Structure of a Celtic Year Begins on the first quarter moon following the spring equinox: the summer commences the year.

Mids SAMON Mat meaning: 'the Summer' compare Irish 'samrad'

From around mid April to early May the time of Beltaine

Mids DVMAN Anm meaning: 'the World' compare Irish 'domhan'

From around mid May into June the lengthening days of summer

Mids RIVROS Mat meaning: 'the New King' compare Welsh 'rig' + 'ur'

From late June into July includes the summer solstice

Mids ANAGAN Anm meaning: 'the Unwonted month' compare Irish 'ingantach'

From late July into August the time of Lughnasa

Mids OGRON Mat meaning: 'the Colder month' compare Welsh 'oer' and Irish 'fuar'

From August into September the days begin to shorten

Mids CVTIOS Mat meaning: 'the Cover' compare Welsh 'cuddio'

From September into October includes the autumnal equinox

Mids GIAMON Anm meaning: 'the Winter' compare Irish 'gaimred'

From October into November the time of Samhain

Mids SIMIVIS Mat meaning: 'the Source' compare Irish 'sem' + 'uis'

From November into December the shortening days of winter

Mids EQVOS Anm meaning: 'the Horse' compare Irish 'echu'

From December into January includes the winter solstice

Mids ELEMBIV Anm meaning: 'Nurturing Life' compare Irish 'ailim' + *'bivo-s'

From January into February the time of Imbolg

Mids EDRINI Mat meaning: 'the Warmth' compare Irish 'Aedh'

From February into March the lengthening days of springtime

Mids CANTLOS Anm meaning: 'the month of Song' compare Irish and Welsh 'canu'

From March into April includes the spring equinox

The Celtic calendar is a symbol of the cultural maturity of the Celtic Heroic Age, a timekeeping masterpiece relating lunar, solar and planetary cycles that is both practical for day to day use while describing a kind of model of the universe. It can even be argued that the calendar was the envy of Rome, because Caesar called for calendar reform following his many years of exposure to Gallic culture during the conquest of Gaul; while the prohibitions against the Druids decreed by Tiberius after AD14 show its suppression and provide a limiting date for the tablet's crafting.

The Celtic calendar clearly demonstrates the cultural link of language of northwestern Europe through the Celtic words and the concepts they define inscribed on the tablet - so that concepts of time held by the touta of Gaul may be usefully compared with those of the tuatha of Ireland. It is legitimate to ask whether Gaul, Britain and Ireland conducted timekeeping systems that functioned in like manner, such that Celtic culture extended in a consistent manner throughout the north-west.

The bronze inscription was discovered at Coligny in 1897 and is displayed at the musée gallo-romain de Lyon (see also: presentation by the museum). The bronze tablet inscribes five consecutive years each of twelve months that are 30 or 29 days in length plus two intercalary months of 30 days each, spanning a total of five solar years.

The Celtic calendar marks off many time periods, known either from the inscription itself or the ancient sources from the period of its known use. The way that the astronomical cycles embedded in the calendar maintain accuracy over time is quite similar to the way Celtic knotwork resolves itself into a satisfying whole. There is a diurnal cycle with the daily period commencing at sunset; there are monthly cycles, divided into light and dark halves, commencing on the first-quarter phase of the moon, and every month is a lunation, which is in essence the beauty of this calendar following as it does the natural phenomenon of the waxing and waning moon; twelve months mark a year, which falls short of the solar year by about ten days, and to account for this there are cycles of five years, the period inscribed onto the bronze tablet as discovered at Coligny, which introduce at the very start and very middle of the five year cycle an extra month to align the calendar with the sun; and there is a thirty year age providing further alignment of the lunar and solar cycles and marked by the passage of Saturn, the outermost visible planet.

Reconstructions of the Celtic calendar have been produced that vary in the relative seasonal arrangement. The reconstruction of Mac Neill places Samon, the first month of the year, such that it includes the summer solstice. This reconstruction is available to view at University of Berkeley which includes the accompanying paper read before the Royal Irish Academy, April 28, 1924.

Alternatively, Samon has been interpreted as being the equivalent of the Irish festival of Samhain (ie November eve), ultimately based on the arguments of Rhys in 1886 that Samhain at November eve commenced the Irish year (see Hibbert Lectures, 1886). This is the most popular view (see: Wikipedia for outline and references) and a reconstruction in this arrangement is presented at Marc Carlson - Samon half and Marc Carlson - Giamon half.

Interpretation of the Calendar and its relation to the seasons is an on-going effort. Two books relevant and accessible illustrate this point. Stephen C McCloskey's "Astronomies and cultures in early medieval Europe" (2000) describes the Coligny calendar month of Samon being ascribed to the summer, but leaves open the possibilities that it includes the summer solstice or Samhain (p.58). Similarly, John T Koch's Celtic culture - a histrorical encyclopedia (2006) states there is compelling evidence to attach either Samhain or Beltaine as the Celtic new year.

On this website, we present a refutal of the idea that Samhain (ie November eve) is the start of the Celtic year (see: Fire feasts section article.) This is also the conclusion provided by Hutton (see: Stations of the Sun, 1996; Samhain section).

The Celtic calendar presented here, originally researched by Caer Australis, is a development of the interpretation of Samon as a 'summer' month, that provides for the beginning of the traditional Celtic year being based on a single and practical defining rule: It begins with the first lunation following the spring equinox, this lunation commencing at sunset at the first quarter phase of that moon: what we know today as Beltaine is the feast for the Celtic new year.

Based on this rule, the following system is advanced: The month Samon which marks the lunation following the spring equinox is named for the season that opens at this time, which is Samrad the summer. Samon corresponds to Gregorian April/May, including the festival of Beltaine: The name Samon is directly related to Irish Cétemain, that is the month of May on the Julian/Gregorian calendar. The largest scale period described by the calendar, a thirty year age, is set as commencing in the year when the heliacal rise of Saturn is in Taurus, which occurred in May in ancient times. By this reckoning, the seventh month Giamon marks the lunation that opens Gaimred the winter, for which it is named, and corresponds to Gregorian October/November, including the festival of Samhain.

