The Fire Feasts in the Southern Hemisphere

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: this is epitomised by the famous 1964 painting on the Arnotts biscuit tin lid of 'Santa and the Drover' by the Jamberoo, NSW artist Jack Waugh (shown below).

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. See for example the Temple of the Dark Moon .pdf article for a discussion of this. 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. Philosophically, 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 cold and dark beginning to the pagan Wheel differs from the summertime beginning of the traditional Celtic year (as explained in the main Fire Feast and Celtic Calendar sections on this site), the off-set seasons in the southern hemisphere present an identical dilemma.

Further below on this page are provided links to several Australian and other pagan websites, where each presents their philosophy in this regard; also listed are sites concerned with herbs and permaculture, where life responding to light comes to the fore! An Australian perspective of the solar and fire festivals is presented at Re-earth the cities! within a wider context of sustainable and natural city living.

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 Mí Gam at the 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. See for example the Shadows of Oz website for this perspective.

There is, however, a reason for finding this half-year shifting of dates wanting, because the ancient sources tell 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.

So because of the way they are celebrated by season and stars, the Celtic calendar feasts are really not translocatable, and are set in their European context. This is no different to the way that January modernly marks the start of the Gregorian calendar throughout the world, which in the Southern Hemisphere is just after the summer solstice. In like manner, the Celtic year has a single world-wide beginning, namely the lunation of May, or in its Gregorian form May 1st (as explained in the Celtic calendar), so Mids Samon and the 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.

Teine Samhradh Deas

The Fire Feast for Summer
'Southern Beltaine'
Held on the Eve of November

And they named him Gwri Golden-hair

Summer has come, healthy and free,
Green bursts out on every herb!

Teine Grian Deas

The Fire Feast for High Summer
'Southern Lughnasa'
held on the Eve of February

He is the Ioldhanach!

Son of the king in midsummer
The greenwoods girl gave a gift

Teine Geimhreadh Deas

The Fire Feast for Winter
'Southern Samhain'
Held on the Eve of May

And he made his way to Eas Ruaidh

Winter has come, summer is gone.
Low the sun and short his course

Teine Earrach Deas

The Fire Feast for Spring
'Southern Oimelc'
Held on the Eve of August

Four white trefoils were her track

Go on your knees, open your eyes,
Let Brigit in! She is welcome!