Calendar of the Asatru Year Heimdall's Lur Kindred September 21st Winterfinding (New Years) Each year on the Autumn Equinox Sept 21st Winterfinding should be treated as a general harvest festival. Whichever Gods you invoke for fertility of the land would be most appropriate to call again at this time. We have honored Frey & Freya as well as Nerthus & Njord for this purpose. You can take your pick. Even more so than other holidays, a large feast is appropriate at this time, perhaps concentrating on local vegetables and grains more than meat. October 14th Winternights This date on our calendar is in honor of the disir, female fertility spirits ruled over by Freya. Our female ancestors are also counted among the disir, so this is a good time to recall outstanding women in your family line. The mood of Winternights is one of conserving resources against the scarcities of the coming cold season. This is the time of year when the animals which could not be fed through the comming winter were killed and the meat preserved. A libation of ale, milk, or mead is traditionally poured onto the earth as an offering to the disir. Plea for protection during the winter and honouring of the ancestors. Blessing to the elves and disir (2nd Disablot of the year) November 11th Einherjar's Feast Feast of the Heroes. A horn is lifted to the Heroes, both of our faith, of our own blood as well as our personal hero's. December 20th Mother Night (Beginning of Yule Tide) As the night before the Winter Solstice, this is the time when the New Year is born. We honor the beginning of the Sun's return and the breaking of Winter's spell. This is a time to honor Thor and Frey and celebrate by drinking a toast to them. Have a Yule party with family and kindred. Decorate a tree with sunwheels and light a Yule Log. Celebrate over the next 12 nights. December 31st Yule (End of Yule Tide) This culminates the traditional twelve days of Yule. Each day of which is a month of the preceding year in miniature. Reflect on the past year. Take stock and lay a course for the future. Make New Year's resolutions in the old way by swearing your oath on Frey's boar or on your Hammer. January Full Moon Thor's Feast We honor Thor as he who protects us from the Rime-Thurses. It is a time to get to know the other gods as it is winter's coldest month (a cool 60 degrees in L.A.) and a time to be by a warm fire. February New Moon Charming of the Plough or Disting (the Thing of the Idises) This is the date of an agricultural ritual performed in Northern Europe, when grain cakes were offered for the soil's fertility, and Father Sky and Mother Earth were invoked to that end. Meditate upon your dependence on the soil, and crumble upon the soil a piece of bread (natural or homemade, of course) as you call upon Odin, Frigga and the Land Spirits to heal the Earth and to keep it safe From harm. March 21-23rd Ostara - Spring Equinox Celebrates the first day of Summer in the old Icelandic calendar. In Iceland it probably had strong agricultural overtones, but elsewhere throughout the Nordic world, mid-April was a time to sacrifice to Odin for victory, April 30th (May Eve) Walpurgisnacht Walburg is a Goddess of our Folk combining some of the traits of her better known peers. Reflect this day on Freya's sinister side, on Hel, and on Frigga as the repository of the glorious dead, and you will have an idea of Walburg's nature. On this day, pour a horn of mead upon the earth in memory of our heroes. May 1st May Day A summer festival, the celebration of the mystical union with the land, honouring of Freyr and Freya. Dances around the May tree; bonfires on hills. The May Pole/Tree brought from the woods to the town symbolizes that the fertility of nature shall be brought to the town community. A very archaic aspect is ritual sex on the fields. This has later been moderated. ;-). The meaning behind the original act is to transfer the human fertility to the fields. Many of the traditions for spring festivals have a young man and woman in the center, exemplary for the human community. June 20th Summer Solstice (Teaching Blot) The summer solstice was second only to Yule in importance to the ancient Northmen. It is also a time for general merriment and, in the Scandinavian countries, many of what we know as the traditional May Day rituals, such as May Poles and Morris Dances, were celebrated at Midsummer rather than in May. Mid July Teaching Blot/Thing To be determined. August 1st Loaf Fest Festival at the beginning of/during the corn harvest. Honouring of Freyr (and Thor and the golden-haired Sif). The first sheaf is kept as an amulet of fortune The penultimate sheaf is kept for the Yule feast The last sheaf is left on the field for Odin's horse Sleipnir The Calendar of the Vikings As farmers, the Vikings divided the year into summer and winter halves. Each half was further divided into a number of weeks. Months were of less importance for farming. For fishermen and navigators, though, the moon and the 'moons' (months) were important. Though the Viking calendar therefore might appear a little inconsistent, it perfectly served their needs. The calendar which had developed from seasonal and climatic factors, divided the year simply into equal halves; winter and summer. A man's age was counted not in years but in "winters", a custom which still applies to livestock. This would seem to indicate that the beginning of summer was regarded as a "new year", although there was no New Year as such. The year was also divided into lunar months. The counting of days was probably relatively inaccurate, especially in the summer months when the nights are bright in northern regions and it can be difficult to see the moon. Thus summer and winter were also divided into weeks, and periods of time were more likely to be counted in weeks than months. Although the Roman system for months and days existed in Iceland from the introduction of Christianity in around 1000, farmers and seamen invariably used only the old almanac. Not until the late 18th century did laymen begin to use the Latin names of the months January to December. 1998 - The Viking Way - 1998 A Viking 'Moon' Calendar by Harpa Hreinsdottir Time Period Name of the Month December 23, 1997 - January 22,1998 Mörsugur January 23: Middle of Winter January 23 - February 21 Ţorri February 22 - March Góa March 24 - April 22 Einmánuđur February 23: The first day of Summer (A national holiday in Iceland) April 23 - May 22 Harpa May 23 - June 21 Skerpla June 22 - July 25 Sólmánuđur July 26: Middle of Summer July 27 - August 24 Heyannir August 25 - September 23 Tvímánuđur September 24 - October 23 Haustmánuđur October 24: The first Day of Winter October 24 - November 22 Gormánuđur November 25 - December 22 Ýlir Some of these names are believed to be very old, such as Ţorri (which nobody knows what means, but might have been a nick-name for Thor) or Ýlir (probably "Yule-month) which can't be younger than from the 8th century. Others are not so old, such as Harpa (the first month of summer) which first occurs in the seventeenth century. That might be because the old calendar was structured on weeks rather than months. The name is believed to have derived from a word meaning harsh summer. The most popular names of the old months that are still in use in Iceland are Ţorri, Góa and Harpa, although most people are aware of Ýlir as well (Quotes, with the author's permission, from: Saga daganna by Arni Bjornsson, Iceland) home |
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