Earth Centered Celebrations

One day Clair Fones, from England, landed in the paradise of Golden Bay and bumped into Grant Knowles. "Wouldn't it be great to organise Earth centered festivals here in N.Z?" She said. "Lets do that!" replied Grant. Soon they were off on a journey around the Wheel of the Year... it just keeps turning!

There are many ways to celebrate the seasons, and the ideas we have embraced are our personal outlook. While there is no doubt about the fundamental, essential nature of both Goddess and God, the female and male aspects, we feel particularly drawn to the Goddess aspect. I feel that this matriarchal view is particularly relevant in our times, due to the current dominance of many patriarchal belief systems. Perhaps the pendulum has to swing towards the female principle, before it can rest in the middle with both female and male energies in balance.

Our celebrations, especially the cross quarters (Imbolc, Beltane, Lugnasadh and Samhuin), portray the transformations of the Goddess during the cycle of life. The Triple Goddess is the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The Crone, Old Woman of Winter, becomes the Maiden of Spring at Imbolc. The Maiden enters Womanhood at the Spring Eqinox. The great fertility rite is enacted at Beltane and the Woman becomes the Mother of Summer, pregnant with the Earths bounty. The fruits of this issue forth at the harvests of Lugnasadh, Autumn Equinox and Samhuin. Then at Samhuin the Goddess changes from her Mother aspect into the post menopausal Crone.

Our Goddess, present at all our rituals

Why Celebrate the Seasons?

Getting a feeling for seasonal ebbs and flows can help us deal with life on all levels. If we are connected to the cycles of the seasons, then we will better understand the changes happening within ourselves at different times of the year. Honouring the dark time of the year helps us accept that the more inward phases in ourselves are completely natural, a way of recharging ourselves. Enjoying the light time of the year helps us to immerse ourselves in the joy of being alive.

Celebrating the seasons brings us to a deeper understanding of the delicate interconnected balance in which we live and are cushioned from in modern times. If food runs out, we just pop down the supermarket; but how many of us grow our own for when they run out? Food growing is but one example of the sharp edge of reality that we all live on. In times gone by, our ancestors experienced their lives as intimately and holistically intertwined with the fabric of life; birth and death, joy and sorrow, times of light and times of dark. Ceremonies and rituals were held to propitiate the Goddesses and Gods that they believed governed their chances of survival. The balance of our lives is just as delicate now, though we are shielded from this by the conveniences of modernity. Celebrating the seasons is the beginning of living with ecstatic awe in the miracle of life, of which we are a part.

This is the time of the shortest day and the longest night. The deciduous trees are bare of leaves, the winds blow cold and we wonder if the light will ever again return. It is now that a mid winter festival is needed to warm our hearts and bodies, and what better time than when the days begin to lengthen and the sun appears as if reborn. We are reminded once again of the cyclic universe; endings are merely new beginnings. A time for feasting and the exchanging of gifts.

Imbolc is the festival of early spring. The name Imbolc refers to the lactation of animals, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life giving forces of spring. Warmth is increasing and there is a sudden burst of life in the soil. Another meaning is ‘in the belly’, as the Earth is pregnant with new life on the verge of bursting through. The Crone of Winter drinks from the stream of youth and transforms into Bridgid the Maiden, Celtic Goddess of fire, inspiration and healing. Crafts made on this day are often dedicated to Bridgid, and candles are lit in her honour.

Darkness and light hang in balance. The Earths creative strength has been renewed. Ostara, the Anglo Saxon Goddess of spring and dawn, presides over the Maiden’s initiation into Womanhood; her first menstruation. A good time to sew the seeds of what you wish to make manifest in your life as the year cycles on.

Beltane is marked by a spirit of lightness and growth, of nature, the mind and the spirit. Earth energy is at it’s peak now, as the whole of nature quickens. At Beltane is held the great fertility rite of life; the union of God and Goddess to conceive the sun-child to be, the bounty of the Earth at harvest. Amorous merrymaking and feasting abound!

Held on the longest day and the shortest night of the year, the Midsummer Solstice is the celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, and that of the bountiful beauty that light brings into life. It is the changing point of the year, as the days will now grow shorter as the light begins to wane.

Lugnasadh celebrates the birth from the Goddess of the first fruits of the harvest, reminding us of how closely we are tied in one with the Earth. It is at this time when the days suddenly seem to shorten and the nights grow longer. A fine celebration at Lugnasadh shows that people truly appreciate the bounty given to them by the Earth.

Mabon marks the second harvest, and the end of the grain harvest. Day and night are equal for a single day. Mabon is the time when we reap the fruits of our labor and lessons, both crops and experiences. It is a time of joy, to celebrate that which is passing (for why should we mourn the beauty of the year or dwindling sunlight?) looking joyously at the experience the year has shared with us.

Samhuin literally means summer’s end, signaling the close of the harvest and the initiation of the winter season. Samhuin is said to be the period of time when the veils between the worlds are thin, and when we may honour those past and those yet to come. The Oak Queen of summer secedes her power to the Crone, Old Woman of Winter. We may think of what we need to let go of in our own lives, as the leaves fall from the trees.

* Creating beautiful sacred space in which to honour the changing of the seasons and the changes in ourselves.

* Holding a space where people can celebrate the joy of being alive.

* Highlighting the delicate interconnected balance in which we live.

* Providing a framework around which anyone can suggest ideas and join in on an inspirational, organisational or performance level.

* To create opportunities in which people can give voice to their creative juices.

* To have FUN !!!

Written by Clair Fones

Photographs by Grant Knowles, Bruce King, Charlotte Squire, Richard Dundass and Clair Fones.