Paganism festivals are celebratory events that are observed by individuals who follow pagan or polytheistic beliefs. These festivals are rooted in ancient practices and traditions and are often connected to the cycles of nature. One of the most well-known pagan festivals is Beltane, which is celebrated on May 1st in the Northern Hemisphere. Beltane marks the beginning of summer and is a time of fertility and growth. It is often celebrated with bonfires, dancing, and the weaving of Maypoles. Another important pagan festival is Samhain, which takes place on October 31st and is considered the pagan New Year.
Paganism festivals
One thing that unites many contemporary Pagans (excepting reconstructionist traditions) is celebrating the Wheel of the Year, eight festivals that mark the changing seasons. Although some of the individual festivals are ancient Celtic/Irish in origin, the current combination of four Celtic festivals with the two solstices and two equinoxes (these events celebrated in many pagan and other religions worldwide) into a pattern of eight equally important festivals does not seem to be traceable back earlier than the 1950s, when put together by Gardner and adopted by Nichols in 1964 (Hutton, 1999). Wiccans, Druids and Goddess devotees all celebrate the Wheel of the Year.
The year begins with the Celtic New Year of Samhain, ‘summer’s end’, (31st Oct/1st November), a time when the veil between the human world and the other world of the spirits is said to be thin. It is a time to remember the dead. It may have been adopted for the Christian celebrations of All Saints (1st November) and All Souls (2nd November). It has also mutated into contemporary celebrations of Halloween (which means the night before All Saints Day) and Pagan, Christian and secular/commercial elements are now very hard to disentangle, as they are in many of the seasonal festivals. Bonfires (perhaps Bonfire night is older than Guy Fawkes) are lit to remind the sun to return, and apple-bobbing may symbolise death and rebirth or may be just a fun folk custom.
Yule, or the winter solstice (21st December) marks the rebirth of the sun. Candles, lights, round sun-shaped decorations and evergreen plants remind people in mid-winter that warmth and life will return. It seems a highly appropriate time of year for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus, with similar symbolism.
Imbolc, 1st February, marks the very beginning of spring, when snowdrops and early lambs appear. Candles are lit to strengthen the lengthening days. The Christian festival of Candlemas on the same day celebrates the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple. The goddess Brighid, or Christian St. Bridget is also celebrated at this time.
The Spring Equinox or Ostara (c.21st March), when day and night are equal, celebrates the new life of spring, symbolised by spring flowers like daffodils, eggs and rabbits or hares. This is close in time to the Christian celebration of Easter, the new life of the resurrection of Jesus. Some Pagans believe that Eostre was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility, and that her name preserved in the English name for the Christian festival. However, there is some debate about the accuracy of that claim within the Pagan community.
Beltane (30th April/1st May) celebrates the beginning of summer and fertility. The choosing of May Queens in folk tradition may symbolise the goddess, and in Roman Catholic tradition Mary is celebrated a ‘Queen of the May’.
The Summer Solstice or Litha (c. 21st June) marks the longest day, and is celebrated notably at Stonehenge. This festival is celebrated either on the actual longest day (usually 21 st or 22 nd June) or on 24 th June which was the date of midsummer in earlier times and is favoured by the British Druid Order (see, e.g., http://greywolf.druidry.co.uk/2015/06/merry-midsummer/). In Christian tradition 24 th June is St. John’s Day (John the Baptist), not so much noticed in England, but very important in Scandinavian countries where midsummer bonfires are lit.
Lughnasadh (31st July/1st August), named after the Irish god Lugh, is the beginning of the harvest, with a theme of the death and rebirth of crops. The equivalent Christian festival is Lammas. The Autumn Equinox marks the turn to the dark half of the year.
Many of the Pagan festivals coincide with Christian ones as noted above, and this seems in part due to deliberate policy on the part of Christian authorities to ‘baptise’ existing celebrations and make use of the seasonal symbolism. However, the story is a complex one and influences may have worked both ways, remembering that the pattern of eight festivals is recent rather than ancient. Some customs may be Pagan adaptations of Christian ones, rather than the other way round.
Many seasonal folk traditions around the country are based on (or possibly more likely, given their often relatively recent origins) have gained a Pagan element in contemporary practice, examples being the ‘Jack in the Green’ celebrations for May day in Hastings, Rochester Sweeps, and wassailing the cider apple trees in Somerset.