The above summary of the interpretation presented here is consistent with the following ancient sources: Julius Caesar (Bellum Gallium, 6.18; 53BC), Diodorus Siculus (80-20BC) (Library of History 2,47), Plutarch (De Facie, Loeb p.185; about AD75), Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 17.95; written AD52-79), the Life of Patrick's description of the usurping of Beltaine by the Pascal fires in AD433, the Sanas Cormaic and other Early irish Glossaries, the eleventh century Tochmarc Emer and the sixteenth century Tóraigheacht an Ghiolla Dheacair. Each of the above refer to aspects of Celtic timekeeping and all are held in concordance, as explained within this presentation; all are consistent with Samon corresponding to Samrad the summer, and Giamon corresponding to Gaimred the winter.

The two-fold Celtic Year

The months Samon and Giamon head the two halves of the year on the calendar, and in Celtic language they unambiguously resolve as 'Summer' and 'Winter' - compare samon and giamon in Gaulish with samrad/samhradh and gaimred/geamhreadh in Irish, and haf and gaem/gaeaf in Welsh. Given the clarity of these correspondences, any other explanation must account for both months with equal satisfaction.

Clear correspondences between the Gaulish months Samon and Giamon to the respective Irish names for May and November are found in the Early Irish Glossaries:

The month of May, now called Bealtaine, is called Céitemain: cetsoman (or cetsamun, cetsamain, cetshamuin) in Cormack's Glossary B210: 'cetsoman .i. cetsámsin .i. cétlúd síne samraid' 'May(day), ie companionship of summer of antiquity' and specifically the month of May in the form 'céideamhain .i. bealtaine' 'ie Bealtaine (May)' (see eDIL - Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language: search word: céitemain)

The month of November, now called Samhain in Ireland, is called Gam(ain) in Cormack's Glossary 673: 'Gam quasi gamos isin greic, nouimber' 'Gam, as though in Greek 'Gamos', November' (Sanas Cormaic in Early Irish Glossaries database: 'Gam'.

It is proposed here that the name Samon is equivalent to the Old Irish name for the month of May, cétaman, cetsoman, which is explained in Cormack's Glossary as cét-sam-sín, meaning the first weather-motion of sam, the summer.

This was the arrangement of the Irish year that Cú Chulaind explains to Loeg in Tochmarc Emer, an Irish hero-tale of the eleventh century: "For two divisions were formerly on the year, namely, summer from Beltaine the first of May, and winter from Samuin to Beltaine.", and of the year's division by the Fena as described in Tóraigheacht an Ghiolla Dheacair, a sixteenth century Irish manuscript, which reads, "For this was the manner in which the Fena used to spend their time. They divided the year into two parts. During the first half, namely, from Bealtaine to Samhain, they hunted each day with their dogs; and during the second half, namely from Samhain to Bealtaine, there was not a chief or a great lord or a keeper of a house of hospitality in the whole country that had not nine of the Fena quartered on him during the winter half of the year."

SAMHRADH - SAMON - SUMMER		GEIMHREADH - GIAMON - WINTER
SAMON 30 days Apr --> May Beltaine	"Summer" (*samo-, samrad)	GIAMON 29 days Oct --> Nov Samhain	"Winter" (*gaimo-, gaimred)
DVMAN 29 days May --> Jun early summer	"The World" (dumno-, domhan)	SIMIVIS 30 days Nov --> Dec early winter	"The Source" (sem + uis)
RIVROS 30 days Jun --> Jul summer solstice	"The New King" (rix, ri + úr)	EQVOS 29/30 days Dec --> Jan winter solstice	"Horse" (*ekvos, echu)
ANAGAN 29 days Jul --> Aug Lughnasa	"Unwonted" (an + gant, ingantach)	ELEMBIV 29 days Jan --> Feb Imbolg	"Nurturing Life" (ailim + *bivo-s)
OGRON 30 days Aug -->Sep late summer	"Colder" (*ogro-, oer, fuar)	EDRINI 30 days Feb -->Mar late winter	"Warmer" (aedh)
CVTIOS 30 days Sep --> Oct autumnal equinox	"Cover" (cuddio)	CANTLOS 29 days Mar --> Apr vernal equinox	"Songs" (cantla, canu)

Presented from the menu at right are the Celtic months for the year 2009 prepared using the ancient sources and in the context of the full 30 year age, commencing most recently in 2002.

For each month, the corresponding Gregorian dates are given, plus information pertaining to the derivation of the month name translations. The relative positions in the solar cycle for each month throughout the current five year cycle are given.

Following the detailed presentation for the present year, the first two five year cycles of the age commencing 2002 are tabulated, from which the manner in which the Celtic calendar progesses may be better appreciated.

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Days, Months, Five year cycle and 30 year Age

The Celtic concept of the month commencing at the first quarter moon as reported by Pliny the Elder is confirmed on the Celtic calendar, since the lengths of the months and the number of months in each year show that the months correspond to lunations; and the second half of every month is headed by a label 'ATENOVX', which translates to 'returning dark'.

The evenings of the first 15 days are brightly lit by the moon: it waxes to full moon and still rises early enough to light the late evening as it begins to wane. After the last quarter, which comprises the atenoux half of the month, the moon rises after midnight and even as it passes new moon, it sets during twilight leaving the evening sky moonless, so this is the 'dark' half of the month.

Caesar during his conquest of Gaul (53BC) reported the sunset beginning to the Celtic daily period: "they compute the divisions of every season, not by the number of days, but of nights; they keep birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such an order that the day follows the night" (Caesar, Bellum Gallium, 6.18).

The five years shown on the bronze inscription describe a sun-moon cycle. At this level of structure, the mathematical genius of the Celtic culture comes to light. Since twelve months of the Celtic year last for twelve lunations, namely (12 x 29.5 =) 354 days, the total number of days in the year do not match the solar year of 365 days. The Celtic calendar solves the problem by using the Five Year cycle, and adding an extra month of 30 days at the beginning of the first year of each cycle and in the middle of the third year of each cycle. So in Year One, an extra month occurs before Samon, and in Year Three, an extra month occurs before Giamon.

