Mexican Independence Day

September 16 is celebrated throughout Mexico as the day the Mexican Revolution began and it is actually now a bigger cause for celebration than Cinco de Mayo. As the legend goes, one day Father Hidalgo, an ordinary priest, began shouting from his pulpit, “Viva la Virgin de Guadalupe!” To the Mexican people of that era, this was an incitement to fight for freedom and be rid of Spanish rule. This cry spread across all of Mexico and stirred the people to great power. Unfortunately for the priest who initiated the movement in the name of Guadalupe, it resulted in his execution for treason against the Spanish government. While this was intended to shut the revolution down, it served only to infuriate the Mexican people who revolted and won their independence. This is a day to honor Father Hidalgo and revere Guadalupe with shrines, prayers, invocations, and candle burning.

Fall Equinox Ritual

Establish one room in your house as the temple. Ideally, it is the room in which you normally keep an altar or sacred shrine. In any case, you should create an altar in the center of the space. Place four small tables in the four corners of the directions and place four evenly spaced candlesticks between the tables. Place a loaf of freshly baked bread (bread you have made with your own hands is best) in the east, a bowl of apples in the south, a bottle of wine in the west, and a sheaf of wheat or a bundle of dried corn in the north. Upon the main altar, place a candle, a plate of sweet cakes and a goblet. Light incense and place it in front of the cakes. Before your ritual, take some time for contemplation. Think about what you have achieved during this busy year:

What have you done?

What do you need?

What remains to be done? 

What are your aspirations?

Write down your thoughts and feelings and the answers to those questions. Read what you have written and ponder it. Look for continuing ideas or themes and make notes of these on a piece of paper. Next, take a calming and cleansing quiet bath, and snip a lock of your freshly washed hair and place it on the paper where you wrote your notes. Dress yourself in a robe and enter your temple space. Light the candle on the altar and use this candle to light all the other candles in the temple. Speak the traditional Hebrew words of self-blessing: 

Ateh, Malkuth, Ve Geburah, Ve Gedulah, Le Olahm, Amen: Through the symbol of the pentagram in the name of Adonai.

Repeat this facing each corner, and then face your altar and say: 

In the east, Raphael; in the south, Michael; in the west, Gabriel; in the north, Uriel. Welcome to this place in the name of Melchisedek, the High Priest of the Godhead.

Then go to the east and raise the loaf of bread as offering and say: 

Raphael, Lord of the Winds of Heaven, bless this bounty born of sun and air and earth. Let us feed the hungry and bless the hand that gives it. Place the bread back into the bowl and go to the southern corner. Raise an apple as offering and state:

Michael, protector of the weak and the oppressed,

bless this sun-ripened fruit and let it be not the fruit of temptation but the fruit of our knowledge so we know how to make our choices and understand the measure of both good and evil.

Place the apple back into the bowl and go to the western corner. Lift up the bottle of wine and say:

Gabriel, bringer of the word of God, bless this wine that we may take into our body the wine of life shed by all saviors since time began.

Place the bottle back on the western table. Turn to the north and raise the corn or wheat as an offering and say: 

Uriel, Lord of the Earth and all its bounty, bless this crop that it may be plentiful all over the earth, that this may be a year when all mankind will know the comfort of food and hearth.

Now return to the altar in the center of the temple. Light the incense and place some bread and the chalice of wine on the altar. Dip a piece of bread into the blessing wine. Proclaim:

Melchisedeck, priest of the most high God, in the desert after the battle with the kings of Edom you brought bread and wine to Abraham. In this communion shared between man and priest of the most high God, a covenant was made. I pray that this coming harvest makes bread for the world. In token of the ancient custom, I take this bread and wine into my body.

Now in this sacred place, guide and teach me, show me how to pursue knowledge for the power of good. Help me to grow in wisdom. Bless me. Bless those who share my life. Bless all of those with whom I work. Bless this earth and sweet, green world that gives us all the blessings we enjoy—all the water and wine, all the corn and wheat, all the joys of life in this body. Bless my home.

Take a lock of hair and light it from the candle and burn it in the bowl of incense and say: 

This is the offering of myself.

In the east—blessings to Raphael. 

In the south—blessings to Michael. 

In the west—blessings to Gabriel. 

In the north—blessings to Uriel. 

Blessed be to all.

Now go around your temple space in reverse order and extinguish all candles. Then declare your temple closed. The common wisdom is that you should place the apples, bread, and wine in your garden as an offering the next day, as a blessing to all of nature. 

Rosh Hashanah: The Jewish New Year

This Jewish holiday is a moveable feast and occurs in September (sometimes in very early October). Rosh means “head” and Hashanah means “New Year.” It is a rather somber holiday when participants pray for forgiveness and undertake ten days of penitence, ending in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During Rosh Hashanah, Jews begin their new year with a new outlook and hope of good health, a good year, and a long and happy life.

