Rearranging the Irish Holidays

I felt a bit odd at first when I started thinking about rearranging the Irish holidays. A. of GtGP, however, reassured me that it was not, in fact, blasphemy to rearrange them if I thought it was more beneficial to my practice.

As I grow and evolve in my practice, the calendar represented here will change- although the text in the beginning of the article will not; the final portion of this calendar was last updated in August of 2020.

For the last decade I’ve always celebrated the seasonal holidays in accordance with the Meteorological calendar- as opposed to the Astronomical one the holidays are typically based on; I don’t have the time, nor the energy, to figure out what dates this or that holiday is going to be on in any given year. So it is much easier for me to have a stable date.

Using the Meteorological calendar has provided that stability for me, and it’s worked out great over the years… And then in come the Irish holidays, which occur half a month to a full month before the counterparts I already celebrate.

I admit I’ve used the Meteorological calendar for so long it feels off to me to celebrate using the Astronomical calendar. But I also can’t help but always feel like these holidays are always stuck in the wrong seasons, as well, when my seasonal changes occur much closer to the Meteorological dates. It made celebrating Imbolq on February 1st (which, for all intents and purposes, is still Winter) a very odd experience for me for several reasons.

After Imbolq I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to reconcile that. Everything about it just felt too wrong to me. But this isn’t such a big deal… After all, so much in Early Ireland was specific to the Irish state at the time- including their own seasons. And that, combined with the evidence of significant regional differences? It makes sense to me that if we’re not in Ireland… Then we adapt the Holidays to our own locations.

So I’ll be sticking with the Meteorological calendar. But to make it easier to keep my own variations of the holidays from being confused with the typical Wiccan and Neo-Wiccan (and other) holidays, I’ve decided to give them new names along with their new Meteorological dates; you can see the entire calendar I’ve designed for myself below.

Major Holidays

❇ March 1st: Lá Céadamh;
Welcoming Spring; Equivalent to Imbolc

❇ June 1st: Lá Lárbhliana;
Welcoming Summer; Equivalent to Lá Bealtaine

❇ September 1st: Lá Fhómhairna;
Welcoming Autumn; Equivalent to Lúnasa

❇ December 1st: Lá Deireanach;
Welcoming Winter; Equivalent to Lá Samhna

The major holidays are pretty self explanatory. Each one’s just a reflection of the four major holidays already celebrated in Irish Reconstructionism: Imbolc, Lá Bealtaine, Lúnasa, and Lá Samhna; there’s nothing’s exactly complicated here. There’s also an additional round of secondary holidays, however.

Secondary Holidays

❇ January 15th: Lá Fhéile Íte;
Feast of (Saint) Íte, Foster Mother of the Saints

❇ February 1st: Lá Fhéile Bríde;
Feast of (Saint) Brighid, Mary of the Gaels

❇ February 2nd: Lá Fhéile Mhuire na gCoinnle;
Feast of (Saint) Mary of the Candles

❇ March 17th: Lá Fhéile Pádraig;
Feast of (Saint) Patrick, patron Saint of Ireland

❇ March 25th: Lá Fhéile na Caillí;
Feast of the Cailleach, Creatrix of Ireland

❇ July 22nd: Lá Fhéile Mháire Mhaigdiléana;
Feast of (Saint) Mary Magdalene, High Apostle / Apostle to the Apostles

Secondary Holidays refer to any holidays I’ve picked up in reference to specific Divine figures. Right now, that includes the two I’m ritually Oathed to: Brighid and Cailleach- who each have modern feast days respectively. As of mid to late 2019, the list has been updated to include regularly observed holidays celebrating certain key Christian figures as well.

Some might find it strange that the feast days of the Mother Mary, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. Patrick (among others) are included in the secondary holidays here, when the list is supposed to be about the Irish holidays. It is included, however, because there’s no way to separate the fact that Christianity- or, more specifically, Catholicism- is inextricably linked with Irish mythos as we know it today, and was the primary mode for its preservation… Including the holiday for the Blessed Mother of the Holy Father, the Patron Saint of Converts, and the one who is lorically responsible for their conversion, is one way I’ve personally chosen to recognize that fact within my own practice.

Tertiary Holidays

❇ *February 10th: Lá Fhéile na n-éan;
Feast of Birds; occurs when the Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, or Blue Jay returns- whichever’s spotted first.

❇ *June 25th: Lá Fhéile na tSionnaigh;
Feast of the Fox; Stable date each year.

❇ *October 1st: Lá Fhéile na bhFianna;
Feast of the Deer; occurs whenever hunting season for Deer opens.

❇ *November 14th: Lá Fhéile na gCoiníní;
Feast of the Rabbit; occurs on the average date of first frost.

Tertiary holidays are a bit more highly personalized and celebrate certain factors of the local area. Chief among those is the return of birds in early spring; the Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, and Blue Jay are personally significant to me, and the holiday occurs whenever the first one is spotted.

Foxes are another animal personally sacred to me for a number of reasons. Foxes can be seen all year, however, so I’ve positioned their holiday closer to Lá Bealtaine– a holiday I associate very heavily with Brighid (as opposed to Imbolc, which is far more traditional).

Deer, however, are our most important local hunt- and are also sacred to Cailleach. I also grew up on subsistence hunting and it plays an important part in my spirituality. For that reason, I tend to celebrate the opening of Deer season each year as well. that date is usually stable, but can occasionally change.

Rabbits are also personally sacred to me, and are one of my most important personal hunts. In keeping with a local tradition, however, you don’t hunt them until after the first full frost- even if Rabbit season starts before then. for that reason, this one follows the first frost.

So here’s to a local calendar that works for me. Some of these are personal religious holidays for me which are unrelated to the Irish ones (these are denoted with an asterisk), but yet I feel the need to include them here because they are, after all, related to Irish Polytheism for me.