Therefore the Five Year cycle is divided into two 2.5-year halves, the two half cycles beginning with the extra months and each followed by 30 regular lunar months. In this way, the two-fold nature of a five year cycle may be appreciated.

This Five Year cycle is very efficient in keeping the solar and lunar alignments. However, over the course of every Five Year cycle, the calendar theoretically advances by five days compared to the nominal 365 day solar year. The ancient Celtic astronomers and timekeepers could solve this drift by omitting the extra intercalary month prior to Samon every sixth cycle, so that the 5 days/cycle accumulated over six cycles, namely 30 days, were effectively removed.

Here we see the significance of the Thirty year age. Pliny recorded this age, when he speaks of the Celtic "months and years, as also of their ages, which, with them, are but thirty years" (Pliny, Natural History, 17.95) and Plutarch tells us that this occurred when "at intervals of thirty years the star of Cronus...enters the sign of the Bull, those who have served the god together for the stint of thirty years are allowed to sail off home" (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.185).

• Year 1: An extra month prior to Samon(except first year of age), then 12 months (384 days)
• Year 2: 12 months (354 days)
• Year 3: 6 months, an extra month prior to Giammon, then 6 months (384 days)
• Year 4: 12 months (354 days)
• Year 5: 12 months (354 days)

A lunation averages at 29.53 days, and over a Celtic age, there occur 61 + (5x62) lunations, a total of 10,955.6 days. In thirty solar years, measured as 365.2425 days each, there are a total of 10,957.3 days. That is a mere 1.6 days out of alignment. The calendar configuration itself marked out whole days, months, years and ages, according to a practical and most likely religious function. Certain months will not match the exact quarter moon, for there are periods of three 30 day months in a row. Therefore the specifics of the calendar become points of minute research. For example, the month Equos is named 'anmatus', associated with 29 day months yet inscribed with 30 days. The overall guiding principals for understanding the calendar still allow for the preparation of a working calendar of correspondences to the Gregorian calendar of the present year.

Directly overhead, split into light and dark halves, the first quarter moon at sunset marked the beginning of the Celtic month. Below is a representation of the Celtic concept of the month, idealised to show 28 days by removing one each of a full and new moon image of the moon's twenty-nine and a half day lunation.

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Correspondences to the Gregorian calendar

Comparing the Celtic calendar to the Gregorian calendar assists in its understanding, as the seasonal progression through the Gregorian year is familiar to us due to its use today. The Celtic seasonal feasts are set onto our yearly calendar in a regular three monthly arrangement.

A calendar of correspondences to the Gregorian year 2009 is provided from the menu at right, superimposing observations of the moon's phases on to the Gregorian calendar dates to meet the year in the traditional Celtic manner.

In order to follow a calendar of correspondences, the beginning of the cycles is required to be identified. The year 2002 is shown in this interpretation of the Celtic calendar to commence a 30 year age, as this is the year of Saturn's heliacal rise in Taurus.

This then defines the start of the current Celtic age as 2002, when Saturn most recently appeared beside the bright red star Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus (shown in CyberSky illustration). Anciently, the heliacal rise of Taurus was in May but today is later in the year, in June. The year 2009 is by this reckoning year 3 of the second five year cycle and includes an intercalary month at its middle, prior to Giamon. In this year we observe both the function and cause of the need for the additional month.

Sunset on the first quarter moon of April, 2002.
Saturn is located within the constellation of Taurus by the bright star Aldebaran,
and the other visible planets arrayed. Screenshot display using CyberSky4 (http://www.cybersky.com/).

see also: Harvard University Gazette, April 18 2002: Cromie, W.
'All planets will be visible for once-in-a-lifetime sight':
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/01-planets.html

The Celtic months are representations of actual lunations, and therefore the twelve months total a period some ten days short of the solar year. Thus the timing of the months in the second year is ten days or so earlier than in the first year; In the third year, Samon has fallen back some 20 days in the solar cycle compared to its relative position in the first year.

To 'catch up' with the sun, two 30 day intercalary months push forward the subsequent months by a lunation, bringing the months back in line with the Sun and the seasons. In the third year, such as in 2009, the intercalary month brings the beginning of Giamon the seventh regular month back to its seasonal position as it was in year one. The Celtic calendar inscription tells us this directly as inscribed in the heading and preamble to the second intercalary month, which reads: "CIALLOS B[V]IS SONNO CINGOS AMMAN.M.MXIII [...]LAT.CCCLXXXV [..B]ANTARAN M", and understandable as 'Sense pair for the Sun's progression - a period of 13 months made of 385 days in a year with an intercalary month'.

This has been generally understood since at least Mac Neill's 1924 paper on the Calendar, and the translation above is derived on the following basis:
1) CIALLOS B[V]IS 'sense, understanding', Irish, Old Irish ciall, Welsh pwyll; and 'pair' Irish dias, Latin bessis This is the header for this month;
2) SONNO CINGOS means 'sun progression' - SONNO and 'sun' being associated, while CINGOS is related to Old Irish cing, Gaulish cingeto- from *keng-o- 'tread, step, walk';
3) AMMAN.M.MXIII ... means 'time of months numbering 13", AMMAN.M from 'period of (time)' (Irish amm, dat. ammaimm 'a time'), months(M) 13 (XIII);
4) LAT.CCCLXXXV means '385 days', from 'days' *latia, Irish lathe 'day' and 385 (CCCLXXXV);
5) [...B]ANTARAN M means 'intercalary month', from the relationship of 'antar' to Irish 'etar', Latin 'inter', and thus 'antaran' to mean 'intercalary'.

