Lughnasa ( or Lughnasadh) was a summer festival marking the beginning of the last quarter of the Celtic or more specifically the Irish year. The Irish year was divided into quarters, each marked by a festival, so we have the great feasts of Samhain , on November 1st , Imbolc on February 1st , Beltane on May 1st and Lughnasa which was celebrated around the 1st of August but the […]
St Swithun’s day on the 15th July is a day when we have to seriously keep our fingers crossed for fine weather otherwise the summer will be ruined. St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain, St Swithun’s day if thou be fair For forty days twill rain nae mare . How did this legend arise and what do we know of the man behind […]
Midsummer already, the longest day of the year on 21st June when daylight lasts well into the late evening and the air is languorous with hazy heat and the sweet smells of honeysuckle and rose . The image most Britons have in their minds on this day is that of the festivities at Stonehenge when the dawn lights the stone and the Druids perform their ancient rituals.A truly magical sight that we […]
St. George , patron saint of England is celebrated on 23rd April. He seems a strange choice for English folk being of Syrian origin and born of a Greek father and a Syrian mother. He was a Roman soldier and was martyred for his Christianity in 303 AD at a time in the Roman world when Christians were being viciously persecuted. It was much later, in the medieval period, that […]
April has begun with the traditional fooling around that is April Fool’s day but why is April a good time to be foolish and play tricks on each other? We have passed the Spring Equinox and now the days are lengthening, day is winning the battle over night and summer is winning the battle over winter, Persephone has returned from the underworld and it is a time of resurrection and renewal as […]
