What are the Celtic fire festivals?

What are the Celtic fire festivals?

Fire Festivals: Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa, and Samhain. In ancient Celtic tradition, a single year was divided into two parts: the darkness, Samhain, and the light, Beltane. These two parts were further divided by Cross Quarter days, Imbolc and Lughnasadh.

What are the four Celtic fire festivals?

Valiente identified the four “Greater Sabbats”, or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe’en, though she also identified their Irish counterparts as Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnassadh, and Samhain.

Is Beltane the same as May Day?

May 1, 2019 – Beltane Beltane is a Pagan holiday, and one of the eight Sabbats. It falls about halfway between the spring equinox (Ostara) and the coming summer solstice, Litha. The holiday celebrates spring at its peak, and the coming summer. Beltane also sometimes goes by the name May Day.

What is Beltane?

Beltane is the cross-quarter day that marks the mid-point in Spring. Beltane comes from the Gaelic word meaning “bright fire”. But many Earth-based cultures had Spring festivals they celebrated at this time, which were called many different things.

What is the Celtic name for Spring Equinox?

Ostara
Ostara, the Celtic Festival of spring In the Celtic tradition the Spring Equinox is celebrated as the feast Ostara and is all about fertility, renewal and rebirth. It goes back to the Germanic Goddess Eostre, who lent her name to the Christian celebration of ‘Easter’.

What are two important Celtic festivals?

• Lughnasadh – harvest festival.
• Mabon – celebration of autumn equinox.
• Samhain – forerunner of Halloween.
• Yule – ancient festival pre-dating Christmas.

What are May Day traditions?

May Day has a long history and tradition in England, some of which eventually came to America. Children would dance around the Maypole holding onto colorful ribbons. People would “bring in the May” by gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving of floral hoops and hair garlands, and crowning a May king and queen.

What are the four pagan festivals?

Four of the festivals have Celtic origins and are known by their Celtic names, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. The other four are points in the solar calendar.

What does ostara mean?

Eostre/Ostara, the Celtic goddess of Spring was celebrated in festivities and dancing around and through the birch tree between the Spring Equinox and Beltane.

Who is the Celtic goddess of spring?

Brigid
Brigid, or the Exalted One, was the Irish goddess of spring, fertility, and life. Beloved by poets, she was the master of both healing and smithing. Her holiday, Imbolc, was held on February 1st and marked the midpoint of winter. Many of Ireland’s wells and waterways were devoted to her.

Did Celts celebrate Easter?

Ēostre – the Spring Equinox – forerunner of Easter It is not known whether there was a name for this festival within Celtic culture but it is believed to be related to the northern goddess Ēostre or Ostara which, in turn, inspired the Christian festival of Easter.

What is a Celtic party called?

A cèilidh (/ˈkeɪli/ KAY-lee, Scottish Gaelic: [ˈkʲʰeːlɪ]) or céilí (Irish: [ˈceːlʲiː]) is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a house party or a larger concert at a social hall or other community gathering place.

Is the Uisneach Fire Festival a Celtic holiday?

The Uisneach Fire Festival draws on ancient traditions to celebrate May 1 and the Celtic holiday of Bealtaine. The modern brings back to life many of these ancient ceremonies.

What was the name of the last Celtic Festival?

It is sometimes referred to as Cetsamhain which means “opposite Samhain.”. Beltane was the last of the three spring fertility festivals, and the second major Celtic festival. Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into its two primary seasons, Winter and Summer.

Why are the four fire festivals important to the Celts?

To Brythonic Celts, however, this was the time of the death of the God (the Sun or the Grain God). The four fire festivals marked the turning of the seasons. Two of the fire festivals, Samhain and Beltane, were considered to be male, and Imbolc and Lughnasadh were female.

Where was the Fire Festival of Bealtaine celebrated?

Legend has it that the festival of Bealtaine was particularly associated with the Hill of Uisneach- “Cnoc Uisneach” in Irish- in County Westmeath, and like most ancient Irish festivals, it was celebrated with fire.