One ritual aspect of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, by the rabbi. This custom is the signal for Jews to repent and think about their people and the current state of affairs with all Jews. Perhaps the most important aspect of this holiday is the three sets of prayers that are recited during the ten days that remind people of God’s omnipotence, his response to the shofar, and that God always remembers good works and kindness.

You can use these Jewish themes of meditating on your current state of affairs, your family, and the blessings of the gods and angels in a fall equinox ritual. 

September

September 1, Greek New Year September 2, St. Mama’s Day in Cypress

September 3, Sukkot, Feast of the Tabernacles, a Jewish moveable feast celebrated around this time

September 4, Founders day of Los Angeles (1835), the “City of Angels,” celebrated with processions, dance, rodeo, and Mass

September 5, Mother Teresa died in 1997

September 6, First day of the Hebrew calendar since 3761 BCE

September 7, Rificolne in Florence and Siena celebrating Cosimo de Medici’s 1260 victory: a celebration with picnics, lantern processions, folk singing, and street dancing.

September 8, Water Festival honoring springs (Tibet) 

September 9, Chrysanthemum Festival in Japan, Choyo no Sekku, Kiky bo Seku

September 10, St. Salvi Day, French bishop who died and came back to life in 574 BCE still celebrated with parades, feasts, and Mass

September 11, Coptic New Year in Egypt

September 12, National Grandparent’s Day (United States) 

September 13, Epulum Jova, The Great Banquet in Rome 

September 14, First day of Greek Eleusinian Mysteries 

September 15, Day to Respect the Aged (Japan)

September 16, Mexican Independence Day in Mexico (1810) 

September 17, Feast of Hildegard of Bingen

September 18, Feast of Demeter (Ancient Rome) 

September 19, International Talk Like a Pirate

September 20, International Day of Peace

September 21, Autumn equinox (on or around this day)

September 22, Birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings

September 23, Shubun no Hi, grave visiting day in Japan 

September 24, Schwenkenfelder, German Thanksgiving

September 25, Rosh Hashanah, the movable Jewish feast of the New Year, occurs around this date

September 26, Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina’s Day

September 27, Saints Cosmos and Damian’s feast day, Arabian doctors

September 28, Birthday of Confucius, the great Chinese scholar (551–479 BCE)

September 29, Day of Saint Michael and All Angels (also known as Michaelmas)

September 30, the first book is printed with movable type, The Gutenberg Bible, 1452

The autumnal winds bring change as we begin harvesting and preparing for the future. We unpack the warm clothes and woolens, and start to winter-proof our homes, offices and cars. In our modern world, we go back to school and college. Vacations are over, and we go off to work with renewed spirits and goals. We now reap what we have sown throughout the year. Winter is also coming, the “scouring storm.” To survive and thrive in the coldest times, we need to prepare by doing our inner work. 

Lammas Day, August Eve Ritual

Essential elements for this ritual are wheat or barley, sheaves of grain, cauldron, water, one floating candle, one candle for each person present, and essential oils of rose, lavender, or other summer flowers.

To create the sacred space of the ritual, arrange the sheaves of grain in the four directions around a cauldron. Fill the cauldron three-quarters full with water and add essential oils of the flowers of summer. Cast your circle in the usual manner.

At this point, the leader of the ritual should light the candles and then hand them to each person and guide the participants to form a circle around the cauldron. Now the floating candle should be lit and placed in the cauldron by the leader, who says:

O Ancient Lugh of days long past, 

Be here with us now

In this place between worlds,

On this Lammas Day

Rap three times on the cauldron and say:

Harvest is here and the seasons do change, 

This is the height of the year.

The bounty of summer sustains us

In spirit, in soul, and in body.

Now the group circles five times around the cauldron. All present should then speak their gratitude for the gifts of the season, and the riches of the summer bounty. Storytelling, singing, and dancing should all be a part of this rite, and the leader determines when the rite is done by putting out the candles and proclaiming:

This rite is done!

Close the circle.

There are many ways you can create your own variations on Lammas Day celebrations with your own views on the summer season and how you show appreciation to nature and spirit. One lovely way to celebrate Lammas Day is to have a feast that begins and ends with gratitude and blessings for the good and wine with a place set and food served for the great godly guest, Lugh. 

August

August 1, Fiesta Day (Nicaragua)

August 2, Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

August 3, Drimes Day in Greece with offerings to the dead, all-night parties and bonfires in vineyards and orchards

August 4, Dom Perignon invents champagne in 1693— celebrate!

