{"id":1039,"date":"2023-03-26T22:49:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T03:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2023-03-28T09:45:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T14:45:20","slug":"coffs-wheel-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/coffs-wheel-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"COFF&#8217;s Wheel of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1039\" class=\"elementor elementor-1039\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-d04176b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"d04176b\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6a16705\" data-id=\"6a16705\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-370288f elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"370288f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 08-12-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=\".svg\"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"520\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cofflunarcalendar.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-1041\" alt=\"COFF&#039;s Wheel of the Year.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cofflunarcalendar.png 520w, https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cofflunarcalendar-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cofflunarcalendar-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-49e4a9f elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"49e4a9f\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a59692d\" data-id=\"a59692d\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-64dd734 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"64dd734\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 08-12-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>Here at COFF, we celebrate an eight-spoked Wheel of the Year, and we employ Old Irish names for all our Solar\/Earth Festivals. A few of the reasons why we don\u2019t use the \u201cstandard\u201d Wiccan Wheel of the Year at COFF is because: (1) F\u00e9th F\u00edadans aren\u2019t Wiccans; (2) the names of the Wiccan Sabbats are an admixture of Irish (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain), Welsh (Mabon), and Anglo-Saxon (Ostara, Litha, Yule); and (3) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/aidankelly\/2017\/05\/naming-ostara-litha-mabon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the God Mabon has no genuine historical claim to any Autumn Equinox tradition whatsoever<\/a>. Rather, he is usually seen by Celtic scholars as being associated with either one or both of the solstices.<\/p><p>Many people argue that the Celts did not celebrate or otherwise mark the solstices and the equinoxes. But at COFF, we think it\u2019s highly unlikely that a culture so exceedingly knowledgeable about astronomy that even the Greeks and Romans remarked on it would have failed to observe either the solstices or the equinoxes in some fashion, and in fact, much respected Celtic scholar Alexei Kondratiev points to some evidence that indeed they did observe them:<\/p><blockquote><p>Although the specific date of the Autumn Equinox was not marked by any ritual in Celtic tradition, there is evidence that, at some point roughly halfway between L\u00faghnasadh and Samhain, communities would involve themselves with a ceremony that reflected the processes then at work in the year. This was usually a conclusion to ritual themes invoked at L\u00faghnasadh, and focused on the end of the main harvest activities (i.e., the grain harvest), although it did not imply the end of the entire Harvest season, which continued until Samhain. In the Coligny Calendar the day of xv Cantli is glossed as <em>tiocobrextion<\/em>. If some current interpretations of the calendar\u2019s dating system are correct, this would usually fall on or about September 29 [thus within a week or less of the Autumn Equinox]; and if the name of the ritual is a dialectal development from <em>teg(es)okomrextion<\/em> \u201csetting the house in order,\u201d it would be an apt description of the spirit of a \u201charvest home\u201d celebration, wrapping up agricultural activities for the year.\u201d[1]<\/p><\/blockquote><p>Other names for this Festival are: Fomhar na nG\u00e9an (\u201cGoose Harvest\u201d), Michaelmas, Alban Elfed (Modern Druid), Goel Myghal (Manx), Goeldheys (Cornish), Gouel Sant-Mikael (Breton), Gwyl Fihangel (Welsh), La Fh\u00e9ile M\u00edcheal (Modern Gaelic), and L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile M\u00edch\u00edl (Modern Irish).<\/p><p>At COFF, we settled on Fled Aise (Feast of Age), because this was another name for Fled Goibnenn (Goibniu\u2019s Feast). It was at this feast that the Smith God Goibniu served the ale or mead he brewed, which kept the Gods and Goddesses immortal, and brewing generally took place on or around the Second Harvest.<\/p><p>Kondratiev also notes the Coligny Calendar\u2019s reference to Deuoriuos Riuri \u201cGreat Divine Feast of the Frost Month\u201d[2], which seems quite likely to indicate the Midwinter celebration of the Sun\u2019s return. We use a straight translation \u2014 F\u00e9ile M\u00f3r (Great Divine Feast) \u2014 for this.<\/p><p>The Spring Equinox and Midsummer are even simpler. We call them Robartae and Mithem, respectively. Robartae (Springtide; Torrent, Flood, Innundation) derives from the Proto-Celtic <em>*ro-berti\u0101<\/em> (torrent, innundation), which was certainly an apt description of the springtide and its thaw around the Spring Equinox, when the snows melted and the mountain rivers and streams grew torrentious, innundating the plains and glens far below. Among other deities, Mother\/River Goddess Danu (to Run, to Flow) is honored at this time, as, among other things, she symbolizes the fertility and lifeblood of the Land. Mithem just means \u201cMidsummer.\u201d<\/p><p>Our names for the Full Moons come from the Celts\u2019 Coligny Calendar, a 1st Century BCE Gaulish peg calendar. We largely use Kondratiev\u2019s translations for those, because we consider them the most accurate.<\/p><p>Blessings!<br \/>APs Rhianwen Bendigaid<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><b><u>Footnotes:<\/u><\/b><br \/><br \/><\/p><p>[1] Kondratiev, Alexei, The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual. Citadel, 2003, pp. 209-210).<\/p><p>[2] Ibid, p. 224.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here at COFF, we celebrate an eight-spoked Wheel of the Year, and we employ Old Irish names for all our Solar\/Earth Festivals. A few of the reasons why we don\u2019t use the \u201cstandard\u201d Wiccan Wheel of the Year at COFF is because: (1) F\u00e9th F\u00edadans aren\u2019t Wiccans; (2) the names of the Wiccan Sabbats are an admixture of Irish (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain), Welsh (Mabon), and Anglo-Saxon (Ostara, Litha, Yule); and (3) the God Mabon has no genuine historical claim to any Autumn Equinox tradition whatsoever. Rather, he is usually seen by Celtic scholars as being associated with either one or both of the solstices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,26],"tags":[77,33,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}