will” in 1904. Crowley very likely stole this line from Francois Rabelais, who wrote it in 1534, or St. Augustine, who gave a similar edict. Gardner first made reference to this command as “Do as you like, so long as you harm no one”, in his book _The Meaning of Witchcraft_, which he attributed to “Good King Paulsol”. The quote actually came from a character called _King Pausole_ in a book by the French novelist Pierre Louys. “Harm None” was also found as a law in Gardner’s Book of Shadows.
The famous eight-word Rede “An it harm none, do as you will” can be attributed to Doreen Valiente in a speech she made in 1964. The entire Rede in poetic verse was published by _Green Egg Magazine_ in 1975 and is attributed to Lady Gwynn (Gwen, Phyllis) Thompson. This was also the first time it was called the “Rede”, meaning a creed or tenet. Thompson, a Wiccan priestess who claimed a family lineage of Celtic witchcraft, either authored the Rede or received it from her ancestor, Adriana Porter. While some of the wording is archaic, the poem may be a more recent invention, since the word “Wiccan” is used. It is possible that Valiente, Thompson and others wrote down the Rede from memory, then added their own embellishments. Thompson’s poem also contained the philosophy of “Perfect Love and Perfect Trust” and the popular “Merry Meet and Merry Part”.
Blessed Be – Very likely came from the _Bible_. ( )
Oak, Ash and Thorn – Was borrowed from Rudyard Kipling’s A Tree Poem in the novelette _Puck of Pook’s Hill_. Although Kipling was a Christian, he wrote several odes to the Goddess, a poem about a working-class man drafted as a soldier called “Chant-Pagan”, and stories featuring Pagan characters and legends from India, Africa and Europe. However, the three trees are used together in a charm for protection which predates Kipling’s birth.
Herbalism – Many of the herbal unguents or potions listed in Gardner’s _Book of Shadows_ seem to be authentic, as are his suggestions for psychic healing. Some of his descriptions are similar to modern-day herbalism, hypnosis, neural-linguistic programming, and the power of suggestion. Gardner likely got these ideas from herbalists, “granny” healers or “old wives”, who may have still been practicing their Craft amongst the working classes in Britain.
Coven – Margaret Murray claimed to have found several references in the witch trial transcripts to covens of thirteen witches, but in an actual count, there were only a couple, most notably the trial of Isabel Gowdie in 1662. Nonetheless, the name seems to have some prior use. The word came from the Latin “convenire”, which means to agree or assemble. The French terms “covenant” and “convent” arose from this root word. Coven could have fallen into general usage as a dialect pronunciation of “convene”. Several Irish folktales include six pairs of fairies or magical beings dancing and copulating in the presence of one “man in black” or fairy king, which may have set a precedent for the witch coven of thirteen. Witches in Venice met to talk shop, including the exchange of recipes and spells, according to one witch trial transcript.
Mother Goddess – Gardner wrote that his belief in the gods was a “personification of cosmic power”, rather than an absolute belief in a Great Mother or God of the Hunt. It is probable that Gardner borrowed the idea of Goddess from Dr. Murray’s anthropology books, from Dion Fortune’s _The Sea Priestess_, or from the writings of James Frazer, Charles Leland, Aleister Crowley or Robert Graves, but he may also have encountered goddess worship by speaking to hereditary Pagans. Many pre-Christian legends, poems and songs about goddesses were common among the British working class. There are dozens of goddess images, place-names and legends surviving in the U.K. to the current era, some of which are unique to one locality, others widespread throughout the Islands. Gardner pointed out that the British pantheons were often local or tribe-specific. He tended to combine Diana, Aradia, Brighid, Cerridwen, Arianrhod and the Matronae as one goddess figure, identifying them as British, although many were actually Romano-British, including Diana. The Church wrote about women who worshipped “Diana, a goddess of the pagans” in 906 C.E. In the text of a witch trial from the sixteenth century, an English woman is accused of worshipping “Diana, goddess of the pagans”.
Most of the feminist content of Gardnerian Wicca, including the “Charge of the Goddess”, was added by Ms. Valiente. A similar, but not identical invocation is found in Leland’s _Aradia_. The “Descent of the Goddess into the Underworld” was borrowed from Crowley’s “Gnostic Mass”, which likely came from the legends of Inanna, Persephone, Kore or Rhiannon. This idea may have been lifted from the Egyptian Isis and Osirus legend. However not all traditional witches believed in a Goddess or a God, instead personifying Nature as divine. (Please see ‘Mother Goddess”, which will appear in a subsequent essay.)
Drawing Down the Moon – This may have been an ancient belief. The Hindu concept of the Avatar means that an individual ritualistically “becomes” another entity, or takes on the aspect of a deity. Different versions of this ceremony are performed by the spiritual leaders of many cultures. Allowing oneself to be possessed by a god, spirit or animal totem during a ceremony is a very old shamanic practice. Anthropologists and sociologists who study ritual, sacred masks, dances and spiritual theatrics of various societies have extensively documented the avatar phenomenon. The Roman writer Horace wrote that witches had the ability to call the moon down from the sky. A Bronze Age vase found in Greece depicts two women performing the Moon ritual. Doreen Valiente likely wrote the Wiccan ceremony, borrowed from Crowley and other sources, which may in turn be based on an older custom.
