20th March 2025
Spring Equinox (Ostara) Pagan
Vernal Equinox (Alban Eiler or Alban Eilir) Druid
Now night and day stand equal. The Sun grows in power and the land begins to bloom. By the Spring Equinox, the powers of the gathering year are equal to the darkness of winter and death. The God (the Green Man) awakens during this season. Some dedicate this time to Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of fertility.
1st May 2025
Wiccan/Pagan/ Druid
The wheel of the year continues to turn and spring gives way to summer’s full bloom and the fertility of the land is at its height. Many pagans celebrate Beltaine by lighting fires and leaping over them, or with maypole dances, symbolizing the mystery of the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God.
Beltaine honours Life. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fertility and at this point in the Wheel of the Year, the potential becomes conception. On May Eve the sexuality of life and the earth is at its peak. Abundant fertility, on all levels, is the central theme. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And have some fun…..
Above all Beltaine is a Fire Festival. The word ‘Beltane’ originates from the Celtic God ‘Bel’, meaning ‘the bright one’ and the Gaelic word ‘teine’ meaning fire. Together they make ‘Bright Fire’, or ‘Goodly Fire’ and traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun and encourage the support of Bel and the Sun’s light to nurture the emerging future harvest and protect the community. Bel had to be won over through human effort. Traditionally all fires in the community were put out and a special fire was kindled for Beltaine. This was the Tein-eigen, the need fire. People jumped the fire to purify, cleanse and to bring fertility. Couples jumped the fire together to pledge themselves to each other. Cattle and other animals were driven through the smoke as a protection from disease and to bring fertility. At the end of the evening, the villagers would take some of the Teineigen to start their fires anew.
As Beltane is the Great Wedding of the Goddess and the God, it is a popular time for pagan weddings or handfastings, a traditional betrothal for ‘a year and a day’ after which the couple would either choose to stay together or part without recrimination. Today, the length of commitment is a matter of choice for the couple, and can often be for life. Handfasting ceremonies are often unique to the couple, but include common elements, most importantly the exchange of vows and rings (or a token of their choice). The act of handfasting always involves tying the hands (‘tying the knot’) of the two people involved, in a figure of eight, at some point in the ceremony and then later unbinding them. This is done with a red cord or ribbon. Tying the hands together symbolises that the two people have come together and the untying means that they remain together of their own free will.
Another common element is ‘jumping the broomstick’ – this goes back to a time when two people who could not afford a church ceremony, or want one, would be accepted in the community as a married couple if they literally jumped over a broom laid on the floor. The broom marked a ‘threshold’, moving from an old life to a new one.
Mead and cakes are often shared in communion as part of the ceremony. Mead is known as the Brew of the Divine, made from honey which is appropriate for a love ceremony (and is the oldest alcoholic drink known to humankind).
There is a natural optimism and forward looking aspect to most pagan celebrations, and nowhere more so than in Spring and Summertime.
21st June 2025
Wiccan/Pagan
The summer solstice, also known as estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky (for areas outside of the tropics) and is the day with the longest period of daylight. Within the Arctic circle (for the northern hemisphere) or Antarctic circle (for the southern hemisphere), there is continuous daylight around the summer solstice. On the summer solstice, Earth’s maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun’s declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°.
(Alban Heruin or Alban Hefin) Druid
The summer solstice is the festival of Midsummer, sometimes called Litha. The light of the sun is at the height of its power. It is a time of plenty and celebration.
1st August 2025
Lammas/ Lughnasadh – Wiccan
Lughnasadh – Pagan
Lughnasadh, otherwise called Lammas, is the time of the corn harvest, when Pagans reap those things they have sown and when they celebrate the fruits of the mystery of Nature. At Lughnasadh, Pagans give thanks for the bounty of the Goddess as Queen of the Land. Lammas is the first harvest, a time for gathering in and giving thanks for abundance; then Mabon or the Autumn Equinox is the Second Harvest of Fruit; and Samhain is the third and Final Harvest of Nuts and Berries.
With the coming of Christianity to the Celtic lands, the old festival of Lughnasadh took on Christian symbolism. Loaves of bread were baked from the first of the harvested grain and placed on the church altar on the first Sunday of August. The Christianized name for the feast of Lughnasadh is Lammas which means “loaf mass”.
But this is also the major festival of Lugh, or Lug, the great Celtic Sun King and God of Light. August is His sacred month when He initiated great festivities in honour of His mother, Tailtiu. Feasting, market fairs, games and bonfire celebrations are the order of the day. Circle dancing, reflecting the movement of the sun in sympathetic magic, is popular, as are all community gatherings. August is considered an auspicious month for handfastings and weddings.
