Pagan Holy Days (HOLIDAYS)
I think its important that I mention this "The pagan Anglo-Saxons followed a calendar with twelve lunar months,
with the occasional year having thirteen months so that the lunar and
solar alignment could be corrected" that Pagans can have the occasional year with thirteen months so that the (moon) Lunar and Solar (Sun) alignment could be corrected.
Modraniht DECEMBER 25th (meaning Mothers' Night) which is situated in the Winter solstice which is the start of the pagan calendar year. (Anglo-Saxon year).
Side Note: I personally like to think of the Winter Solstice being a mixture of days which are now seen by christians as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & New Years Eve/Day meaning the winter solstice should be respected for the last two weeks of December and first week of January although some see it as the last two week and first two week making it 4 weeks long in some cases.
Solmonað (February) -
Eostur-monath Aprilis (April), a spring festival was celebrated, dedicated to the goddess Eostre and the later Christian festival of Easter took its name from this month and its goddess.
Halegmonath, meaning Holy Month, (The month of September). Which may indicate that it had special religious significance.
Blod-Monath, meaning Blood Month, (The month of November) and was commemorated with animal sacrifice, both in offering to the gods, and probably also to gather a source of food to be stored over the winter.
SIDE NOTE: Remarking on Bede's account of the Anglo-Saxon year, the historian Brian
Branston noted that they "show us a people who of necessity fitted
closely into the pattern of the changing year, who were of the earth and
what grows in it" and that they were "in fact, a people who were in a
symbiotic relationship with mother earth and father sky".