Deosil and Widdershins: Deosil, sometimes spelled “deasol”, may have come from the Latin “deo” as a name for a god and “sol” for the sun. In an Irish dialect, it meant to dance sunwise and was pronounced jesh-ill. In Scotland it was called “southways”. Widdershins is from a late Germanic dialect and means to unwind, probably related to spinning bobbins. It has also been used as a term in folk dancing. The practice of moving clockwise or sunwise to invoke, and anticlockwise or anti-sunwise to banish, probably came from ceremonial magic.
Chants: In Gardner’s Book of Shadows, he discusses using sound to invoke magical energies. He was one of the first modern writers to make the connection between chanting and mental transformation. Several of his chants come from various folkloric sources and languages, including the Scots chant for fairies to return to their own realm, a Basque invocation, and rhymes documented in British witch trials.
Although we can look up most of these sources for ourselves, we still have no way to determine how each one actually contributed to the Wiccan religion. We have no concrete proof about which magical or religious practices Gerald Gardener read about in books, or discovered through study of artifacts, or what ceremonies he really witnessed firsthand. He may have found several diverse references to one particular item, such as the use of a ritual knife by Malaysians, East Indians, and Anglo Saxons. Or he might have just possessed a truly amazing imagination, and made everything up by himself.
No matter his sources, Gardner brought witchcraft and Paganism into the consciousness of the general public. Whether he revived or created these practices, he can be thanked for several philosophies unique to modern day earth religions: Gardner united the material and spiritual worlds, combining natural and ceremonial magic systems. He also instituted the concepts of ethics and law into magical practice.
In the next essay on "Another Pagan History... What's Really Old, and What Likely Ain't" PART 4, we will begin to explore the history of the Pagan holidays and / or Wiccan Sabbats. While some of the celebrations we enjoy today were recently invented; others are genuinely old, and were practiced for centuries in the British Islands. Other holiday traditions were brought to Britain, and thus to Wicca, from other lands. Some died out and were revived. Others survived into the present day, with little or no change.
www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usmi&c=words&id=11289
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Post by KittyLane on Feb 4, 2007 0:31:48 GMT -5
Author: A.C. Fisher Aldag
Posted: December 10th. 2006
Times Viewed: 2,061
In the last installments of "Another Pagan History", we explored the idea that Gerald Gardner may actually have had contact with hereditary practitioners of genuine British Traditional Witchcraft. Gardner and his contemporaries might have studied folkloric magical-religions, and used their customs, ritual implements and beliefs in his development of Wicca. We also discovered many of the other sources for modern neo-Pagan ceremonies, ritual tools and liturgy.
This essay will begin to explore the history of the Pagan holidays and / or Wiccan Sabbats. While some of the celebrations we enjoy today were recently invented, others were genuinely old, practiced for centuries in the British Islands. Other holiday traditions were brought to England, and thus to Wicca, from other civilizations. Some died out and were revived. Others survived into the present day, with little or no change. Gardner and others brought many of these customs into the modern practice of Wicca.
The Pagan Holidays or the Wiccan Sabbats:
Anthropologists and folklorists have various theories about the eight “Wheel of the Year” Sabbats, or holy days related to the seasons and positions of the sun. Many sources show that all of these holidays were observed by the ancient Britons. Others believe that prehistoric societies celebrated just the Solstices and Equinoxes. Some maintain that the Druids only held rites on the “cross-quarters”: Imbolc, Bealtain, Lughnassadh and Samhain. These “quarter days” were used in the British Isles to divide the year for the purpose of paying rents, taxes and wages. Dr. Margaret Murray found evidence to support the idea that the Saxons brought the equinox holiday customs to Britain, but other archeologists argue that the seasonal holidays were celebrated long before the Celts began trade with the Germanic tribes.
There are debates about whether the Celtic holidays began at sunset, moonrise or the first full or new moon before or after the day, and whether they were solar events, seasonal celebrations, fire festivals, agrarian (farming) holidays, animal herding schedules, secular observations, or all of the above. Some scholars suggest that the eight holidays were created by Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) and Rev. Edward Celtic Davies during the “romantic Druid revival” of the late 1700s. Others think that Gardner and his contemporaries wholly invented the Sabbat rituals. It’s interesting to note that the ceremonies in the original Gardnerian Book of Shadows have plain English names, such as August Eve or Spring Equinox. Of course, the word “Sabbat” itself came from the “Sabbath” of the Judaic tradition or perhaps from the French word for “celebration”. Both of these sources have roots in the Greek word “sabatu”, or the Latin “sabbatum”, which roughly translates as “to rest”.
I personally believe that all eight seasonal holidays were celebrated in the British Isles from at least the Neolithic era until the present day. Evidence includes the placement of dolmens, tomb doorways and the architectural design of various sacred sites to align with sunrise, sunset or moonrise and moonset on these specific days. The Sequani Calendar, a bronze tablet discovered near Coligny France in 1897, depicts solar and lunar events during the Solstices and Equinoxes, as well as the cross-quarter days. Many of these events correspond with the constellations, linking sacred astronomy, archeology and geometry. Most of the holidays coincide with astrologic occurrences, such as the Sun entering Libra on the fall equinox. Artifacts relating to the Sabbats have been found within sacred sites and in the excavations of ordinary homes and businesses.
And no matter what some scholars write, there are plenty of modern celebrations that correspond to the wheel of the year. To me, it’s just too coincidental that so many Christian holidays occur close to the events related to Pagan sabbats. Not to mention that so many customs and ceremonies associated with the holidays have nothing whatsoever to do with Christian belief or practice. Many holiday traditions endured in the rural working-class of Britain and America until the early twentieth century, documented by historians and family archives. Some customs are no longer practiced, but several of them survived to the present day.