August 5, Grasmere Rush Bearing Festival in Cumbria, England, dating back to the medieval custom of weaving flooring for cathedrals

August 6, Peace Ceremony for World War II bombing of Hiroshima

August 7, Feast of Hathor (Ancient Egypt)

August 8, Dog Days in Japan, or Doyo

August 9, Nagasaki Peace Ceremony in Japan

August 10, Celebration of the Goddess of Reason, established 1793 in France

August 11, Puck Fair in Killarney, Ireland 

August 12, International Youth Day

August 13, Feast of Vertumnus, god of seasons, gardens, and trees, in Rome

August 14, Ferragosto, Italy’s traditional mid-August holiday 

August 15, Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary

August 16, Saint Roch’s Procession in France and Italy 

August 17, Potunis in Italy; Marcus Garvey Day for Rastafarians

August 18, St. Helen’s Day Pilgrimage

August 19, Roman Vinalia Rustica in honor of Venus since 293 BCE

August 20, Szent Isvan Napja, Day of St. Stephen, in Hungary

August 21, Consualia in honor of Consus, god of seeds, grain, and harvest

August 22, Feast of the Queenship of Mary, Star of the Sea, since 1954

August 23, Paper Costume Parade and Holy Bath Day in Portugal

August 24, St. Bartholomew’s Day

August 25, Opiconsivia, festival to the goddess Ops

August 26, Feast day of Luonnatar, Finnish goddess of fertility

August 27, Birth of Isis

August 28, St. Augustine’s Day to honor Augustine of Hippo (354-430), leading Christian theologian and Father of the Church

August 29, Festival of St. John, commemorating his death 

August 30, Santa Rosa (Mexico); Saint Rose of Lima (Peru)

August 31, Anant Chaturdasi, a women’s purification festival (Hindu)

The Romans honored Demeter, the grain mother and overseer of the harvest, during August. The Celts celebrated Lughnassadh in honor of Lugh, their god of many skills. Lughnassadh was adopted and adapted by the Christian church as Lammas (“Loaf-mass”) and is still celebrated. The custom is that when the first grain is harvest, it must be baked into a loaf and offered to Lugh as thanks for healthy crops. Native Americans called August the Corn Moon, and the Franks referred to this time of year as Aranmanoth, The Corn Ears Month. 

Palm Leaf Protection Talisman

This simple ceremony blesses your home with the power of the sun and the protection of the palm leaf. Essential elements for this ritual are a palm leaf or front, incense, cup of water.

Take your palm leaf outside on a sunny day. Cast your sacred circle. Light the incense and pass the palm leaf through the smoke, saying:

By air and by fire I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.

Touch your fingertips to the water, sprinkle a few drops onto the leaf, and say:

By water I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.

Lay the palm leaf on the ground, saying:

By earth I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.

Now hold the palm leaf up to the sun. Visualize the warmth and strength of the light permeating the palm leaf and filling it with power. Say:

Honored Sun,

Beloved light of the day,

Bless this palm with your protection and light. 

So mote it be!

Pour the remaining water out onto the ground as an offering. When you return home, hang the palm leaf up over your front door. 

July

July 1, Climbing Mount Fuji Day in Japan

July 2, Palio de Siena, the legendary festival for the Italian horse race with feasts, blessings, and betting, founded in the Renaissance

July 3, Festival of Sothis (Ancient Egypt)

July 4, Festival honoring Pax, Roman goddess of peace

July 5, Tynwald Fair Day on the Isle of Man since 1079

July 6, Jan Hus Day in the Czech Republic

July 7, Tanabata, Japanese Weavers Festival; China’s Chi Nu Feast for Milky Way

July 8, First actual Thanksgiving, Massachusetts’s Bay Colony (1630)

July 9, Pilgrimage for Sempachfeier, retracing and re- enacting the 1386 battle between the Swiss and Austrians. Defend an issue about which you feel strongly, as the peaceful Swiss did.

July 10, Silence Day in India

July 11, Feast Day of Saint Olga, the first Russian Saint

July 12, Nadaam festival of horses, in Mongolia

July 13, Commemoration of the Departed (Japanese Buddhist) 

July 14, Bastille Day (1789) in France

July 15, Chang Yuan, Festival of the Dead (China)

July 16, Feast for Our Lady of Carmel

July 17, Festival of Amaterasu, Japanese Sun Goddess

July 18, Saint Marina Day in Cyprus

July 19, Martyr’s Day in Myanmar

July 20, National Moon Day (United States)

July 21, Horse’s holiday in Rome, part of the Festival of Consualia

July 22, Saint Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day

July 23, Rastafarian Celebration honoring Haile Selassie

July 24, Simon Bolivar Festival Day in South America

July 25, Incan holiday for Illyap, god of thunder and lightning

July 26, Birthday of Carl Jung and Robert Graves

July 27, Birthday of Osiris (Ancient Egypt)

July 28, Peruvian Independence Day (1821)

July 29, St. Martha Day in France, first celebrated in 48 CE

July 30, International Bog Day, celebrating the protection of wetlands

July 31, St. Ignatius’s Day

The most appropriate rituals you can perform in the month of July are those in celebration of the sun.