In 2007 when the current five year cycle commenced, Samon corresponded with April 24 to May 23. In 2008, Samon was relatively earlier and corresponded to April 13 to May 12. In 2009, the third year, Samon has fallen further back, corresponding to April 2 to May 1. By including the intercalary month in year 3, the Celtic calendar restores Samon of 2010, the fourth year, to April 21 to May 20, bringing the year to a very similar position in the solar cycle as year one. The fifth year of the cycle, 2011, begins earlier again, April 10 to May 9. By the start of the next year, 2012 the first year of the next five year cycle, the other intercalary month is introduced prior to Samon, so that Samon corresponds to April 30 to May 30.

The intercalary months are introduced to allow the calendar to catch up with the solar cycle, but the cumulative effect is to produce a five year cycle some 5 or 6 days longer than five solar years. Every five year cycle moves slightly forward so that after the age has completed, the calendar does not require an intercalary month at its very start.

This presentation states that Samon is equivalent to the month of May, such that Samon and Cétemain are to be identified, both corresponding to the first month of the Celtic summer. However, as can be seen by the backward creep of the calendar compared to the solar cycle, in year 3 Samon is at its earliest and corresponds to April. This has very important implications to considerations of the usurping of Beltaine in favour of Easter by Patrick in AD433, because as can be seen in this calendar of correspondences, in 2009 Easter and the early Samon coincide, and the fires for both feasts would have been lit, showing that the assumed apocryphal story of Patrick and the usurping of Beltaine is in fact a plausible occurrence.

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The Paschal fire at cohesamain the Feast of Tara.
From: On The Life Of Saint Patrick translated by Whitley Stokes (preserved at Internet Archive www.achive.org) and the English translation at Corpus of Electronic Texts. "ISandsin tanic cohesamain 7 cofergach m&gaid patraic oen donadraidib .i. lochru. 7 rosecnaig 1 don iris cm/aide. Tune sanctus patricius dixit...cotrdechaid z iarsin doirrsib foriattaib isintemraig. collar inrigthaigi. isandsin boi inrig ocfledugw^ corigraid eretm imi ar insollamainse .i. vair ba hi sin feis temra. " For that was a prohibition of Tara which the Gael had, and no one durst kindle a fire in Ireland on that day until it had been kindled first at Tara at the solemnity. And the wizards said 'unless that fire be quenched before this night, he whose fire it is shall have the kingdom of Ireland for ever. Then came one of the wizards, to wit, Lochru, fiercely and angrily against Patrick, and reviled the Christian faith. Tune sanctus Patricius dixit O my Lord, it is Thou that canst do all things : in Thy power they are : it is Thou that sentest us hither. Let this impious one, who is blaspheming Thy name, be destroyed in the presence of all. and there after he went into Tara, the doors being shut, to the middle of the palace. The king was then feasting with the kings of Ireland around him at this festival, for that was the Feast of Tara.

*   *   *   *   *

"On the night of Easter eve, Patrick and his companions lit the Paschal fire, and on that self-same night Loigaire the King of Ireland held the high and solemn festival of Beltaine at Tara where the kings and nobles of the land were gathered. On that night of the year no fire should be lit until a fire had been kindled with solemn ritual in the royal house. Suddenly the company assembled at Tara saw a light shining across the plain from the hill of Slane.

'O King,' cried the druids, 'unless this fire be quenched this same night,
it will never be quenched;
And the kindler of this fire will overcome us all,
And seduce all the folk of this realm!'.

And Patrick quoted the Psalmist,
'Some in chariots, Some on horses;
But we in the name of the Lord!
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered!'

Then the queen came to Patrick and besought him,
'O mighty and just man!
Do not destroy the king -
Let him come and kneel and worship your God!'
From: The Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History, p. 104-106.

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The Fire Feasts and the Celtic Year

Having established a meaningful understanding of the month names a comparison to the Celtic fire feasts best known from Ireland may be made, and in doing so see whether a cultural connection may be discerned across the Celtic language speaking world.

Beltaine - the Summer Fire
The opening of summer in May, originally named Cétam and Cétemain formed from cét-Soman, meaning summer's first month. The fires of Belinos, or the Bright fires, cattle were driven around or between the Beltaine fires on May Eve for protection the start of the pasturing season. At the head of Samrad, this fire feast is identified with the month Samon. An event inscribed as 'trinox samoni' is found on all the Samon months on the Coligny calendar and probably relates to a three day feast in this month; as it is linked to the lunar cycle it is, like Easter, variable compared to the sun. In the Mabinogion of Pwyll, the prince of Dyfed climbs the Gorsedd Arberth three nights in succession at his encounter with Rhiannon, who produced their son who became Pryderi five years later at Calan Mai (May Eve). Samon's trinox samoni translates to 'three day feast of summer', and may be related to (even the fore-runner of) the fire feast of Beltaine known from Ireland.

Lughnasa - the High Summer Fire
At the high summer in August, the Lughnasadh Games were appointed as a yearly commemoration of Taillte, to whom Lúgh Lámhfada was fostered and trained till he was fit to bear arms; the games of the Fair of Taillte commenced a fortnight before Lúghnasadh, and continued a fortnight after it. The July to August period corresponds to the the month Anagantios. The Irish words ingantach 'unwonted' and anagna 'unusual' provide the superlative nature of the month of Anagantios, such as to be related to the fire feast of Lughnasa in Ireland.

Samhain - the Fire at the End of Summer
The completion of summer is commemorated with Samhain, whose name is generally accounted for as a compound of sam 'summer' and fuin 'end'. The focus of the explanation is on summer and its completion. The month of November, now called Samhain in Ireland, is called Gam(ain) in Cormack's Glossary 673: 'Gam quasi gamos isin greic, nouimber' 'Gam, as though in Greek 'Gamos', November' (Sanas Cormaic in Early Irish Glossaries database and being placed at the head of winter, gaimred, this relates to the month Giamon. The Feis of Tara, an assembly held at Tara, was held 'every third year, for the fulfilment of laws and rules, three days before Samhain and three days thereafter, the high-spirited company pass in constant feasting, a week.' In the Life of Patrick we find that the Feast of Tara was held in May, supporting the view that 'samain' was originally a summer feast that came to be associated with the All Martyrs feast of May 13th that was moved to November as All Saints throughout the Church in AD831.

