As Samhain approaches and I begin preparations for the dark time of the year my mind has wondered about among various topics that I would like to cover here as well as possible ideas for both a novel and a nonfiction book projects for 2025. The fact that we talk about “2025” should boil the blood of anyone trying to follow their own strain of European Paganism. Moreover, it should anger anyone throughout the world, especially those who do not adhere to the Abrahamic religions: the world numbers its years based on a Christian myth. However infuriating it is, I don’t want to elaborate too much on this topic.
Changing Our Year Numberings
One could ask if renumbering our years based on a significant event would make sense or not. If we consider that, in the Chinese lunar calendar, we are in the year 4722 we can immediately see that having an alternative numbering system for our years (at least in the context of a religious/cultural setting) does make sense.
While researching how to do such a thing I discovered that the Battle of Magh Tuireadh (or Moytura) took place roughly 500 years after the reign of the Yellow Emperor in China. Thus, if we use this evidence, we can set the current year’s number to 4277. On Samhain (1 November in the international calendar) we will enter the year 4278. This numbering will work for those following Celtic/Druidic Paganism from the British Isles and Ireland, but may not work as well for other paths of European Paganism, but similar ideas can be used to calculate a year number that does not make reference to an executed criminal.
What About Months?
Weeks and Months seem to have been less important to the Celts/Druids. The year was divided into two halves; Samhain and Beltane. Samhain began the dark half of the year and Beltane began the light half of the year. There were celebrations within the dark and light half of the year and the new moons certainly carried with them a certain amount of significants, but things like Celtic Tree Astrology that assigns months to Ogham letters and trees is a modern invention (Graves, 1948) and not something I want to incorporate into my practice.
For the coming year, 4278, Samhain begins on 1 November solar with Beltane beginning on 28 April. The new moons between come as follows:
| Solar Date | Celtic Season | Festival |
|---|---|---|
| 1 November | Samhain | Samhain |
| 1 December | Samhain | |
| 30 December | Samhain | Yule |
| 28 January | Samhain | |
| 26 February | Samhain | Imbolc |
| 29 March | Samhain | Ostara |
| 28 April | Beltane | Beltane |
| 28 May | Beltane | |
| 25 June | Beltane | Midsummer |
| 25 July | Beltane | |
| 23 August | Beltane | Lughnasadh |
| 21 September | Beltane | Mabon |
There are 6 new moons in Samhain and 6 new moons in Beltane this coming year, but notice that Samhain, Yule, Beltane, and Midsummer each span two new moons. We can think of the four major festivals as spanning two lunar months and the four minor festivals as spanning one lunar month.
Notice also that I have worked out the calendar based on a solar-lunar schedule. The date of Samhain is set as the closest new moon to the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. The exact solar dates for the equinoxes and the solstices were also very important to our ancient ancestors and thus should not be overlooked. However, in the context of the calendar they would have been days within the overall lunar month.
Festival Preparations
Since Samhain and Beltane are the most important festivals of the year it just makes sense to begin preparations beforehand. I typically begin preparations for Samhain around twenty days before and with Yule about ten days before.
It is important to keep our calendar for our worship separate from the calendar used for day to day affairs (and imposed on us by Christianity). Ultimately, it is up to you if you follow the calendar I have outlined here, or if you modify it to your needs. I only hope that it will be beneficial and help you reconnect to your ancestral spiritual path.
Bibliography
Graves, R., 1948. The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth. London: Faber & Faber.