The Wheel of the Year
The Ancient Festivals
The year can be divided into eight major festivals which
mark the passage of the Sun through the year and relate directly to the
agricultural cycle. This is significant
to many people (including witches). The
current festival is: Beltane (Eve of April 30th to May 1st).
The ancient festival of Beltane is celebrated on the evening
of April 30th through May 1st.
In former times villagers would dance around the May Pole
and bedeck their homes with greenery gathered overnight, May or hawthorn is
popular to gather today.
The celebration of Beltane recognises that the warmer
weather is with us, and Spring gives way to Summer. The countryside is
blossoming, Morris dancers are back and fertility is in the air!
Traditionally the Horned God also known as Jack-in-the-green
unites with the maiden Goddess at Beltane resulting in the re-birth of the Sun
Child at the Winter Solstice.
The Festival of Beltane is celebrated across Europe and the
Celtic countries.
Stag’s Head by Artist Marti Dean
Of the animals connected with witchcraft and magic, the stag
is closely associated with the Horned God of Witchcraft. With roots set in the
pagan histories and traditions of Europe, the symbolism of the stag has been
represented in a variety of ways, from the Neolithic painting of the antlered
'Sorcerer' within the cave Trois-Frères in France, to the Gundestrup
Cauldron, a piece of Iron Age silverwork depicting the Celtic antlered god
Cernunnos.
For some modern witches, the stag–god Cernunnos is recognised
as the horned god of nature and magic, and thus is celebrated in the rituals,
art, and magic of modern witchcraft. This anthropomorphic sculpture of a green
stag with branch-like antlers symbolises the magic of the regenerative force in
nature. The objects hung on the antlers will be changed throughout the coming
year.
For Beltane, the stag has been used as a Maypole and is
decorated with ribbons. Dancing around
the Maypole is said to symbolise the union of the Horned God and the Goddess
(the ribbons intertwine and represent their union).
Maypole Ribbons
Dancing round the Maypole occurs in many communities at this
time of year. It seems to have originally
been a fertility ritual.
The phallic symbol (the pole) is danced around by the young
people of the village. Some traditions
say that the ribbons should be red (to symbolise the female) and white (to
symbolise the male) The two are twined
during the dance as male and female join together.
God and Goddess figures [1119]
Pair of plaster figures - Moon Goddess in silver dress with
garland of grapes and crescent moon on head and a naked bearded God with
antlered black animal head as head-dress were handmade and donated to the
Museum by White Witch.
The Horned God, the masculine is represented by the pole in
the Maypole dance. The Goddess is
represented by the ribbons and (typically) female dancers. Beltane (May Eve) is the time of their
union.
The Horned God and the Goddess mean many different things to
different people but a brief attempt at summarising their symbolism has been
attempted below:
The Horned God represents the masculine, the hunt, the
killing of food and the winter months.
The Goddess represents the divine feminine, creation, birth,
food gathering, agricultural plenty and the summer months.
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