Imbolg - the Spring Fire
The February fire feast asscociated with Celtic tripartite goddess, Brigit daughter of the Dagda, Imbolc 'washing' also goes by the name Oimelc 'ewe's milk'. The month Elembiuos on the Gaulish calendar refers to the nurturing of new life, and may relate to the lambing season in the way Emer tells Cú Chulaind that 'Oimell, the beginning of spring...is the time when the sheep come out and are milked' in the eleventh century Tochmarc Emer.

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Samon and the Celtic new year

How does the identification of Samon with May respond to the claim that Samhain (ie the feast of November eve) begins the Irish year and that Samhain corresponds to Samon?

The question arises because as a result of the influence of the 1886 Hibbert Lectures presented by Sir John Rhys, Samhain has been widely held to commence the traditional Irish year. Neither O'Donovan or Bulfinch earlier in the nineteenth century were able to identify the start of the 'Pagan Irish Year' and Rhys was held to have discovered the identification of Samhain as the start. In the early twentieth century this was enthusiastically taken up by Squire and even Frazer wrote 'we may with some probability infer that they reckoned their year from Hallowe'en rather than Beltane.'

Consistent with this, at the discovery of the Coligny calendar in 1897, Samon was very quickly identified with Samhain. And because Samon without any doubt commences the Coligny calendar, this reinforced the idea that Samhain (ie the feast of November eve) was the start of the Irish year. Moreover, an event recorded in Samon months of the calendar, Trinox samoni was identified with the actual fire feast of Samhain, based on phonetic similarity to the Old Irish 'trenae samhna' and both taken to mean the 'three nights of Samhain'. There seemed no reason to question the relationship. The concepts became intertwined and by the later twentieth century, Piggot simply wrote of the November feast, 'Samain marked the end of one year and the beginning of the next.'

Averting the direct relationships between Samon and samhradh and Giammon with geamhreadh, the concept of ellipsus has been introduced to explain why neither Samon nor Giammon translate to 'end of summer' (Samhain is a compound of sam + fuin) or 'end of winter' (which should be by this reasoning a compound of gam + fuin).

But the concept of Samhain (ie the feast of November eve) marking the new year was in the first place an invention. Sir John Rhys said of Cormack's Glossary, 'I should propose to mend the original' and made Fogamur out to be not just the last month of the autumn, but the last month of the year, 'so that the first day of the first month of winter was also the first day of the year.' To give his idea an historical basis he drew upon Caesar's description of the Gauls, claiming that Caesar said 'The Celts reckoned Dis the father of all, and regarded darkness and death as taking precedence over light and life ; so in their computation of time they began with night and winter, and not with daylight and summer' and this, he wrote, 'is probably the key to reckoning years as winters'.

Rhys in fact mis-quoted Caesar by adding words to his observation. What Caesar actually said translates to 'The Gauls claim all to be descended from Father Dis, declaring that this is the tradition preserved by the Druids. For this reason they measure periods of time not by days but by nights; and in celebrating birthdays, the first of the month, and new year's day, they go on the principle that the day begins at night'. Some translations use the term 'seasons' instead of 'periods', both referring to 'passage of time', and in no way does Caesar mention the seasons or winter or summer.

Even if the lectures given by Sir John Rhys are discounted, and the similarities between 'Samon' with 'Samhain' and the 'trinox samoni' with 'trenae samhna' relied on, the simple relationship of Samon to Samhradh and cét-Soman in conjunction with that of Giammon to Geamhreadh, must be accounted for.

We have the Irish literature of Tochmarch Emer from the eleventh century, and Giolla Dacker and his Horse from the sixteenth century, in which the first half of the year is positively identified as commencing with Beltaine.

A summer beginning for the year is consistent with the significant events associated with Beltaine. This date commemorated the landing of the first invaders of Ireland, the sons of Partholan, on which day was lit the first fire, that of Uisnech. The arrival of the Tuatha de Danaan, beginning life in a new land was at Beltaine. The young heroes of Celtic myth such as Pryderi were born at Beltaine, and Finn gained druidic inspiration after eating of the Salmon of Knowledge at Beltaine.

None of this diminishes Samhain, a time of profound prophesy. In the fifth century, King Dathi commemorated Beltaine 'with a scale of splendour never before equalled' as 'a conference with all the great chiefs and leaders of the nation'. This was in response to powerful prophetic declarations by Doghra, chief Druid, at the previous Samhain where Dathi was announced to be the future king of Ireland and Alba. The Beltaine conference was the launch of his summer campaigns that took him as far as the Alps.

What is notable about Beltaine is that it was the first Celtic feast to be usurped by Christianity. St Patrick described the Beltaine feast as 'an idolatrous ceremony, with manifold incantations and magical contrivances when the Druids, singers, prophets had been summoned to Laoghaire at Tara'. Dathi's conference and Patricks usurping of Beltaine occurred within decades of each other, a testament to the profound changes brought on by Christianity.

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The Southern Hemisphere Celtic Year

Australia and the Southern Lands experience the passage of the seasons in an off-set manner compared to the Celtic homelands of Europe and the Northern Lands. For Celts and those who mark the Celtic passage of time, the marking of the Fire feasts and the progress of the Celtic calendar presents a dilemma. For at the time of Beltaine and Calan Mai on the eve of May, the southern seasons are turning to the winter; at Samhain and Calan Gaeaf on the eve of November, the southern seasons are at the time of rebirth at the start of summer.

The offset seasons have presented their dilemma for all of the time of European settlement in the Southern lands, and the seasonal affinities of great Christian celebrations such as Easter and Christmas have continued to be marked with springtime and snowflake imagery in deference to their northern origin. Some development of southern seasonality has seen Santa adapting quite well to the warm summer nights around Christmas where takes his tea from the billy with a stockman and inquisitive kangaroos.