Sirius, the Dog Star, rises in early July. The Egyptians knew this star as Sothis. In Egyptian mythology, Isis is Queen of Heaven, and Osiris, ruler of the underworld, is her husband and her brother. While these deities ruled, Egyptian culture thrived, advanced in the arts and science, and also grew in magic and religion. The Egyptians built great cities and became very powerful and renowned for the beauty of their civilization.

Isis is typically depicted as a beautiful winged woman. On her noble head is a crown with the disc of the sun gleaming golden. Veneration of Isis spread from Egypt to the Greeks, the Romans, and throughout the Hellenic world until her last temple was destroyed in the fourth century.

The palm tree is sacred to Isis and can be used in ritual. You can lay the palm leaves in your path and walk in procession. The palm has been used in various ways throughout the world in ritual. The following are some suggestions you can build upon in your own ritual design:

• In Cuba, folks sweep each other with palm branches that have been blessed with holy water in order to keep safe from evil spirits.
• Puerto Ricans weave palm leaves into crosses and use them as protective amulets. They also hang the palm crosses in their homes for abundance and to keep the home sacred.
• In Belgium, sections of palms are kept in the fields to ensure a copious harvest.
• The French decorate the graves of their beloved relatives with palm leaves that have been especially blessed for that purpose.
• In New Orleans, the residents plant palmetto palms beside a water fountain or pond on their property to bring money, love, luck, and good health. 

Midsummer Day

Essential elements for a Celtic-inspired Midsummer ritual are a wooden wheel, fallen branches and firewood, multicolored candles, multicolored ribbons, food and drink, and flowers for garlands. This ritual should be performed outside, ideally on a hill or mountaintop, at dusk. Call the local fire department to verify the fire laws in your area. You will likely need a special permit to light a bonfire, and certain areas may be restricted. Always clear the grass and brush away from your fire area, and make sure to dig a shallow pit into the ground. Circle the pit with rocks to help mark the edge of the fire pit as well as to contain the accidental spread of fire. Have a fire extinguisher, a pail of sand, and water bottles nearby in case the fire gets out of control. One person not directly involved in the ritual should be on hand to watch the fire at all times. Make sure the fire pit is far enough away from surrounding trees and other landscape features to allow for a group to dance around it.

Lay the wooden wheel down in the circle of stones, and arrange the fallen branches and firewood around the edge of it. The wheel represents the turning of the year, and the sun on its daily and yearly cycle. Tie the colored ribbons on the nearest tree. While these preparations are being made, the priestess to lead the ritual should meditate in the area where the ritual will be held, connecting to the goddess. The gathered celebrants should weave garlands of flowers while the sun slowly sets. Just before the sun vanishes completely, the priestess should direct the gathered celebrants to ready their candles, or more ideally, torches. The priest lights them, declaring:

The fire festival is begun.

Under this longest day of the sun. 

Let us go forth and make merry. 

The god and goddess are here!

All say:

Blessed be!

The priest leads the celebrants into the circle where the priestess waits, and directs them to throw their torches and candles in the bonfire. The priestess raises her arms and invokes the Goddess:

Great Earth Mother and Lady of the Forest, 

Be with us here and now!

On this night the Goddess reigns supreme. 

On this, our night of our midsummer!

All say:

Blessed be!

All should dance in the direction of the sun (clockwise) around the fire, raise their arms, and clap and shout for joy for as long as they want. When people begin to tire, it is time for the feast. The priest directs the blessing of the food:

Blessed Lady of the Forest,

And old god and animals, spirits of the wild, 

Bless this food and drink,

That it may strengthen us in your ways.

All say:

Blessed be!

Everyone should share in the refreshments and eat, drink, and make merry. Another round of dance and song is in order. When the bonfire has turned to ash, the priestess declares the ritual to be over and says:

Our revelry this day is done, dear one. 

Gods of the old and spirits of nature,

We thank you for your blessings this night. 

This rite is done.

All say:

Blessed be!

Make certain the fire has completely gone out before you leave the ritual site. Soak the ashes with water and clean up the site. Always leave a natural area cleaner than you found it. 