Modern Pagan / Wiccan names for the holidays:
Feb. 2 – Candlemas, Lady Day, Brigit’s Day, Imbolc
March 21 – Oestara, Ostara, Eostare, Eostre, Spring Equinox
May 1 – May Day, Beltain, Beltane
June 21 – Summer Solstice, Leitha, Litha, Midsummer Day
August 1 – Lughnasa, Lughnassadh, Lammas
Sept. 21 – Mabon, Madron, Fall Equinox, Autumnal Equinox
Oct. 31 – Hallows, Hallowmas, Hallowe’en, Samhain, Celtic New Year
Dec. 21 – Winter Solstice, Yule, Midwinter Day
Welsh Names:
Feb. 1 – Calan Fair, Nos Gwyl Fair (was not widely celebrated in Wales)
Spring Equinox – Alban Eilir, Gwyl Canol Gwenwynol
May 1 – Bealtaine, Calan Mai, Nos Galan Mai
Summer Solstice – Alban Hefyn, Alban Hefin, Alban Heurin, Gwyl Canol Haf
August 1 – Calan Awst, Nos Gwyl Awst, Gwi Awst, Ffhaile Llew, first harvest (was not widely celebrated in Wales)
Fall Equinox – Alban Elfed, Gwyl Canol Hydref, second harvest
Oct. 31 – Calan Gaeaf, Nos Galan Gaeaf, various other spellings, final harvest, New Year, Merry Night
Winter Solstice – Alban Arthan, Gwyl Canol Gaeof
In addition to these, there are a lot of other Welsh holidays – Pagan, Christian and national, including St. David’s day on March 1, Rhiannon’s day on Dec. 18, Merry Night whenever you’re finished harvesting, and many more.
Irish Names:
Feb. 7 – Oimelc, Imbolg, La Fheile Brighde
Circa March 21 –Mean Earraigh (not widely celebrated in Ireland)
May 6 or 7 – Beltaine, Beltene, Beltine, Cetsamhain, Sam (beginning of summer)
Circa June 21 to 24 – Mean Samraidh
August 6 or 7 – Lughnasa, Lunasa, Lughnassadh
Circa Sept. 21 to 23 – Mean Foghamar (not widely celebrated in Ireland)
Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 –Samhain, Samhaine, La Samhne, Gam (beginning of winter)
Circa Dec. 21 – Mean Geimhridh
In Ireland the year is divided into “Raitheanna”, quarters and cross quarters, headed by “Raithe”, the beginning day of the quarter. The “true quarters” are Samhain, Imbolg, Beltain, and Lughnassadh. The others are called “crooked quarters” and refer to either the seasonal solstices and equinoxes or Christian holidays such as St. John’s Day on June 24th. Some believe that these sacred days were celebrated on the new or full moon following the solstice, equinox or true-quarter day.
The dates listed above may have shifted to the present holiday dates after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. This measurement was designed to show the actual length of time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun. In 1582, Pope Gregory decreed that calendars should drop 15 days to rectify solar time with the actual date. The Protestant Germanic countries didn’t change their calendars until 1700. By this time, the calendar date trailed the seasons by 11 days. Britain finally changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian system in 1752.
There are many other English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh holidays with Pagan overtones, including Twelfth Night, Plough Monday, Witsunday, Martinmas, Rag Day, Up Hella Aa, Hogmany, the Muckle Supper and so forth. For expedience I’ve listed some of them under the modern neo-Pagan name for the holiday (see below) .
Rituals: What the ancients (probably) did:
*Honored the fertilization, pregnancy and birth of people and animals
*Lighted fires on hilltops and within holy sites, burned sacred wood
*Divination using natural methods such as the flight of birds
*Worshipped at sacred wells and springs
*Shamanic trancework, ecstatic rituals
*Hoodening – dressing in animal skins for the purpose of hunting or animal fertility
*Burned a Wicker Man or other effigies
*Used natural events to schedule actions related to nomadic herding – moving to new graze land, slaughter of herd animals
*Brought greenery indoors in winter, decorated with greenery and flowers in springtime
*Herbalism for healing, protection and magic
*After agriculture was invented, celebrated the planting, harvest, and threshing of grain
*Created talismans for homes, barns, workplaces and travel
*Performed rites to promote craftsmanship, hunting, fishing, and domestic harmony
*Plow ceremonies on Imbolc, planting rituals between Spring Equinox and Bealtaine
*Harvest ceremonies between the first of August and the last day of October
*Ritual cleaning of the home
*Held dances and agricultural fairs with games, feats of skill and sporting events
*Told and acted out stories in a ritualistic manner
*Placed holy objects onto sacred trees or bushes, decorated trees with ribbons or trinkets
*Held gatherings at sacred sites, including Newgrange and Stonehenge
What the ancient Celts did NOT do:
*Build the standing stone monuments… most were erected by earlier inhabitants
*Lighted candles on Imbolc – this tradition likely dates to Medieval times
*Colored Easter eggs – This custom came from the Slavic and Baltic territories, by way of the Saxons, probably during the early Middle Ages; however, there is some evidence that the Celts dyed eggs red with ochre or madder to represent birth.
*Lammas Loaf – The ancients probably never baked anything with trinkets in it, such as figgy pudding with a sixpence, or a loaf of bread with prizes. These customs likely developed in more modern times, with the invention of the brick or iron oven. This may date the practice as a “mere” two thousand years old. Some traditions had objects associated with divination hidden in mashed potatoes or turnips.