At Lammas the Goddess is in Her aspect as Grain Mother, Harvest Mother, Harvest Queen, Earth Mother, Ceres and Demeter. Demeter, as Corn Mother, represents the ripe corn of this year’s harvest and her daughter Persephone/Kore represents the grain – the seed which drops back deep into the dark earth, hidden throughout the winter, to reappear in the spring as new growth. So as the grain harvest is gathered in, there is food to feed the community through the winter and within that harvest is the seed of next year’s rebirth, regeneration and harvest. The Grain Mother is ripe and full; heavily pregnant she carries the seed of the new year’s Sun God within her. This is the deep core meaning of Lammas and evokes the fullness and fulfilment of the present harvest, holding at its heart the seed of all future harvests.
But underlying this is the knowledge that the bounty and energy of Lugh, of the Sun, is now beginning to wane. It is a time when the year changes and shifts. Active growth is slowing down and the darker days of winter and reflection are beckoning. There is tension here. For Lugh, the Sun God, the God of the Harvest, the Green Man, or John Barleycorn, surrenders his life with the cutting of the corn. In the form of John Barleycorn, he is the living Spirit of the corn, or grain. As the corn is cut so John Barleycorn is cut down also. He surrenders his life so that others may be sustained by the grain, and so that the life of the community can continue. He is both eaten as the bread and is then reborn as the seed returns to the earth.
22nd September 2025
(MABON) Wiccan Pagan
(Alban Elued or Alban Elfed) Druid
Day and night stand hand in hand as equals. As the shadows lengthen, Pagans see the darker faces of the God and Goddess. For many Pagans, this rite honours old age and the approach of Winter.
31st October 2025
Pagan
WINTER NIGHTS – Heathen
Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows Evening, also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting ‘haunted houses’, and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.
31st October 2025
SAMHAIN (pronounced Sow-in) Wiccan Pagan
SAMHUINN Druid
For all pagan communities the wheel of the year is seen to begin at Samhain. This is the Celtic New Year, when the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living is said to be at its thinnest. Samhain is the festival of death when pagans remember and honour those who have gone before. Fires are lit and ‘dead wood’ is burned before stepping into the darkness of winter. Pagans celebrate death as part of life. This is not a time of fear, but a time to understand more deeply that life and death are part of a sacred whole.
At Samhain the veil between the spirits and souls of loved ones are said to have more power and the ability to visit us. This is the time of year for remembering and honouring the dead, and many people will leave a plate of food and a glass of wine out for wandering sprits. (This is often called the Feast of Hecate). Samhain is also a time for personal reflection, and for recognizing our faults and flaws and creating a method for rectifying them.
It is generally celebrated on October 31st, but some traditions prefer November 1st. It is one of the two “spirit-nights” of the year, the other being Beltaine. It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the thin veil between the worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the ‘Summer Lands’. It is a time to study the Dark Mysteries and to honour the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolized by the aged Crone and her fading Consort.
Originally the ‘Feast of the Dead’ was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the ‘wandering dead’. Today many pagans still carry out this tradition. Single candles are lit and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home. Extra chairs are set to the table and around the hearth for the unseen guest. Apples are buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who are lost or have no descendants to provide for them. Turnips are hollowed out and carved to look like protective spirits, for this is a night of magic and chaos. The Wee Folk became very active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Travelling after dark is not advised. People dress in white (like ghosts) and wear disguises made of straw, or sometimes dress as the opposite gender in the hope that they might perhaps be able to fool the Nature spirits.
This is the time when the cattle and other livestock are slaughtered for eating in the ensuing winter months. Any crops still in the field on Samhain are considered taboo, and left as offerings to the spirits. Bonfires are built, (originally called bone-fires, for after feasting, the bones were thrown in the fire as offerings for healthy and plentiful livestock in the New Year) and stones are marked with peoples’ names. Then they are thrown into the fire, to be retrieved the next morning. The condition of the retrieved stone foretells that person’s fortune in the coming year. Hearth fires are also lit in the home from the village bonfire to ensure unity, and the ashes are spread over the harvested fields.
During the eighth century of the Common Era, the Catholic Church decided to use November 1st as All Saints Day. This was a sensible step since the local pagans were already celebrating the day, so it made sense to use it as a church holiday. All Saints’ became the festival to honour any saint who didn’t already have a day of his or her own. The mass which was said on All Saints’ was called All Hallow Mass – the mass of all those who are hallowed. The night before naturally became known as All Hallows Eve, and eventually morphed from Samhain into what is now called Halloween.
21st December 2024
21st December 2025
(Alban Arthan or Alban Arthuan) Druid
YULE Pagan
Yule is the time of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, when the sun is reborn, an image of the return of all new life. Heathens celebrate Yule for twelve nights and days, starting the evening before the Winter Solstice (called Mother’s night) when they think of their female ancestors and spiritual protectors. The night heralds the beginning of the major holiday in Heathenry.
Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, the sun’s ‘rebirth’ is celebrated with much joy. On this night, the rebirth of the Oak King is celebrated, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days become longer.
The summer and the winter solstices are classic examples of the wheel of the year, marking the end of one phase and the beginning of another. The key aspect of Yule is the spirit of hopefulness that the lengthening days bring, with their reminder of how much there is ahead to celebrate and enjoy.