The Celtic calendar and the four Celtic fire feasts are deliberately associated with the seasons and are celebrations of life and the world about us as well as ourselves and our aspirations. As such, the southern seasons present their dilemma more profoundly: It is simply not appropriate in May to feast for the summer, at the start of the southern winter; Nor does it make any sense to reflect in assembly in November when the land has just come alive. In the Southern lands, November is the lucky summertime; The flourish of red bottle-brushes is at full bloom, oak trees have placed on their green mantles and migratory birds have returned from the north.

This transformation is clearly manifest in the direction of the Sun's path through the Southern skies, rising to the north and traversing a counter-clockwise course - deosil in the Southern hemisphere is a leftward motion and so the natural action in describing a circle. From the east the path travels to the north and warmth, setting from that direction to the west and returning under the earth through a southerly poleward motion back to dawn in the east.

The Wheel of the Year followed by Wicca, neo-Druids and similar groups is similarly offset by the seasonal progression in the southern hemisphere. The Wheel of the Year symbolises a cycle of life, death and rebirth and derives eight key turning points called Sabbats and Esabats from Celtic, Germanic, Egyptian and Latin mythology. The Wheel is generally held to begin at the start of the winter half of the year, coinciding with Halloween, or less often the winter solstice around Christmas. While the Wheel differs to the Celtic tradition of a summer start to the year, the seasonal dilemma met in the southern hemisphere is just as great.

At first glance, there appears to be a simple solution. Seasonally, the European feasts are able to be transposed by six months and successfully celebrated in complementary fashion. November eve marks the Southern year's first weather-movement of summer, its cét-Soman, its Samon moon, its opening of Samhradh. As such the Celtic Fire Feast of Beltaine is on this basis able to be marked with great satisfaction at November eve - 'Southern Beltaine'. May eve marks the Southern year's repose, its Giamon moon, its opening of Geimhreadh. So the Celtic Fire Feast of Samhain is able to be celebrated in like manner, as a May assembly at summer's end. High summer and the Lughnasadh are seasonally matched at February eve; and Springtime's feast of Oimelc/Imbolg and Brigid's fiery inspiration are attendant at the eve of August. Seasonally these all may be marked under their traditional Celtic names, six months off-set to their true dates and labelled 'southern'.

On the Wheel of the Year, this offseting solution has been followed, and consequently southern "Samhain" is marked on May eve, southern "Yule" at the winter solstice in June, southern "Imbolg" on August eve, southern "Ostara" at the vernal equinox of September, southern "Beltane" on November eve, southern "Litha" at the summer solstice in December, southern "Lughnasa" on February eve, and southern "Mabon" at the autumnal equinox in March.

The ancient sources show us that in addition to the waxing and waning of the seasons, the Celtic year was also clearly linked to the stars: The start of the Celtic year is associated with the rise of the Pleaides just as strongly as it is with the start of the season of summer, so astronomically and astrologically there are greater considerations. Both North and South, the Celestial Sphere remains constant, the stars rising in their order throughout the turn of the year. In this aspect the Southern Hemisphere dilemma comes to the fore, for while the seasons may anticipate the Fire Feasts by simple transformation of date, the Stars do not.

The Celtic calendar feasts are therefore not translocatable, and are set in their European context. In no different a way than that of January modernly marking the start of the Gregorian calendar throughout the world, the Celtic calendar has a single world-wide beginning, namely the lunation of May, or in its Gregorian form May 1st. And just as January 1st occurs in the days following the summer solstice in the Southern lands, so too does Samon and its feast of Beltaine occur in the first days of winter in the Southern lands.

Because the Celtic calendar's celebrations are overtly seasonal and devoted to life responding to light, and recognising that it is the Celtic tradition and its celebrations rather than indigenous traditions whose developments were moulded by the southern seasons and the southern skies, a solution is offered here that may provide a satisfactory Southern Celtic response.

Caer Australis proffers the names Teine Samhradh Deas, Teine Grian Deas, Teine Geimhreadh Deas and Teine Earrach Deas for the Southern Fires of Summer (November, at Samhain), High Summer (February, at Oimelc), Winter (May, at Beltaine) and Springtime (August, at Lughnasa) respectively, which recognise that each season's celestial arrangements in the South run opposite to those of the Celtic homelands and the Northern lands. For the Celtic calendar, the month of Samon may be referred to as the Southern Giamon Lunation, and so on throughout the calendar year. This arrangement of Southern Fires and Lunations express the southern seasons in Celtic terms, while recognising the Celtic Fire Feasts and the months of the year are European in origin and design.

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The ancient sources: The Pleiades cycle and the Celtic calendar

Presented here are reports from the ancient sources relating to the Pleiades and the Celtic calendar system. The distinctive star cluster within the constellation of Taurus has long served humankind as the signal for the turn of the seasons: Their ancient rise in May signalled the coming warmth of summer; their setting the cold of winter. Of far greater utility than the solsticial extremes of the sun in deep winter or high summer, the Pleiades provided the signals for the seasonal transitions and the timing of agricultural practices vital to the well-being of communities. The rising of the Pleiades occurs when their celestial appearance over the eastern horizon co-incides with the rising of the sun. In the first millennium BC, this occurred in May, though today they rise in June.

By the time of the rise of the Celtic culture as a distinct member of the Indo-European family, typically dated to the eighth century BC with the Hallstatt archaeological period, the Pleiades had been long recognised for their significance. The cluster appears in mythologies from around the world (for a review see Pleiade.org's 'The Pleiades in mythology' http://www.pleiade.org/pleiades_02.html). From the Bronze age of Europe has been discovered a bronze device, the 'Nebra Star Disc', dated to 1600BC, featuring the Sun, Moon and Pleiades (see: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte website). The Greek poet Hesiod wrote of their astronomical signposting in the eighth century BC as the iron age reached Europe (Hesiod, Works and Days, 380). The Celts of Britain and Gaul marked a thirty year celestial cycle completed when Saturn returned to the sign of Taurus (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.185) marking an 'age' in their calendar system, as recorded by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD (Natural History, 17.95). The rise of the Pleiades also marked the completion of a lunar festival in Britain, as the moon completed a nineteen year Metonic cycle (Diodorus, Library of History 2,47).