*Called the Fall Equinox holiday “Mabon” – this name was likely invented by Valiente or perhaps Aidan Kelly
*Trick-or-Treat – Not as we know it today. Mummers’ plays, wassail processions, hoodening parades and other house-to-house customs may have contributed to the modern tradition.
*Carved pumpkins – Instead they carved turnips, placed lights in small clay or chalk vessels, or used burning rushes or torches in processions.
*Put a Yule tree in the house – Ancient people often decorated trees outside using ribbons, rags, food offerings, trinkets, coins, and sacrificial animals (sorry – the Romans wrote about this often enough for it to be true.) Many ornamented trees or bushes are found near sacred wells in the British Islands up to the present day. Tying a rag or ribbon to their branches is believed to have magical or healing effects. The custom was not specific to any one holiday. The decorated Yule tree was a later tradition brought from Scandinavia and Germany.
Which leads us to – The meaning behind the Pagan holidays:
Much of the information Mr. Gardner found about the “Wheel of the Year” holidays came from Sir James G. Frazer’s book of comparative folklore, _The Golden Bough_, first published in 1890 and revised in 1922. Some scholars like to say that Frazer was “discredited”, but this is not true. Frazer was a Fellow at Cambridge University, where he translated classic literature, including Homer. He wrote over twenty other books, several of which are still in print and used to teach mythology in college courses today. Frazer’s theory about every religious system containing a “sacrificial king” hasn’t held up to scrutiny, but many of his other ideas have been supported by historians.
For _The Golden Bough_, Frazer did ethnographic studies of European Pagan customs by sending letters to missionaries who had witnessed the ceremonies firsthand. (So yes, they said things like “The Celts worshipped the trees” because in the context of the late 19th century, that is what they thought they were observing.) Frazer then paralleled the European traditions with Christian legends, as well as Greek and Roman literature, in which he is still considered to be an expert. He wrote extensively about his findings, noting similarities and differences and making speculations about the origins of worship. Other writers, sociologists and folklorists have made similar observations about these Pagan holiday customs.
A popular historian recently accused some of the anthropologists of manipulating data on the seasonal ceremonies. Supposedly, they asked participants to include certain elements such as “fire worship” in their rituals. However this does not take into account the similarities found in ceremonies held across Europe during nearly 150 years of study. Many of these traditions were also documented by local folklore societies or family historians, who interviewed older residents with the intent of preserving individual town histories. Some of the rites vary in minor ways, such as the wording of song lyrics. Many of the traditions that Frazer wrote about were photographed, often by family members with no scholarly agenda, and these pictures now appear online. Several of the customs are still practiced in isolated European communities, or are being revived in the present day. Here are a few:
Imbolc, Imbolg, Oimelc – Translations: In Belly, In the Bag, Sheep’s Milk. This was one of the four holidays believed to be celebrated by the ancient Irish. The day was originally intended to commemorate the birth of lambs, an economically important event in past times. Several rituals were performed to enhance the fertility of the flocks, such as wreathing them with ribbons and blessing them, or putting up talismans in barns. Other sheep-related rites including drinking ewe milk and eating the last stored mutton. Cheese made from sheep milk was sometimes served for breakfast.
Imbolc was the day to begin plowing the fields, as the climate was warmer during the Bronze and Iron ages. Pliny the Elder noted in the first century C.E. that the Celts had better plows than the Romans, and that they began plowing “early”. These tools were also used to cut turf for fuel. Plowing games and races were enjoyed, with attendant feasting. Some customs, such as Plough Monday, now celebrated in Britain near Twelfth Night or the Christian Epiphany, may have originally been related to Imbolc. A plow is decorated and carried from house to house by plow boys, plow jacks or plow stotts, young men dressed in rags with blackened faces who sing rowdy songs and beg for treats. Sometimes they were even called “plow witches”. Homeowners that refused to give them an offering would risk having their front yard plowed up. The Ploughboys are sometimes accompanied by a Molly or Malkin, a man dressed as a woman who performed a lively rustic dance. This custom was first written about in the sixth century, when some plow jacks got into trouble for plowing up the kirkyard in Scotland.
The custom of dressing a Straw Man or Straw Bear and parading him through the streets is also part of this holiday in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England. This may have come from the Germanic countries, because the Saxons had outposts in these locations. A similar straw figure is used in Norway and Germany in recent times. This figure may originally have been related to the fertility of the fields, or he may have served as a symbolic scarecrow. Imbolc was also the day that greenery left over from Christmas or Yule was removed from the home. It was often ritually burned. In some locations, it wasn’t removed until spring. Both the straw bear and the greenery may have protective or talismanic qualities, removing “evil” from the locality.
Brighid’s Day or Bridget’s Day was adapted by the Catholic Church as a saint’s day on February 1st or 2nd, very probably derived from ancient Irish worship of the goddess Brighid. It was celebrated on the Continent as well as in the British Islands. In Britain, it was observed as the Wives’ Feast. This holiday was never that important to the Welsh or Scots. Irish women create equal-armed Brighid’s crosses, which may have been an older custom which was Christianized during the Middle Ages. These crosses were made from rushes or straw saved from the last sheaf of grain harvested in the fall, and were used to bless and protect the home or cattle barn. Like the Celtic cross, they may represent the sun or the compass points. Women would also create “Bridey” dolls of straw and cloth. These were taken to sacred wells to be anointed and blessed. Villagers would decorate these holy wellsprings on Brighid’s Day, including the font at Kildare in Ireland dedicated to St. Bridget. There are hundreds of symbols, sacred sites and legends of Brighid, both as goddess and Catholic saint. Many can be found online.