June 21, Summer Solstice

 June is summer reaching its full glory. There have been many rites around the world to acknowledge the longest day of the year. The Japanese climb Mount Fuji at this time, for it is free of snow during two months in the summer. The Native American tribes of the Southwest and Great Plains hold ceremonies to honor the life-giving sun. Incan, Mayan, and Aztec midsummer rites honoring the sun gods were among their most important ceremonies. 

Juneteenth Celebration

Juneteenth is a beautiful example of a modern ritual that is reinvented and celebrated in a new and exciting way every year. Luisah Teish says this occasion celebrates “the flame as political power and divine inspiration.” Juneteenth is held on June 19, the date when in 1865 the news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the plantations in the states of Louisiana and Texas. While the actual law had gone into effect two years earlier in 1863, nobody told many of the slaves. When these duped slaves finally realized that they were free, it was a cause of great joy. Nowadays, there are festivals that celebrate the contributions by Africans to America and the world. Picnics, barbecues, singing, dancing, theater, games, and parades take place within the communities of the United States.

June Holidays, Festivals and Celebrations

June 1, Roman festival of Carna, goddess of doors and locks

June 2, US Congress granted citizenship and voter’s rights to all Native Americans, 1927

June 3, Festival of Bellona, a Roman goddess of battle 

June 4, First recorded Chinese solar eclipse (780 BCE) 

June 5, Feast of St. Boniface

June 6, St. Fermin’s Day in Spain, Running of the Bulls 

June 7, Weaver’s Festival in Japan

June 8, Founding of Islam circa 622 CE

June 9, Vestalia, Festival honoring the Roman goddess Vesta 

June 10, Day of Anahita (Persian)

June 11, Feast of Saint Barnabus

June 12, Dia dos Namorados, Lovers’ Day (Brazil)

June 13, Birth of the Muses

June 14, Otaue Shinji, Rice-Planting Festival in Japan

June 15, St. Vitus’s Day

June 16, Bloomsday festival in honor of Irish author James Joyce with readings, breakfast, and a pilgrimage retracing the steps of Leopold Bloom

June 17, Iceland’s Independence Day, 1944

June 18, High holy day for women’s rights—Susan B. Anthony defies the law in 1872 by voting

June 19, Juneteenth

June 20, Day of Ix Chel (Mayan)

June 21, Midsummer

June 22, Rose Festival in England, Feast of Saint Alban 

June 23, Jani, the major festival in Latvia

June 24, Feast of the Sun (Aztec)

June 25, Croatian Independence Day

June 26, Pied Piper Day, circa 1284

June 27, Stonewall, 1969, the day gays fought back

June 28, Constitution Day in Ukraine

June 29, Saint Peter’s Day

June 30, Burial of Yarilo in Russia, a traditional rite of song, games, and dance 

Beltane Brew

Honeyed mead is revered as the drink of choice for this sexy Pagan holy day. It is an aphrodisiac, and with its sticky sweetness, it is perfect for dribbling on your lover’s body and then licking it off. This is my special recipe for honeyed mead, handed down through generations of Celtic witches. You will need:

• 1 quart of honey
• 3 quarts of distilled water
• 1 packet of yeast
  
• Herbs to flavor

1. Mix the honey and water. Boil for five minutes. You can add the herbs to your liking, but I prefer a teaspoon each of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice

2. Add a packet of yeast and mix. Put in a large container. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise and expand. Store the mixture in a dark place and let it sit for seven days.

3. Refrigerate for three days while the sediment settles to the bottom. Strain and store in a colored glass bottle, preferably green, in a cool, dark place. You can drink it now, but it is even tastier after it has been aged for a period of at least seven months.

Oral Fixations

Food can be foreplay, a wonderful prelude to a night of love, feeding each other, and placing a little whipped cream and chocolate in strategic spots. I recommend consuming these aphrodisiacs for your pleasure:

• Almonds, or erotically shaped marzipan
• Arugula, also called “rocket seed”
• Avocado, referred to by the ancient Aztecs as the “testicle tree”
• Bananas and banana flowers
• Chocolate, quite rightly called “the food of the gods”
• Honey, as the term “honeymoon” came from a bee- sweetened drink served to newlyweds
• Nutmeg, the traditional aphrodisiac for Chinese women; eat enough and you will hallucinate
• Oysters, prized by the Romans for their effect and resemblance to female genitalia
• Strawberries, often mentioned in erotic literature 
• Coffee, a stimulant for many things
• Garlic, the heat to light the flame of desire
• Figs, another symbol of ultimate femininity; just eating one is a turn-on
• Vanilla, captivating for both its scent and its flavor
• Wine drunk from each other’s mouths can be quite erotic 

Beltane Tryst

Beltane is the sexiest high holiday for witches and is anticipated all year. I always look forward to having a joyful “spree” every May. Witches begin to celebrate Beltane on the last night of April, and it is traditional for the festivities to last all night. This is a time for feasting, dancing, laughter, and lots of lovemaking. May Day is when revelers erect a beribboned Maypole and dance around it in gay garb followed by pagan picnicking and sexy siestas. Another bonus of Beltane is that this is the one day in the year when it is “officially OK” to enjoy sex outside your existing relationship. This is the day we look the other way.