30th April 2025
Wiccan/Pagan
The wheel of the year continues to turn and spring gives way to summer’s full bloom and the fertility of the land is at its height. Many pagans celebrate Beltaine by lighting fires and leaping over them, or with maypole dances, symbolizing the mystery of the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God.
Beltaine honours Life. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fertility and at this point in the Wheel of the Year, the potential becomes conception. On May Eve the sexuality of life and the earth is at its peak. Abundant fertility, on all levels, is the central theme. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And have some fun…..
Above all Beltaine is a Fire Festival. The word ‘Beltane’ originates from the Celtic God ‘Bel’, meaning ‘the bright one’ and the Gaelic word ‘teine’ meaning fire. Together they make ‘Bright Fire’, or ‘Goodly Fire’ and traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun and encourage the support of Bel and the Sun’s light to nurture the emerging future harvest and protect the community. Bel had to be won over through human effort. Traditionally all fires in the community were put out and a special fire was kindled for Beltaine. This was the Tein-eigen, the need fire. People jumped the fire to purify, cleanse and to bring fertility. Couples jumped the fire together to pledge themselves to each other. Cattle and other animals were driven through the smoke as a protection from disease and to bring fertility. At the end of the evening, the villagers would take some of the Teineigen to start their fires anew.
As Beltane is the Great Wedding of the Goddess and the God, it is a popular time for pagan weddings or handfastings, a traditional betrothal for ‘a year and a day’ after which the couple would either choose to stay together or part without recrimination. Today, the length of commitment is a matter of choice for the couple, and can often be for life. Handfasting ceremonies are often unique to the couple, but include common elements, most importantly the exchange of vows and rings (or a token of their choice). The act of handfasting always involves tying the hands (‘tying the knot’) of the two people involved, in a figure of eight, at some point in the ceremony and then later unbinding them. This is done with a red cord or ribbon. Tying the hands together symbolises that the two people have come together and the untying means that they remain together of their own free will.
Another common element is ‘jumping the broomstick’ – this goes back to a time when two people who could not afford a church ceremony, or want one, would be accepted in the community as a married couple if they literally jumped over a broom laid on the floor. The broom marked a ‘threshold’, moving from an old life to a new one.
Mead and cakes are often shared in communion as part of the ceremony. Mead is known as the Brew of the Divine, made from honey which is appropriate for a love ceremony (and is the oldest alcoholic drink known to humankind).
There is a natural optimism and forward looking aspect to most pagan celebrations, and nowhere more so than in Spring and Summertime.
These materials and links were provided for RE:ONLINE with the kind assistance of the University of Lancaster ‘s Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion
Wednesday, 2nd May 2012
Duration 1:35:31
A Level
AQA – Religious Studies: AS Unit H
Edexcel – Religious Studies: Units 1-4
OCR –
WJEC – Religious Studies: RS 3 CS
This is a Faith debate featuring Aaquil Ahmed, Charles Clarke, Cole Moreton, Grace Davie and Linda Woodhead. It focuses on the main trends in religion and values in Britain.
Students could be given the same issues as used in this debate and asked their opinion on them prior to watching the discussion, revisiting them later to see if any of the views expressed had caused them to change their minds. Extension work could focus on multicultural / superdiverse, responses and trends.
This programme is suitable for use with A level students studying philosophy, ethics, and religion and society. However, the debate is quite long and it would probably be sufficient for one lesson to listen to the opening presentations. The Question & Answer section could be a useful second lesson or make worthwhile extension work.
Questions for debate
How has religion in Britain changed since 1945? What are the main differences between the 1950s, the 1980s and the 2010s, and what are the continuities? How does all this relate to wider social trends? How are these changes being reflected in the media and what part might be played by social media?
Conclusions from the debate
There are significant continuities, including the fact that a half to two-thirds of the population still identify as Christian, and the churches continue to play an important role in society. However, the overall profile of religion in the UK – and of Christianity and the churches – has become far more diverse. Most importantly, the form of religion and the way in which people are religious has changed: there is much more individual choice and selection, less traditional ‘belonging’, and religion supports a much wider range of identities.
Research Findings
The myth of secular progress received a series of shocks from 1979 (Iranian revolution) through 1989 (fall of communism) to 2001 (twin towers attack) which revealed the limitations and blind spots of a perspective which held that religion would inevitably decline and that the rest of the world would follow where secular Europe had led.
The religious profile of the UK has changed significantly, and change has been most evident since the 1980s:
Overall, the religious and secular profile of the UK has become increasingly diverse since 1945. It is not merely that there are more ‘religions’, but there is much greater diversity of religious identity, even in relation to the same religion.
Maybe, as always, after watching the discussion, students should also consider Islamophobia and Muslim teachings on equality.
After discussion, if there is time, it would then be worth watching the 24 minute summary below to clarify and crystallize the thoughts and views expressed.
Additional content is available at http://faithdebates.org.uk/debates/2012-debates/religion-and-public-life/main-trends-in-religion-and-values-in-britain/