Pagans and Renaissance Festivals
Every year, especially in the fall, I get a few emails from people asking why Pagans seem to really dig the cultural phenomenon of the Renaissance Festival or Faire. This got me wondering – I myself go to a nearby RenFest each year. I pick a weekend in September, get dressed up in full garb, and drive two hours to spend a day with my friends in the town of Willy-Nilly On the Wash. We drink mead, flirt with large jousters, and we helpfully point confused, non-garbed visitors to the nearest privy (there seems to be an assumption at RenFest that if you’re in garb, you automatically know where stuff is).
Let the joust begin! Image by edusoft from CC0 via Canva
On the other hand, I’m under no illusions about the renaissance or medieval eras being any sort of wonderful utopias either – I’d have probably died in childbirth or the plague or whatever the disease du jour was, and heaven knows that sanitation and hygiene were not exactly a priority.
That said, though, I started thinking about this – I really do run into a LOT of other Pagans at RenFest. While the Renaissance Festival, whichever one you may be attending, isn’t inherently Pagan itself, it’s definitely a Pagan-magnet. Why is this? I had a few thoughts about this, and obviously this is hardly a scientific journal, but just something based on my own observations and discussions with people I’ve encountered who are both Pagans and RenFest-goers.
Renaissance Festival as Counterculture
Despite the portrayal of Ye Olde Merry Days Gone By, today’s Renaissance Festivals are not, in fact, a thing of centuries past. They actually started up in the 1960s and 70s, in California. Author Rachel Lee Rubin, in her book Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture, refers to the whole thing as “a 50 year-long party, communal ritual, political challenge and cultural wellspring.”
Rubin’s work, which traces the evolution of the 1960s festivals created by Phyllis Patterson to the commercial juggernauts of today’s faires, theorizes that the founding of RenFaire and other festivals were a direct response to the bleak America of the post-Vietnam era. It was a revolt against all of the modern conveniences that America stood for, and for a short period – whether it was a full weekend or a single afternoon – people could get together in brightly colored clothing that they’d sewn themselves, watch bawdy Shakespearean presentations, buy and sell handmade craft items, and forget about their mundane lives. The original event, known as the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, was considered a bit subversive and radical.
It was make-believe on a grand scale, and welcomed to people who were creative and freethinking, during a period in American history in which gender roles and sexual practices were shifting and changing at an alarming rate. Many of the people who, for these reasons and more, embraced the institution of the 1970s Renaissance Faires just happened to be Pagan as well.
Early Harvest Festivals and Fairs
All of the above, of course, is not to say that the Renaissance Festival has nothing at all to do with early history. Back in the Merry Days of Yore, most people’s lives revolved around agriculture and the changing seasons. You followed the weather to know when to plant and when to harvest, and once that harvest was done, it was a time of great celebration, not just for individuals, but also for entire communities. Harvest festivals, country fairs, and even games of strength and stamina took place around the time that the crops were being gathered.
In many rural areas, fall was a time to meet up with your neighbors, plan your employment for the coming year, sell your livestock and crops, and even find a future spouse. Today, a lot of larger Renaissance Festivals take place during the autumn months, around the Mabon season, as homage to our agrarian history.
Renaissance Festivals Today
If you live in the United States, chances are good that you’re within a few hours drive of a big RenFaire. Vendors have figured out that while the Festival itself isn’t specifically Pagan, an awful lot of the guests are, which means you’ll see a lot of Pagan Stuff there.
In other words, don’t be surprised if right next to the woman weaving straw baskets and floral crowns at her booth, you see a guy with a cart selling stained glass triple moons, or a wall hanging with the Wheel of the Year on it. It means that after you’ve watched the joust and eaten more turkey legs than you should, one of the King’s Men may well tip his hat to you, look pointedly at your Very Obviously Pagan necklace, and call out “Nice pent!”
So is a RenFaire a Pagan event? Not at all. Is it something important to Pagans? Not necessarily, depends on the individual. But what a Renaissance Festival does have is many of the elements that attract today’s Pagans – creativity, a chance to live a bit of a fantasy life for a day or two, and the opportunity to encounter other Pagans in the wild. Not only that, it’s fun. All of these make it worth the time it takes to sew up some garb and go enjoy yourself – and if you happen to spot me at Willy-Nilly on the Wash, be sure to say hello!