Oestara – The use of the name may be old, or may be the invention of Doreen Valiente, who sought balance with the divine feminine. The word Easter may have come from a little-mentioned Teutonic goddess Eostare or Oestara, or possibly Esther, Astarte or Ishtar. It might derive from the Norse “aestur” which means to “grow warm”. After the rise of Christianity, the Venerable Bede wrote about “Eostur Monath” or “Eastre”, which took place in April on the European continent. It’s notable that he used this name rather than calling it “Paschal month” for Passover or the passion of Christ. Alban Eilir can be translated as Time of Spring or Light of Earth in old Welsh. . The equinoxes mark a time of equal daylight and darkness, and the dates when the sun crosses the celestial equator.
Dr. Margaret Murray wrote that the equinoxes were never celebrated in Britain until the Saxon invasions – but that would make the holiday “only” 1, 600 years old. There is archeological evidence that spring equinox customs may have been celebrated in ancient times in Great Britain, then died out during the Iron Age, and later revived during the Roman occupation. The Sequani Calendar marks the equinoxes as astronomic events, as do various sacred sites of the British Islands
The Romans used either the first of March or the spring equinox to mark the first day of the new year. With the changeover from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian in Europe, the day of the new year moved from sometime between March 25th (Lady Day) and April 1st, to the first day of January. This change may be the precedent for April Fool’s Day. People who still celebrated the new year around the equinox were called “April fish”. Some of the current April Fool customs may be related to the first day of spring, or they might have come from the tomfoolery originally associated with Bealtaine.
Coloring eggs may have had a ritual significance as early as the Bronze Age on the European continent and in the Scandinavian, Baltic and Slavic countries. Fragments of dyed eggs have been found in excavations of Saxon homes, and creating elaborate multicolored eggs are a Scandinavian art. Pace Egging endures as a working-class tradition in rural England and Ireland and may be based on a Pagan rite, although the name likely derived from “paschal”. On Easter, eggers go from house to house, singing songs, performing short plays and begging for colored eggs or treats. One description of the eggers says that they originally wore animal skins, linking the custom to hoodening. The term “egging him on” came from the bad puns and insults which Pace Eggers yelled at those who refused to give them a treat. An older celebration included looking for bird’s eggs in nests, because birds will not usually lay their eggs until the weather is warm enough for their survival. This information would be vital to an agrarian society, and the need to plant crops after all danger of frost is past.
Folklore relating to hares and rabbits comes from both Celtic and Saxon traditions. The moon in March is called the “Hare Moon”, and the saying “mad as a March hare” refers to the crazy behavior of mating bunnies. Witches were said to transform themselves into hares, which may be the remnant of a shamanic belief in animal totems. (The word totem is used here to mean a spirit being, helper or guide in the form of an animal, or a special creature which the seeker has an affinity with.) Seeing a hare before sundown was said to bring good luck, but after sunset it may be an ill omen. And “hare pie” was a favorite dish amongst peasants and nobility alike.
Hot cross buns may have been baked as a Pagan tradition, before their use as an Easter treat. The cross may represent the directions, the quarters of the moon, or it may be a solar cross. In some locations they were hidden away in the attic as talismans.
The early Catholic Church held St. Patrick’s feast Day on March 17th and Lady Day on March 25th, both close to the spring equinox. The Christian holy day of Easter is held on the Sunday following the first full moon following the spring equinox, which has distinct Pagan overtones. The rites of spring were celebrated in Wales with sowing and planting activities, including plowman games. This may be patterned after the Roman rites of spring, which was also a time of feasting and games. Of course, the pre-Lenten Carnival or Mardi Gras activities have their roots in Pagan celebrations
Our next installment of "Another Pagan History", PART 5, will include the Sabbats from Bealtaine to Lughnassadh. PART 6 will include the holidays from Mabon to Yule. Ya'all come back!
Footnotes:
If I wrote a bibliography for this essay series, it would probably be fifty pages long, so please go explore for yourself. All of the information contained in the text was either found online, in books attributed to the authors mentioned, in artwork or artifacts found in museums. Some of the information even came from news articles found in “The Wren’s Nest” here on “The Witches’ Voice”.
If you wish to explore a topic for yourself, I suggest using Google.com and typing in each subject, for instance, Gardner + “Book of Shadows”, “Gwen Thompson” + Rede, England + “harvest rituals”, pentagram + “witches foot”. Try using different wording, such as England + folklore, or Britain + folklore.
You’ll find some sources that insist that a custom is really old, especially on local history sites, in museums, and tourist excursion brochures. Others will be just as adamant that a custom is newer and without Pagan roots, such as the folkplay study. Many of the sites that I used to learn about the holidays / sabbats are from British and Irish tourist websites, which have really cool pictures of the customs.
Copyright: Copyleft 2006 by A.C. Aldag. Please feel free to reproduce this essay series, but please give credit where credit is due. Thanks!
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Post by KittyLane on Feb 4, 2007 0:35:43 GMT -5
Author: A.C. Fisher Aldag
Posted: December 17th. 2006
Times Viewed: 1,888
PART 5: In our last installment, "Pagan Holidays or Wiccan Sabbats", we explored some of the likely origins of the modern Pagan holiday celebrations. We took a look at some of the older names, calendar changes, and possible meanings behind the festivals. We also discussed two of the holidays, Imbolc and Oestara. For these holidays I'm using the most popular versions of their names, and outlining some of the historic practices as well as the current Wiccan and neo-Pagan rituals.
