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Seasons of the Medieval Year
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 It is likely
that in the early Middle Ages the progress
of the seasons was marked by noting the first
crescent of the new moon. Every 27 days,
that crescent moon would appear in the night
sky in exactly the same position, so the
arrival of a new month could be easily
noted.
The first crescent
of
the
new moon
Within this recurring lunar framework, the
farming year came to be divided by quarter
days every three months, and cross-quarter days
which fell roughly midway between quarter
days. Quarter days were typically on or near
solstices or equinoxes, and marked out the
four seasons of the year. Often these quarter
and cross-quarter days were times of festivals or ceremonies.
Plans were made (and events remembered
afterwards) not by dates, but by festival days;
for example, an event might be said to have
occurred four days after Martinmas, or
to be planned for a week before Beltane. |
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Medieval holidays
SPRING
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March 25
Quarter day |
Spring equinox
Lady Day
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Starting
today, the hours of daylight increased;
this was the traditional beginning of the
year, for farmers and city folk alike.
Christian tradition adopted the spring
equinox as Lady Day,
AKA the Feast of the Annunciation,
celebrating the onset of Mary's
pregnancy. Nine months later, the time of
the winter solstice was adopted as the date
of the birth of Jesus. |
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March 22 to
April 25 |
Easter |
In the Christian tradition, Easter is a movable feast
that falls on the first Sunday after
the first full moon after the spring
equinox. It takes its name from Eostre, or
Ostara, a dawn goddess who is addressed as
Erce in the Anglo-Saxon field
blessing, the "Æcerbot." |
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5 weeks after Easter |
Rogation Days |
A pre-Christian tradition
still practiced today, rogation involves
having the local
priest and his or her followers
reaffirm the
boundaries of the parish by walking along
them while ringing bells and
praying for a successful crop. |
May 1
Cross-quarter day |
Beltane
May Day |
One of the four most important Gaelic
holy days, Beltane marked the beginning of
summer. People and livestock passed between
ritual (bel, bright; teine,
fire) for protection and prosperity during
the coming season.
May Day is a spring celebration that marks the end of the lean days
and
the beginning of summer with dancing,
processions, and rituals related to
fertility and abundance. |
| May 5 |
Þrimilch |
An Anglo-Saxon spring celebration, this is
called
Þrimilch, "three milk," because cattle could be
milked three times a day during this
time.
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SUMMER
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June 20 or 21
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Summer
solstice |
Midsummer Day,
with
the most hours of daylight of
any day of the year, and the fewest of
darkness.
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June 24
Quarter day
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Eve of St. John's Day
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Christian tradition adopted this day for
celebrating the eve of the birth of John the
Baptist. Bonfires are part of celebrations
in many cultures; writing in the 1400s, Shropshire
priest John Mirk says:
...in worship of St John the Baptist, men stay
up at night and make three kinds of fires:
one is of clean bones and no wood and is
called a
bonnefyre;
another is of clean wood and no bones, and
is called a wakefyre because
men stay awake by it all night; and the
third is made of both bones and wood and is
called,
St. John's fire. (Festial 182) |
August 1
Cross quarter day |
Lughnasadh
Lammas
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One of the four chief Gaelic
holidays, Lughnasadh (LOO-nah-sah) is named
for a late-coming god, Lugh Ildanach,
Master of All Skills. His festival celebrates the harvest with
religious ceremonies, athletic contests,
feasting, pilgrimages to holy sites and
wells, dancing, market fairs, and pageants.
Christian tradition adopted this
cross-quarter day as Lammas, “loaf mass,” to
bless the bread
from the earliest harvest as part of a festival of first bread.
It was one
of the more important holidays of the year. |
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AUTUMN |
| September 14 |
Holy
Rood Day |
The traditional day to go
gathering nuts in the forest;
in Christian tradition called
Holy Rood [cross] Day. |
Sept 22 or 23
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Autumn equinox |
This day
has equal hours of daylight and dark; now
the days begin to grow shorter and the
nights, longer. |
September 29
Quarter Day
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Michaelmas |
 This quarter day was absorbed into
Christian tradition as Michaelmas, the Feast of St. Michael
the
dragon-slayer. Harvest continued, along with
the threshing and storing of grain. Winter
crops were sown.On this day, rents and other debts were due, as farmers
now had the means to settle up. It was also the
day in Britain that the estate
reeve was chosen
from among the farmers to represent his
peers and to supervise, under the direction
of the steward, their daily activities.
St. Michael and the Dragon
Walters Museum MS W. 26
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October 31 |
All Hallows Eve |
This
is the vigil
or evening ritual before the cross-quarter
day that entered Christian tradition as All
Saints Day. This night-time celebration is now
called
Halloween, a time when the
boundaries between the living and
dead are blurred. |
November 1
Cross quarter day |
Samhain
All Saints or All Hallow's Day
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Another of the four chief
holidays of the Gaelic year, Samhain
(pronounced SAH-win) marked the end of
summer, a time when livestock was gathered
off the pastures and brought home for the
winter. Only breeding stock was kept until
the next spring; the rest of the beasts were
butchered and the meat processed for
storage. People and livestock
alike passed between ritual fires for purification and
protection as the year moved to colder,
darker times.
In
Christian tradition, adopted as All
Hallows or All Saints Day.
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November 2 |
All Souls Day |
All Souls Day, memorializing the non-saintly
departed. |
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November 11 |
Martinmas |
St. Martin’s Day, named for Martin of
Tours, who was a soldier-monk and bishop but not
a martyr, and revered for his generosity.
Today was traditionally the day on which the
butchering of livestock began, to lay in
supplies of meat for the winter.
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November 30 |
St. Andrew's Day, Advent |
On the Sunday closest to this day,
Christian tradition begins Advent, the four
weeks that launch its religious year. Lasting until December 25. Advent was
traditionally a time of fasting.
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WINTER
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December 21 or
22
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Winter solstice
Yuletide
Yule |
This day is
the shortest of the year, and its night is
the longest.
Yuletide
was actually a two-month long season in December and
January; during this time the festival of Yule
itself lasted for 12 days. The world yule
is from the Old Norse
jól,
the name of a pre-Christian festival that
lasted for 12 days. |
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December 24 |
Módraniht
Christmas Eve |
The
Anglo-Saxon
holy day of Módraniht, Mothers' Night; later adopted in Christian tradition as the night
before the birth of Jesus.
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December 25
Quarter day |
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Christmas Day |
The day of the late Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti,
the Day of the Birth
of the Unconquered Sun.
In Christian tradition, Christmas Day. Like
Yule, the holy days
of Christmas were twelve in number, continuing
from December 24 until January 5. |
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January 6 |
Twelfth Night |
The end of the Christmas holy days, and
called
Twelfth Night or Epiphany, referring to the
recognition by the magi of the divinity of
Jesus. |
February 2
Cross quarter day
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Imbolc
Candlemas
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The fourth of the chief Gaelic holy days, on
Imbolc the Gaelic goddess Brighid
would visit homes as part of a
woman’s holy day and a
time of feasting. Now the ewes began to
lamb, and the cattle were taken off the bare fields
so planting could begin.
The goddess Brighid later took her place in
the Christian pantheon as St. Brigit.
Christian
tradition adopted Imbolc and called it Candlemas,
a holy day marked by candle-lit processions.
Priests also blessed
candles and gave them to people to take
home, where they were used for healing
ceremonies in times of illness.
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