First, serve a sensual feast of foods from the following list, called “Oral Fixations,” along with beer, wine, ciders, and honeyed mead that you can make or obtain from a microbrewery. Gather some of spring’s bounty of flowers— narcissus, daffodils, tulips, and my favorite, freesias, in your favorite colors. Set out candles in spring colors—yellow, pink, red, green, white, purple. With your arms extended, point to each of the four directions and say, “To the east, to the south, to the west, and to the north,” and recite this Beltane rhyme:

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, 

Tonight our spirits are reborn. 

Welcome joy to my home,

Fill my friends with love and laughter. 

So mote it be.

May Ceremonies, Festivals, and Rituals

May 1, May Day, Beltane

May 2, Last day of Ridvan, the Baha’i festival when no work can be done

May 3, Dia de la Crus, Day of the Holy Cross in Mexico and South America

May 4, Feast of Bona Dea, a Roman women’s mystery rite

May 5, Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo; Children’s Day in Japan

May 6, National Day of Prayer (United States)

May 7, St. Nicola, pilgrimage of the Italian Christian hero

May 8, Festival of the Roman goddess of the mind, Mens, from whom Mensa takes its name

May 9, Lemuria, when Romans banished ghosts from their homes

May 10, Women’s rights hero Victoria Woodhull is the first woman nominated for president in 1872

May 11, Anniversary of the year 330 CE, Roman ritual rededication of Byzantium to Constantinople

May 12, International Midwives Day

May 13, Portuguese Pilgrimage to Fatima

May 14, Mercuralia, Festival of Mercury

May 15, International Day of Families

May 16, French processions on Saint Honoratus Day, patron saint of all bakers

May 17, Norwegian Independence Day 

May 18, International Museum Day

May 19, Holiday of Poetry (Turkmenistan) 

May 20, Cuba’s Independence Day

May 21, Anastenaria, Greek fire-walking festival

May 22, World Biodiversity Day

May 23, The American Civil War ends, 1865—celebrate national unity

May 24, Slovenian Sveti Kiril I Metodi 

May 25, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s birthday

May 26, Birth of Isadora Duncan (1878), self-proclaimed Dionysian ritual dancer and choreographer

May 27, St. Augustine of Canterbury Day, make a pilgrimage to a local shrine or holy place

May 28, John Muir founds the Sierra Club (1892)

May 29, Oak Apple Day in England

May 30, Memorial Day or Decoration Day

May 31, Flores de Mayo, last day of flowers, or May Day

Floralia Hunt

This ritual blends the traditional egg hunt with a ceremony to honor Flora, the Roman goddess of flower. Essential elements for this ritual are baskets with handles (one for each guest), egg-shaped chocolates and sweets, or small hollow plastic eggs filled with blessings written on paper slips, and a vase. Ask each guest to bring a large dish of food for sharing, and to dress in light, flowing spring clothes and colors. Each guest must also bring a flower to represent a wish they have for a new project or endeavor they intend to embark on this year. This flower will be used to make an offering to Flora so that she may bless the project as it grows and develops. This flower can be chosen from the Language of Flowers list in the appendix on page 325. By carefully deciding on a certain type of flower, your guests can enhance the power of their spring wish.

Prepare for this ritual by deciding whether you will hold it inside or risk the whimsical weather of April outdoors. Consult your local weather channel, consult an almanac, and cross your fingers. If you choose to hold it outdoors, then scout out the area well to identify potential problem spots (low-lying areas that might be muddy, for example, or high-traffic areas where strangers might interfere, or even join in). Also mark off a perimeter to limit your hunt. Place sticks in the ground with bright ribbons tied to them to mark that perimeter, so that your guests know not to bother searching past that point. If you choose to hold the ritual inside, decide which rooms will be off-limits for your hunt.

Once you have your area set, take some time to write out various blessings and good wishes on slips of paper. Blessings might include, “Joy and happiness with every dawn,” “May your love only increase,” or “Wealth and abundance are yours.” Tuck one blessing in each plastic egg, then gather all the eggs and blessings together and ask for Flora’s benison upon them:

Flower queen,

Princess of the spring,

Lovely Maiden of garden and field,

Bless these tokens and fill them with your goodwill. 

May those who receive them feel your love and bright beauty.