In this essay, I will discuss the practices and customs of Bealtaine, Leitha, and Lughnassadh. Some of the sources for these holidays may be ancient; some may be more recent. Some came to the British Islands with the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, or were even taken from Christianity. Others were the folkloric traditions of hereditary Pagans. Aidan Kelly, Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente and others may have invented some of the rituals. But what's really old, and what likely ain't? We can't always tell.
More Pagan Holidays or Wiccan Sabbats
Bealtaine: There are varying spellings and pronunciations, including "Bell-tawn-yah". Bel, Bile, Belatucadros, Belenus or Belanos is the British or Gaulish sun god, called Beli Mawr in Welsh. "Bel" is an older Irish and Welsh word for fire or brightness. "Tain" is a word for fire in Welsh, or raid in Irish. Belisama is a British or Gaulish fire goddess. The Basque god Bel also had his holy day on May 1st. Calan Mai is Welsh for the first day of May, or calend of May. It was called Walpurgistag in Germany after the saint Walpurgia, or possibly an older Pagan deity.
Catholics celebrated this holiday as Roodmas. This name comes from the Holy Rood, or the thorn tree that was the legendary wood used for the crucifixion (or perhaps the crown of thorns). One ceremony includes 'bauming the thorn', adorning a hawthorn tree with ribbons and trinkets. This may have been an older custom that was Christianized, as hawthorns were sacred in many Pagan traditions, providing visionary capabilities, homes for fairies, and protection against baneful magic. This parallels the custom of the clootie tree, although these decorated trees are not always hawthorns. Much lore about the hawthorn tree survive, including the belief that bringing the flowers indoors on Mayday is good luck, but previous to that date the flowers are unlucky. Similar tales are also told of rowan trees that may be found at the middle of fairy rings.
Bealtaine was / is celebrated in Britain, Wales, the Isle of Man and Cornwall continually up to present times, documented well before Mr. Gardner wrote about Wicca. The holiday was definitely observed as a fire festival. In a book first published in 1894, _Irish Druids and Old Irish Religion_, a folklore scholar named James Bonwick compared the elder Mayday customs to ceremonies performed in his time. He interviewed local historians, including a Mrs. Bryant, listed as an 'expert on Irish Celts', who said, "There is more trace of sun and fire worship in the peasantry lingering among us today, than in the Bardic literature of the remote Irish past."
Several other Bealtaine customs are related to fire, including the well-known bonfire jumping by a couple to ensure their fertility. Fires were kindled on hilltops, and often were the focus of all-night May festivities. In some localities, hearth fires were extinguished, later to be rekindled by a coal from the community 'balefire.' This word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon languages, and may have the connotation of holding 'baleful' or bad influences at bay. The word bonfire may have come from 'bone fire', or fires that were composed of animal bones. It may also have arisen from the French 'bon', or good. In Scotland, an elaborate ritual was enacted to kindle the fire, as documented by Robert Burn's patron, Lord John Ramsay. Across the UK, cattle were driven between two fires for their spiritual protection. And couples would sometimes lay by the fires to engage in more pleasurable activities.
Some Bealtaine traditions may have come from the Roman Floralia, or Flora’s day, when revelers adorned their homes with flowers in honor of the spring goddess Flora. The ‘Furry Dance’ or Flora’s Dance of Cornwell is listed on several town websites as an older Pagan custom. Participants garland buildings with greenery and flowers, and dance through the villages in a daylong celebration, singing folk songs. ‘Bringing in the May’, or wearing flowers and leafy branches, is practiced at dawn accompanied by music and dancing throughout Europe. Churchmen were forbidden to participate in this rite as far back as the 1200s. In some costal locations a wreath of flowers and leaves was made to adorn boats, or thrown into water to appease the sea. Some of the materials used included hawthorn flowers, commonly called ‘the May’, birch branches, apple blossoms or greenery from the rowan tree.
Young men wearing elaborate leafy costumes called ‘Jack in the Green’ parade through the streets of Great Britain on Mayday, accompanied by young ladies with flowery crowns or chaplets. While Jack in the Green can only be traced to the mid-1700s, practiced by chimney sweeps in urban areas, the custom might have been brought to the cities by rural youths longing for greenery. A similar ritual was enacted in several English locations, including the construction of a female foliage statue. These traditions may have been originally performed in honor of various forest deities and fertility goddesses. They could be related to the ‘Woodwose’, or wild man of the woods, a legendary figure sometimes portrayed as half-man, half-plant.
The custom of the May basket may be an older one, related to courtship. Often they were hung over the doorknob for the lady of the house to find. In more recent days, baskets of flowers, or bouquets called nosegays or posies were given to mothers, teachers and sweethearts. In Victorian times, the flowers came to have symbolic meaning, such as violets for remembrance. May baskets were also placed on top of the Maypole.
As previously mentioned, the May pole might have come from the Saxon incursions, or it may have been an expansion of the clootie tree rites or bauming the thorn. The Saxon tradition of using only red and white ribbons may have come from healing bandages, similar to the barber pole. An elaborate stained glass window in Betley Hall, probably dated from the early 1500s, shows one such maypole. Some earlier English records indicate that maypoles weren’t originally decorated with ribbons, but with paint or garlands of greenery and flowers. Later societies used various colors of ribbon. There are town maypoles in Germany which are over 1, 600 years old, still in use today. A similar ritual was reportedly practiced in ancient Greece. A group of men carrying something that looks remarkably like a maypole is depicted on the Gundestrup cauldron. The Basque people may have originated the custom, and still hold maypole dances for tourists and their own enjoyment in France, Spain, and Boise, Idaho. May branches decorated with flowers and streamers are an old Welsh tradition, possibly related to these spring totems. One custom includes adorning the May branch with hollow colored eggs.