The Nebra Star Disc

The Pleiades were recorded in Bronze age Europe as a cluster of stars on the 'Nebra Star Disk', dating to around 1600BC and produced from metals found in Europe (Secrets of the Star Disc, 2004). The disc combines images of the Sun and Moon, an arc delineating the angle on the horizon produced between solsticial extremes, and a star-field in which appear a distinctive cluster of seven stars, the Pleiades. The disc is presently exhibited at the Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte in Halle, Germany, described as "an in-depth view of the astronomical knowledge" of pre-historic Europeans (see: Landesmuseum website http://www.lda-lsa.de/himmelsscheibe_von_nebra/ and 'Secrets of the Star Disc', transcript of BBC2 presentation, 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/stardisctrans.shtml).

Hesiod's 'Works and Days'

The poet Hesiod wrote in the eighth century BC an epic poem describing the passage of the year and the tasks to perform during its course. Within its lines, the Pleiades are mentioned as markers of the seasons: "[380] More hands mean more work and more increase. If your heart within you desires wealth, do these things and work with work upon work. When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising, [in May] begin your harvest, and your ploughing when they are going to set [in November]. [385] Forty nights and days they are hidden and appear again as the year moves round, when first you sharpen your sickle. This is the law of the plains, and of those who live near the sea, [390] and who inhabit rich country, the glens and hollows far from the tossing sea: strip to sow and strip to plough and strip to reap, if you wish to get in all Demeter's fruits in due season, and that each kind may grow in its season" (Hesiod, Works and Days, 380).

Celebration of the Hyperboreans

Diodorus Siculus, who lived from 80-20BC, was a Greek historian of Agyrium in Sicily who wrote forty books of world history, called Library of History. He relates, "facing the land of the Celts in the parts of the Ocean, there is an island, which is not smaller than Sicily, situated in the northern region and inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north wind [Boreas] blows" (Diodorus, Library of History 2,47).

The Hyperborean priests are reported by Diodorus to a hold a luni-solar festival complete at the rising of the Pleiades every nineteen year 'Metonic' cycle. Meton, the fifth century BC Greek astronomer, discovered that every 235 lunations, equal to nineteen solar years, the full moon occurs on the same calendar date.

He relates, "The account is also given that the god [Apollo] visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished; and for this reason...is called by the Greeks the 'year of Meton'. At the time of this appearance of the god he both plays on the cithara and danced continuously the night through from the vernal equinox until the rising of the Pleiades, expressing in this manner his delight in his successes" (Diodorus, Library of History 2,47).

The Thirty Years of Cronus

Plutarch's dialogue 'The Face in the Moon' was inspired by a total solar eclipse observed in the Mediterranean, probably that of AD75. Here, an account is given of Cronus, father of Zeus, entrapped on an island in the Ocean westward of Britain, "Cronus himself sleeps confined in a deep cave of rock that shines like gold - the sleep that Zeus has contrived like a bond for him" (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.187).

The myth of Cronus may have been suggested to Plutarch by Demetrius of Tarsus, who is said in the dialogue to have recently returned from Britain, and he may be relating a Celtic legend that was suitably Hellenized by Plutarch for his audience (De Facie, Loeb Introduction). The information was obtained after the Claudian invasion of Britain in AD43; not long before the composition of this dialogue, the Druidic groves on the island of Môn had (in AD61) been attacked.

In Plutarch's account are reflections of a comment made by Caesar in 54BC, who wrote, "The interior portion of Britain is inhabited by those of whom they say that it is handed down by tradition that they were born in the island itself: the maritime portion by those who had passed over from the country of the Belgae for the purpose of plunder and making war; almost all of whom are called by the names of those states from which being sprung they went thither" (Caesar, Bellum Gallium, 6.18). Plutarch's relates, "These people consider and call themselves continentals and the inhabitants of this land islanders because the sea flows around it on all sides" (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.183).

Similarities to the Irish Book of Invasions are seen in Plutarch's account, "they believe that with the peoples of Cronus there mingled at a later time those who arrived in the train of Heracles [who] rekindled again to a strong, high flame the Hellenic spark there which was already being quenched and overcome by the tongue, the laws, and the manners of the barbarians. Therefore Heracles has the highest honours and Cronos the second" (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.185).

With respect to Celtic time-keeping, Plutarch relates, "Now when at intervals of thirty years the star of Cronus, which we call 'Splendent' but they, our author said, call 'Night-watchman', enters the sign of the Bull, they, having spent a long time in preparation for the sacrifice and the expedition, choose by lot and send forth a sufficient number of envoys in a correspondingly sufficient number of ships ... while those who have served the god together for the stint of thirty years are allowed to sail off home" (Plutarch, De Facie, Loeb p.185).

Pliny the Elder

The thirty year circuit of Saturn is presented in Pliny the Elder's discourse of the planets and their attributes: "It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and therefore appears the smallest, that he passes through the largest circuit, and that he is ac trigesimo anno ad brevissima sedis suae principia regredi at least thirty years in completing it" (Pliny, Natural History, 2.6). This section 'Of The Nature Of The Stars; Of The Motion Of The Planets', published in AD77 is an invaluable resource as an insight into ancient perceptions of the universe.

Thirty years is the period Pliny assigns as the largest unit of Celtic time-keeping. He tells us that for the Druids of Gaul, "the fifth day of the moon [is] the day which is the beginning of their months and years, as also of their ages, which, with them, are but thirty years. This day they select because the moon, though not yet in the middle of her course, has already considerable power and influence; and they call Her by a name which signifies, in their language omnia sanantem the all-healing" (Pliny, Natural History, 17.95).

Pliny, who composed his encyclopaedic work in the period following AD52 until his death in AD79 whilst studying the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, positively identifies the thirty year period as part of the Celtic calendrical system. That the Celts used the first-quarter moon as the first day of their months explains why their period of the day extends from successive sunsets: on the first day of the Celtic month the moon is directly overhead split into dual sunlit and dark halves, a precise astronomical observation.

