Drawing from many traditions, we will explore the eight festivals associated with the Wheel: Two Equinoxes, Two Solstices, and the Four between theses points known as the cross-quater festivals.
Each festival will be explained and it's theme explored through mythology. Related holidays and events will be listed & suggestions for ways to celebrate each festival will be outlined
2nd FEBRUARY
Also known by the Celtic name of LUGHNASADH, this festival is calculated 92 days after the LOVE FESTIVAL, working on a calander of 365 days where the other cross-quater festivals are held at the transition from one month to the next. With the sun still high, this festival has a strong mascuilne ambience.
2/ The Australia Day Weekend, commemorating the landing of the English on Australian shores in 1788, sees a variety of community events taking place, including athletic carnivals, craft markets and harvets festivals. Each region has its own native harvest that come in at different times and some-times celebrations can be tailored around these, e.g. early in the last century Aborigines of South East Qieensland gathered for the Bunya Nut Festival between January and March and depending on the bounty of the Bunya Nuts they would invite neighouring tribes to join them.
3/ Elders tend to be unrecognised in modern communities. They are the wise ones, grandparents, teachers, always ready to lend an ear or a bit of advice. Public recognition should be made of their contribution to individuals, families and communities.
4/ The sprirt of the corn is cut down, and so it is also a time of death and commemoration. As loaves are made from the first grain, corn dolies are made from the last. When the last sheath is still standing, the men take turns throwing their sickles at it until it is knocked down, At the feasting later, the victor is honoured and the corn dolly consigned to the fire or buried in the earth to show that the Sunlords time is done. Corn necklaces are made, with their promise of life to be renewed in the spring.
The Harvest is the culmination of the Summer activities, testing each other's strength, showing off skills and abilities, courting a spouse. It has a strong vibrant spirit that encourages us to take control of our lives as thew Wheel moves forward again.
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