‘Rushbearing’, or bringing in rushes to cover cold stone floors, was a Mayday practice that was later Christianized. The rush leaves were also used as materials for baskets and Brighid’s crosses, or bound and used as torches for Samhain and Yule. Decorated ‘rushcarts’ overflowing with rush leaves, accompanied by dancers and street actors, could be found in small towns across the UK until the late 1870s. Some carts were formed into images, rather like a parade float. The celebration has been revived as a community festival for tourist enjoyment.
Morris dancing and mummers¡¦ plays, or folkplays performed by street actors, may be more recent Bealtaine traditions, possibly based on elder rites. These folk customs involve a dance or dramatization presented outdoors or taken from house to house by amateur performers. The first known written reference to mumming is from 1377. The stained glass window in Betley Hall portrays mummery characters and Morris dancers, as well as a king and queen of the May. The earliest known record of the Morris dance dates from 1448, but Geoffrey of Monmouth made an observation about a similar dance being held at Stonehenge. Dancers wear bells on their legs, matching outfits, and sometimes wave handkerchiefs, sticks or swords. Many Morris ‘sides’ or dance teams include a fool, a Molly or man dressed in women’s clothes, and a person wearing an animal costume. The famous Hobby Horses or ‘Obby Oss’ of Padstow and Minehead in Cornwall and the ‘Ooser’ of Dorset, England are favorite Mayday spectacles that often accompany mummers or dancers. Both of these customs are likely related to the rite of hoodening or guising, wearing masks and disguises for ritual purposes.
Hoodening, wearing animal skins with horns or antlers, was practiced in many British villages from ancient times until the present day. This custom may have arisen from primitive hunting rituals or shamanic rites. Sometimes a ‘hooden horse’ is used in a comic play with rural characters trying to shoe or ride an obstinate steed. Hoodening and similar folk dances are all performed several times a year in various locations throughout Western Europe, especially at Bealtaine. In the early nineteenth century, folklorists and the participants themselves called them ‘ritual dances’. Several of the dance troupes carried a maypole, a small branch decorated with ribbons and tipped with garlic.
Some scholars believe that these folk dances are not really Pagan in origin, because the Morris was documented as a fad amongst the British nobility during the late middle ages. These historians speculate that the Morris craze spread from the upper classes to the ‘common’ people. I believe these scholars may have it backwards. Like modern rap music, the Morris could have originated with working-class individuals, and then spread to the leisure class. While the nobility got bored with the Morris fad, the chimney sweeps and milkmaids continued their tradition. As one Morris website points out, “Nobody asked the (chimney) sweeps”.
In 1899, a folklorist and musician named Cecil Sharpe witnessed rural British men dancing the Morris on Whitsun Day (‘white Sunday’), a Christian holiday celebrating the Pentecost which takes place fifty days or seven Sundays after Easter, usually in mid-May to early June. (Other sources indicate that Sharpe first viewed the dance on Boxing Day, Dec. 26th.) Sharpe began documenting various Morris tunes, dances and customs, theorizing that these ‘ritual dances’ had origins in an older Pagan tradition. As a result, the dance began a revival. Sharpe was accused of both gentrifying and Paganizing the tradition. Several Morris dances and folk plays reflect Pagan themes, including nature and hunting symbolism.
Leitha: The name is possibly the invention of Aidan Kelly, or perhaps it is derived from an Old English (Anglo Saxon) word for leaves. The Venerable Bede called both June and July ‘Litha Monath’. The word may also have roots in the Scottish village of Leith. In the nineteenth century, Leatha was a popular name for women. Alban Hefyn means ‘time of warming’ or ‘light of summer’ in old Welsh, but using this name for the holiday may be Iolo Morganwg’s contribution. It can also be spelled Alban Hefin. On the modern Welsh calendar it is listed as Gwyl Canol Haf, or first day of summer. The Irish name ‘Samraidh’ can be translated as ‘summertime’. Christians celebrate St. John’s day anywhere from June 23rd to June 25th. Midsummer, as the name implies, was the midpoint of summer to some of the Celtic nations, whose summer season began at Bealtaine. It was the observation of the date between sowing seeds and harvesting the crop. Other civilizations recognized June 21st as the beginning of summer, when the earth begins to tilt toward the sun. The Solstice has the longest day and shortest night, which was likely significant to ancient people.
There is considerable evidence that shows that older civilizations celebrated Midsummer as a holy day. Several stone-age monuments, including the famous Stonehenge, and the ruins of buildings have architectural features corresponding to the solstice sunrise or moonrise. The Scottish dolmens at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis also feature summer solstice markers, and one legend says that ‘the shining one’ visited this monument at Leitha. (Could the island be named for the god Lugh / Llew / Lugos?) The Sequani Calendar links Midsummer Day to several astronomic events.