Take your goodies and blessings and hide them in the space you have chosen. Be cunning, but don’t make them too hard to find. When your guests arrive, choose someone to stand in the north, the east, the south, and the west, then cast the circle. Turn to the east. The speaker for the east should say:

Sacred breezes of the east,

Bring us the gentle scent of Flora’s blossoms. 

Flora, queen of spring, we welcome you.

Turn to the south. The speaker for the south should say:

Sacred breezes of the south,

Bless us with the vibrant color of Flora’s blooms. 

Flora, queen of spring, we welcome you.

Turn to the west. The speaker for the west should say: 

Sacred breezes of the west,

Bless us with the beauty of Flora’s crop. 

Flora, queen of spring, we welcome you.

Turn finally to the north, where the speaker for the north should say: 

Sacred breezes of the north,

Bless us with the abundance of Flora’s bounty. 

Flora, queen of spring, we welcome you.

Ask your guests to come up one by one, state a wish to Flora, and place their single flower in the vase. When everyone has made a spring wish, there will be a beautiful bouquet created for Flora.

Now hand your guests a basket each, and tell them to further seek Flora’s blessings in the form of eggs, the symbol of fertility and new life. Laugh with your guests as they hunt high and low. Help the younger ones, or the ones who seem to be having difficulty finding any. Your guests should remember that this is not a traditional Easter egg hunt; the object is not to return with the largest collection of eggs. Instead, they are seeking Flora’s blessings.

When everyone returns, have a spring picnic or buffet of potluck dishes, and whatever treats were hidden. Your guests may choose to share the written blessings they found aloud, or keep them secret. Enjoy the spring air, and remember that Flora has blessed your new projects. 

Spring Fertility Symbols

Easter has become more and more a secular holiday, with families celebrating with chocolates, eggs, and rabbits. The symbol of the egg inspires us with the knowledge that new life will be born. The rabbit as a symbol of fertility arises not only from its incredible powers of reproduction, but from its ancient association with the lunar goddess of fertility and transformation. Folklore tells of the eggs of spring being laid by a bird until Oestre, a Teutonic goddess associated with the spring season, changed the bird into a hare that laid eggs.

Many of us engaged in Easter egg hunts as children. You can create a ritual for adults designed to recapture that joyous celebratory event and incorporating the various symbols associated with rebirth and fertility to bless new endeavors.

April Festivals, Ceremonies, and More

 April 1, April Fool’s Day; Festival of Kali (Hindu)

April 2, International Children’s Book Day

April 3, Birthday of the Buddha

April 4, Megalesia in Rome (from 204 BCE), celebrating the mother goddess, Cybele

April 5, Tomb-Sweeping Day in Taiwan, or Quin Ming Jie 

April 6, First recorded solar eclipse in history, 684 BCE 

April 7, World Health Day

April 8, Hana Matsurei, Flower Festival (Japan)

April 9, Feast of Glory for Baha’i faith

April 10, Anniversary of the first Arbor Day, 1872. Plant a tree!

April 11, Anniversary of when Haley’s Comet was closest to Earth

April 12, Roman festival of Cerealia begins, honoring the grain goddess, Ceres

April 13, International Librarian’s Day

April 14, Songkran Day, Thai New Year

April 15, Fordicia in honor of the Roman goddess Tellus

April 16, Anniversary of Gandhi’s “Prayer and Fasting Day,” 1919

April 17, Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, deposing Communism

April 18, Friendship day in Brazil

April 19, Saint Dunstan’s Day, Joan of Arc is declared a saint in 1909

April 20, Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, circa 571 BCE 

April 21, International Creativity Day

April 22, Earth Day

April 23, World Book Day 

April 24, Astronomy Day

April 25, Festival of Robigalia, for the Roman goddess Robigus who protected crops from mildew

April 26, Birthday of Leonardo de Vinci (1452), painter 

April 27, Freedom Day in South Africa

April 28, Floralia, the festival celebrating Flora, the Roman flower goddess

April 29, Greenery Day in Japan

April 30, Walpurgisnacht in Germany, May Eve

In April, many cultures honor the continuing growth seen in nature with such festivals as the Christian Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of the crucified Christ. This theme of resurrection is found in the mythology of many cultures, including Celtic mythology. In the spring, the Green Man, an avatar of the forests and fields, rises from his autumnal grave to stand tall once more. 

Mardi Gras or Carnival: a Moveable Feast

Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday,” the last day before Lent, when Catholics were formerly forbidden to eat meat (or fat). Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, when the Lenten season begins. Depending on how early or late Easter is each year, Mardi Gras can be celebrated in March or April. The first Mardi Gras celebration was in New Orleans in 1827. In the olden times, people dressed in animal skin, pelted each other with bunches of flowers, and drank wine. Also called Carnival, this is a very important rite of spring and has traveled all over the world. It is perhaps most grandly celebrated in Brazil. Carnival and Mardi Gras last for days and involve parades, costumes, special foods, and much frolicking. This is an opportunity for you to choose what most appeals to you and create a gorgeous spring ritual.

