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Click on the festivals to read about them.
The Pagan seasonal cycle is often called the Wheel of the Year. Almost all
Pagans celebrate a cycle of eight festivals, which are spaced every six or seven
weeks through the year and div..."
Click on the festivals to read about them.
The Pagan seasonal cycle is often called the Wheel of the Year. Almost all
Pagans celebrate a cycle of eight festivals, which are spaced every six or seven
weeks through the year and divide the wheel into eight segments.
Four of the festivals have Celtic origins and are known by their Celtic
names, Imbloc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.
The other four are points in the solar calendar. These are, Spring Equinox,
Autumn Equinox, Summer and Winter Solstice. Neolithic sites such as Stonehenge
act as gigantic solar calendars which marked the solstices and equinoxes and
show that solar festivals have been significant dates for hundreds of thousands
of years.
(The seasonal differences between the hemispheres mean solar festivals are
celebrated opposite different dates in the southern hemisphere)
Winter Solstice
20th/21st December
The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also
known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.
Ancient people were hunters and spent most of
their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a very important part in
their lives. Because of this many ancient people had a great reverence for, and
even worshipped the sun. The Norsemen of Northern Europe saw the sun as a wheel
that changed the seasons. It was from the word for this wheel, houl,
that the word yule is thought to have come. At mid-winter the Norsemen lit
bonfires, told stories and drank sweet ale.
The ancient Romans also held a festival to
celebrate the rebirth of the year. Saturnalia ran for seven days from the 17th
of December. It was a time when the ordinary rules were turned upside down. Men
dressed as women and masters dressed as servants. The festival also involved
decorating houses with greenery, lighting candles, holding processions and
giving presents. Before Christianity came to the British Isles
the Winter Solstice was held on the shortest day of the year (21st December).
The Druids (Celtic priests) would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree
and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the
mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months.
It was also the Druids who began the tradition
of the yule log. The Celts thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in
the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness,
banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. Many of these customs are still followed today.
They have been incorporated into the Christian and secular celebrations of
Christmas...
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The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on goverment-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday. A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers.Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary ...Pagan prisoners win right to have 'magic wands'
Prison bosses have been instructed to let pagan inmates keep twigs in their cells...to use as wands. Officers have been told to allow prisoners to collect and decorate the twigs which they need for their rituals. It is the latest in a series of rulings to protect convicts" rights and ensure equality among different faiths. Followers of other faiths are allowed items such as a prayer mat to allow them to worship.The policy regarding pagans was announced by Justice Reform Minister Maria Eagle in a...Vatican Opens Pagan Tombs Under St. Peter's
A massive altar dedicated to an eastern cult deity has emerged during excavations of a Roman fort in northern England.
Weighing 1.5 tons, the four-foot high ornately carved stone relic, was unearthed at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, which was built by order of the Emperor Hadrian between 122-30 A.D.
The Romans built the defensive wall across the north of Britain from Carlisle to Newcastle-on-Tyne, to keep out invading armies from what is now Scotland.
What should have been...Pagan Religion Grows In Popularity
For many Halloween is a time for fun and dressing up, but for others it has a greater significance - some believe it to be a time for tradition and celebration while others perceive it assomething altogether more sinister."Witches, beware. Mummies, be gone.Halloween may be a celebration of all things creepy and macabre, but a growing number of US communities are shunning traditional ghoulish festivities, seen by some as tainted...Pagan festival held in Pittsburg
What better way to show God you appreciate him than to squander his most
precious gift, life, in a miasma of ruthlessness and gore? In addition to justifying Crusades, Witch Trials and Wars, this theological
breakthrough is also the main justification for the time-honored practice of
human sacrifice.
Sacrifices are perhaps the most ancient method to honor deities, going right
back to the earliest ancestor-worship religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The original theory was "everyone ...
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