Midsummer traditions included bonfires, games, music, agricultural fairs, and divination using a glass ornament or crystal called a ‘glaine’ or witch’s ball. Several fragments of these glass balls, also called ‘Druid’s glass’, have been discovered buried within sacred sites. Many different fire customs, including rolling a burning wagon wheel or carrying buckets of lit tar, were documented since the medieval period. Some of these are attributed to burning St. Catherine’s torture device, or burning a scarecrow symbolizing Guy Fawkes, yet other rites seem authentically pre-Christian. Processions using lit torches were documented from Roman days. The burning of a Wicker Man on the solstice holiday was recorded both by Claudius Caesar and the Normans, and the custom survived until the mid-1880s, as observed by Mr. Bonwick. Wicker men were burned in Russia and the Germanic territories as well. Straw effigies were also set on fire in other locations. Harvest customs such as wearing straw costumes or leafy branches were practiced at Midsummer and survived in the British Islands until the 1930s. These traditions may point to a time when criminals were used as a human sacrifice. Later, scarecrows and straw men were burned instead.
Another favorite custom involves the gathering of oak, ash and thorn sprigs at Midsummer, immortalized in Rudyard Kipling’s _Tree Poem_. Oak represents strength, hawthorn was a protection against baneful magic, fairies and more mundane thieves, and ash was commonly used for arrow shafts, as well as a charm against fire. This is because in a forest fire, ash wood often does not burn. The three twigs are tied together with red ribbon and used as a talisman to protect the home, barn or workplace.
Many Midsummer customs involve fairies and other spirit beings, either the desire to see them or protection against their pranks. Sleeping beneath an elderberry bush on Midsummer night was guaranteed to make fairies appear, but the seeker was advised to wear her clothing inside out and carry a sprig of rue to prevent bewitchment. Milk and strawberries were left outdoors, often on the back step, to appease the fairies. Elves were said to create tangled ‘elf locks’ in the manes of horses or lovers caught sleeping outdoors on the shortest night. And of course Shakespeare’s _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ contained legends of the fairy folk, including the playful Puck. In many localities, belief in fairies, elves and sprites long outlasted the advent of Christianity.
Leitha was a favorite time for pilgrimages to sacred wellsprings, where the font would be decorated with flowers, green branches, straw decorations and trinkets. These holy wells, often dedicated to goddesses, fairies or water nymphs, were believed to have purifying or healing properties. Sometimes the legend was altered to include a Catholic saint as the founder of the well. However, Pagan rituals associated with wellsprings were practiced right up to the present day. Approaching the well before dawn, circumnavigating the water three times, leaving an offering of silver, bathing in the spring for healing or purification, praying to the spirit of the well, and other overtly Pagan rituals were common at Midsummer as well as on the designated saint’s day. Some of these rites were documented as banned by the Church, although that didn’t seem to have much effect on their practice. Many photographs of these sacred wells appear online.
Another popular tradition is ‘dressing the well’, which occurs in the Peak district of England in small villages each summer. Well-dressing involves pressing flowers, leaves and other natural materials into a clay-lined frame to create a design or picture. The image is paraded through town and displayed at the site of a sacred well (or lacking that, the public water pipe or horse trough). Originally believed to be a Celtic custom, well-dressing was noted by the Roman Seneca. The first modern reference to dressing the well is from Tissington in Derbyshire, documented in 1349. Local ministers have since Christianized the practice, with Biblical-themed pictures and blessings. This tradition is enjoyed from Ascension Day, forty days after Easter, until early autumn. Many of the wells are adorned around Bealtaine, Leitha and the summer bank holiday. Images can take days to create, but are rather ephemeral, lasting a mere week on the average. Most tourist websites about dressing the well cheerfully acknowledge the custom’s Pagan origin, possibly related to water worship or association with the goddesses of the sacred wells.
Lughnassadh: This was / is a two-week to month-long harvest festival in Ireland, celebrated with county fairs, dances, abundance rituals, sheep shearing contests, greased pig chases, kissing games, and other fun activities. The name may have come from the feast day of Lugh, a god associated with the sun, gaming, sports and skilled labor. His name is also given as Lug, Lugos, Llew, Lleu and Louis. The name Lunassa was used on the Isle of Man until recent times. Several small towns in England, Scotland and Cornwall still hold harvest ceremonies on or around August 1st. It was and is only a minor observation in Wales.
The holiday was not called Lammas, or Loaf-mass, until after the Anglo-Saxon invasions. This term may have come from the Middle English ‘hlaef masse’, which means loaf mass or bread ritual. The custom of baking trinkets into a loaf of bread, as mentioned previously, occurred after the invention of iron ovens. Each trinket represents a prediction, such as a coin for wealth or a ring symbolizing marriage. Another possible origin of the word Lammas may come from the old Spanish or old French word for lambs. In several locations, a roast lamb or whole side of mutton was roasted over a fire on the closing day of the Lammas festival. The word may also come from the name of a special harvest drink, La Mas Ushal.
Mr. Bonwick wrote that the Lughnassad customs survived until the mid-1800s in Ireland as ‘Lucaid lamh fada’, which he translates as ‘festival of love’. This may have a relationship to the trial relationships or ‘greenwood’ marriages that took place during the holiday. The term ‘Telltown marriage’, or a marriage lasting for a specified period of time, may have come from the name Tailltiu, who was Lugh’s mother.
In older times in Ireland, the entire month of August was traditionally the season for trade, convening court, and settling debt. Picking bilberries was a traditional Lughnassadh pastime, documented in the theatrical production Dancing at Lughnasa. Throughout Europe, Lughnassadh was the day to begin brewing beer from grain and hops. Harvest Home, the Ingathering and Muckle Suppers were celebrated from August to mid-September by Christians as a commemoration of the harvest (which we'll discuss in the next installment of "Another History of Modern Paganism").
In the next essay, we'll take a look at Mabon, Samhain and Yule, and try to discover "What's Really Old, and What Likely Ain't".
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