Caesar a century earlier (53BC) reported the sunset beginning to the Celtic daily period: "they compute the divisions of every season, not by the number of days, but of nights; they keep birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such an order that the day follows the night" (Caesar, Bellum Gallium, 6.18).

It is of historical interest to see that after the conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar gathered "the best scholars and mathematicians of the day" (Plutarch, Life of Caesar, 59) to standardise and correct the Roman calendar, for "there had been great confusion among the Romans with regard to the relation of the lunar to the solar year, with the result that the festivals and days of sacrifice gradually got out of place [in the Roman system; and] the priests ... would suddenly insert in the calendar the intercalary month known as Mercedonius" (Plutarch, Life of Caesar, 59). After nearly a decade in the Celtic lands, Caesar would have become familiar with the Celtic system, and perhaps he was inspired to repair the Roman system. He set new year's day at January 1, around mid-winter, and as the Celtic lands came under Roman rule so too did they need to adapt their own festivals to the Roman calendar.

The Celtic Calendar System and the Pleiades

The ancient sources provide us with insight to the importance of the May rising of the Pleaides. From their Bronze age forebears through to the times of Roman conquest, the Celts across the sweep of northwest Europe and the islands of the Ocean are shown by the ancient historians to have keenly marked the Pleiades in their religious astronomical observations and festivals. The rise of the Pleiades and the constellation of Taurus in May marked the thirty year age, as the planet Saturn completed its circuit of the heavens. The most recent conjunction of Saturn in Taurus was in AD2002, when a major conjuction of the planets was visible first at sunset in April and later in May and June at their heliacal rising on the dawn horizon (Harvard University Gazette, 2000), upon which the calendar of correspondences provided here is based.

References to the ancient sources. Note: the Perseus site update will error these urls, and a new search is required.

C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library. [available on-line:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+6.18 ]

Diodorus, Library of History Book II, Loeb translation, In: Hawkins, G. (1965) Stonehenge Decoded. Fontana, London, pp.165-166.

Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Works and Days. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [available on-line:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hes.+WD+1 ]

Pliny the Elder. The Natural History. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855. [available on-line:
'Of The Nature Of The Stars; Of The Motion Of The Planets': http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+2.6]
'Historical Facts Connected With The Mistletoe': http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+17.95]

Plutarch. Moralia. De Facie 'The Face in the Moon' with an introduction. Vol. XII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1957. [available on-line:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/
Moralia/The_Face_in_the_Moon*/Introduction.html ]

Plutarch, Life of Caesar. In: Plutarch. Fall of the Roman Republic. Transl. R. Warner (1972). London: Penguin, pp. 243-310.

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A 'Five Year' theme in the Four Branches of the Mabinogion

In the Celtic calendar from ancient Gaul, the structure upon which the luni-solar time reckoning was based was a five year solar cycle, and the bronze tablet found at Coligny comprises an entire five year cycle. A millennium later, oral traditions of the Celts began to be recorded and what we call today the Four Branches of the Mabinogion appeared in two great books, The White Book of Rhydderch and The Red Book of Hergest. In these four myths, several series of five year long tales are recorded.

We ask the question, "Has a Celtic tradition of Five Year Cycles been preserved in the structure of these Myths?"  The Four Branches are a very small sample to examine, and the stories probably relate to events centuries after the Celtic calendar as recorded in Gaul fell into disuse, but nevertheless it may remain a possibility that preserved in the structure of their story-telling the was an importance that events or cycles should take five years to complete. This simple hypothesis remains just that, but presented here are a series of Five Year tales from the Mabinogion, and the reader is invited to enjoin this speculation....

How Rhiannon married Pwyll found in the myth of Pwyll

• Year 1 Rhiannon declares her love for Pwyll
• Year 2 Pwyll looses Rhiannon to Gwawl
• Year 3 Pwyll regains Rhiannon from Gwawl
• Year 4 Prosperous marriage
• Year 5 Rhiannon gives birth to a son

How Rhiannon's son got his Name found in the myth of Pwyll

• Year 1 Gwri grows to the strength of a three year old
• Year 2 Gwri grows to the strength of a six year old
• Year 3 Gwri grows still stronger
• Year 4 Gwri is bargaining with the stable boys to water the horses
• Year 5 Gwri is presented to Rhiannon as her lost son and is named Pryderi

How Branwen was rescued from Mallolwch from the myth of Branwen

• Year 1 Branwen is given to Mallolwch
• Year 2 Branwen is honoured at the court of Mallolwch
• Year 3 Branwen is banished and takes a blow every day
• Year 4 Branwen raises the starling
• Year 5 Branwen is rescued

How Gwydion and Gilvaethwy were Punished from the myth of Math ap Mathonwy

• Year 1 Gwydion raids Dyved and Gilvaethwy rapes Goewin.
• Year 2 Gwydion and Gilvaethwy transformed to deer - produce offspring
• Year 3 Gwydion and Gilvaethwy transformed to wild pigs- produce offspring
• Year 4 Gwydion and Gilvaethwy transformed to wolves - produce offspring
• Year 5 Gwydion selects Arianrhod to replace Goewin, Arianrhod gives birth

How Arianrhod's son got his Name from the myth of Math ap Mathonwy

• Year 1 The infant son of Arianrhod grew to the size of a two year old.
• Year 2 At the end of his second year he could go to court by himself
• Year 3 The boy continues to grow stronger
• Year 4 At the end of his fourth year and was as big as a very advanced eight year old
• Year 5 Arianrhod named the boy Lleu Skilful Hand.

How Lleu avenged Goronwy from the myth of Math ap Mathonwy

• Year 1 Lleu is named and armed by Arianrhod
• Year 2 Lleu is married to Blodeuwedd
• Year 3 Goronwy spends a year preparing the spear
• Year 4 Lleu is speared by Goronwy
• Year 5 Lleu kills Goronwy and becomes Lord of Gwynedd

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