Ostara’s Equinox: a Ritual for Spring

At this time, celebrate the festival of Ostara, the Saxon goddess who is the personification of the rising sun. Her totem is the rabbit. Legend has it that her rabbit brought forth the brightly colored eggs now associated with Easter. At this time the world is warming under the sun as spring approaches. Every plant, animal, man, and woman feels this growing fever for spring.

This ritual is intended for communities, so gather a group. Tell everyone to bring a “spring food” such as deviled eggs, salads with flowers in them, fresh broths, berries, mushrooms, fruits, pies, veggie casseroles, and quiches. Have the food table at the opposite side of the area away from the altar, but decorate it with flowers and pussy willow branches that are just beginning to bud. These are the harbingers of spring.

Essential elements for this ritual are an altar table; a cot; bay laurel leaves; bowls of water; multicolored crystals; candles; a jar of honey; fruits of yellow, red, white, and purple; musical instruments; and one bowl each of seeds, leaves, flowers, and fruit.

1. Create your own Ostara altar in the middle of the ritual area by covering the table with a cloth of color that represents spring to you. It could be a richly hued flowered cloth or a light green solid color. the cloth should represent new life. Scatter bay laurel leaves around the table. Place goddesses on the altar table, too, with Ostara at the center. Put colored eggs, chocolate rabbits, candles, and crystals around the goddesses. In the east, set a yellow candle and crystals of amber, gold, and yellow such as citrine or agate. Place yellow fruit such as pears or bananas in front of the candle as an offering to the energies of the east. In the south, set a red candle and red and orange stones such as garnet or the newly available “rough rubies,” which cost only a few cents each. Apples and pomegranates are excellent red food to place in front of the candle. In the west, set a purple candle with amethysts in front of it. Sweet plums are a perfect fruit to place in front of the candle. In the north, set a white candle and a clear quartz or white crystal. Honeydew melon is an appropriate selection for the fruit offering.
   
   
2. Choose four representatives to invoke the directions.

• East—Everyone faces east. The representative for the direction should weave a story and create a vision that can be shared by all that is characterized by new beginnings, such as the rising of the morning sun. Spring is the time for new beginnings and growth in nature. The speaker can, for example, take the bowl of seeds and tell the tale of the seeds sprouting in the dark moist soil of Mother Earth. Pass the bowl of seeds around to everyone and urge them to take some seeds home to plant.
• South—Everyone faces south. The speaker for this direction should invoke the power of the leaf. Leaves draw in the energy of the sun through photosynthesis and help keep an important cycle of life moving. Leaves grow throughout the summer season, drinking in the water of life and using the power of the sun for photosynthesis. Pass the bowl of leaves around the group.
• West—Everyone faces west. The speaker for this direction should invoke the power of flowers. Flowers bud and bloom. They follow the sun and are some of nature’s purest expressions of beauty. Flowers bring joy to people and many flowers become fruit. Pass the bowl of flowers to the group and urge everyone to take some.
• North—Everyone faces the north. The speaker for the north should invoke fruit and harvest time. Fruit is the result of nature’s generosity. Fruit also contains the seeds for our future. Pass the bowl of fruit around and suggest everyone take one and eat it, meditating on the glory and deep meaning it contains. If it is appropriate, you can also offer juice or wine as part of the fruit invocation. Wine is the glorious nectar of fruit. 

3. Now it’s time for the ritual enactment. Everyone takes a seat around the altar. Drummers should start to play a gentle rhythm. Chanting, singing, and ululating are also encouraged, however people feel comfortable expressing themselves.

4. Each speaker should in turn light a candle and invoke the ancestors of the group. Remembrances to people who have died in the past year are an important respect paid to the community at large.

5. Next is the honoring of the moon. Ask people to speak about the moon, reciting their favorite moon poems or moon memories.

6. Anointing the third eye blesses your insight for the coming year. Pass the bowls of water and laurel leaves around. Take a leaf and dip it in the water, then touch the wet leaf to your third eye. Pass the bowl on to the next person. When the bowl has made its way back to the ritual leader, sing and dance in celebration of spring. Everyone should get in a line and hold hands and dance around

   the circle like a plant moving and growing, flowering, and fruiting. When the four speakers feel that the energy has reached a climax, each one should clap and say in turn:

And now it is done; now it is spring! 

Then open the circle by saying together:

It is spring in the East, it is spring in the South, it is spring in the West, and it is spring in the North!