Celtic pagan festivals
The ancient Celtic pagan festivals marking important transition points during the year go back a very long time. With the coming of Wicca and neo-paganism a lot of those were appropriated and added to a new wheel of the year containing 8 festivals. When presenting these here I want to take a different approach and go back to the roots of the festivals, de-entangle them from their new age associations as much as I can and put them back into their historical and cultural context (with a focus on Irish traditions). For this reason I will use modern Irish names for all the festivals (along with the old Irish versions) but stay clear from the newer names and the anglicized ones.
The holidays or festivals can be separated into two groups: the fire festivals with a focus on community, hearth and home and the otherworld and the cross quarters with a focus on community, the land and this world. If we go back far enough, there used to only two seasons, winter and summer, the transition points between these two being times of great change and instability, associated with the movement of communities from one camp to another. These turning points were the foundation of the first festivals, which were then followed by two other ones marking important times for the harvest seasons.
Another important pagan festival is Samhain, which takes place on October 31st and is considered the pagan New Year. Samhain is a time to honor the dead and is associated with the thinning of the veil between the physical world and the spirit world. Many people celebrate Samhain by holding ceremonies to remember their ancestors and connect with the spirit realm.
The fire festivals
with a focus on community, hearth and home and the otherworld
- Imbolg - (feburary 1st)
- Bealtaine - (may 1st)
- Lúnasa - (august 1st)
- Samhain - (october 31st)
Imbolc is another pagan festival that is observed on February 1st or 2nd. It is associated with the beginning of spring and is a time to celebrate the returning light and the awakening of the earth. Imbolc is often marked by rituals that involve fire and the lighting of candles. Litha, also known as Midsummer or the Summer Solstice, is another significant pagan festival. It takes place on June 21st and is a celebration of the longest day of the year. Litha is a time to honor the sun and the power of light. Many pagans celebrate Litha with bonfires, feasting, and rituals that focus on growth and abundance. These are just a few examples of the various pagan festivals that are observed throughout the year. Each festival has its own unique customs and rituals, but all of them are centered around a deep connection to nature and the cycles of life. Paganism festivals provide an opportunity for individuals to come together with like-minded people, honor their beliefs, and celebrate the beauty and power of the natural world..
Reviews for "Journeying to the Underworld: Samhain and Other Paganism Festivals of Death and Rebirth"
1. Emma - 1 star
I attended a Paganism festival last summer, and it was a complete disappointment. The whole event felt disorganized and chaotic. The workshops were poorly planned and lacked any valuable information. It seemed more like a gathering for people to show off their costumes and socialize rather than a meaningful event. Furthermore, the performers were mediocre at best, and the atmosphere was just not enjoyable. Overall, I would not recommend this festival to anyone looking for an authentic Paganism experience.
2. Matthew - 2 stars
I had high hopes for the Paganism festival I attended, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. The organizers seemed to focus more on commercializing the event rather than preserving the true essence of Paganism. The vendors displayed a wide variety of mass-produced merchandise, which detracted from the authenticity of the festival. Additionally, the workshops were overcrowded, making it difficult to fully engage and participate. I left feeling unsatisfied and questioning the integrity of the event.
3. Sarah - 2 stars
As someone new to Paganism, I was excited to attend a festival to learn more about this spiritual path. However, the Paganism festival I went to was a letdown. The workshops were poorly structured and lacked depth, only skimming the surface of Pagan beliefs and practices. I found it challenging to connect with the community as it felt exclusive and unwelcoming. Overall, I left the festival feeling more confused than enlightened. I would encourage others to seek alternative events that provide a more enriching and inclusive experience.
4. Mark - 1 star
I attended a Paganism festival recently, and it was nothing short of a disaster. The overall organization was abysmal, resulting in confusion and frustration. The advertised rituals and ceremonies were canceled without any prior notice or explanation, leaving attendees confused and disappointed. Moreover, the lack of proper infrastructure, such as restroom facilities and seating areas, made the experience highly uncomfortable. It was evident that the organizers did not put enough effort into creating a memorable and enjoyable event. I would strongly advise against attending this festival in the future.