Liturgical cycles

Life is cyclical with years and seasons following one after another in a dynamic and constant process of renewal. Our liturgical year follows this naturally occurring repetitive pattern in a living process of worship. We also have other liturgical cycles to consider in the cycles of lives and the rites of passage that we celebrate from birth to death. Organizations, tribes and local congregations also have liturgical cycles through which they move and progress.
Our modern calendar of worship is based around the four festivals of the ancient Irish sacred year. In order to understand the structure of the cycle we must cast our imaginations back many generations to the time when these festivals were celebrated as part of the sacred culture of Ireland, a time when society, and religion worked around an agriculturally based system. The first division that we see in this distant world of people who lived upon the land was the sectioning of the year into two halves a dark or winter half and a light or summer half. We must realize that the people had two major periods to their agricultural cycle a period when the people were upon the hearth and together and a period when the people were scattered upon the fields. As summer ended, the herds were brought down from the far fields and hills with the animals that would not be wintered over being slaughtered and the meat stored, the warriors and everyone who was out in the fields and forest came together and then all hands were available to help in the harvesting of the fields and storing the food. When harvest ended the people would be together as the cold season descended and they spent much time inside with short days and long nights. During this time of being indoors the people would take care of tasks that were suited to this turn of season and things such as sewing, weaving, weapon and tool repair would be the primary work as hands were kept busy while the people sat together at the hearth. At this time of togetherness the tales and poems would be told so that the people could hear them and learn the traditions of the people. Due to the recent harvest, food was plenty and the people were together with a warm fire, work to do and tales to hear. And as the days lengthened it would become time to plow and plant and the livestock would be nearing their birthing time. The people would take care of preparing the fields and once the seeds were in the ground many of them, especially the young men, would take to the forests and hills to do different kinds of work. The herds had to be taken to the far meadows for grazing and would need to be tended and protected, warriors would be moving about protecting herds and the land from outsiders. This was a time when people would be turning their hands to the outside tasks of an agricultural way of life. Winter had fallen right after the harvest and so was a time of plenty but as summer advanced food stores dropped because the herds were not yet ready for slaughter and the fields not yet ready for harvest but the fact that many of the adolescents and young adults are out in the fields living off the land helps the supplies in the settlements last longer. And so the life of the people breathed, and inhalation which brought the folk together to spend the cold and dark time on the hearth and an exhalation which would send them out for the long days upon the fields to farm and herd. It was within this tidal flow of agricultural life that the worship of the gods was maintained.
The completion of harvest when the people were together was an excellent time for a festival and so Samhain was celebrated to thank the gods for the harvest, and to mark the end of the old year as the light faded and the cold came. An old year and old world passed away at this time and the flame of that world was allowed to die. But a new flame was ignited to warm and light another year and establish a world recreated and reordered. As was the way in that society of long ago is our way now and still we celebrate Summer’s end by coming together for our rite of Samhain, our spiritual new-year where we light new fires, pour new waters and start or religious life cycle of worship for another turn of the seasons.
In the depths of winter there is a change in the tide and though still cold and still driving the people inward they felt the change and saw it in the animals. The wombs of the animals quickened and the new herd to be born soon could be seen growing within, lactation began and the milk started to flow. The prosperity of the new year was starting to show itself and could be seen and felt. At the hearths scattered across farmsteads another rite was celebrated, often by smaller groups gathered peacefully around the warming fire was held the rite of Imbolg. The peaceful and intimate celebration of home, hearth and hope where life could be seen renewing. We too enjoy the feast of Imbolg, we come together inside and we celebrate our hope, our families our homes. The season of light stands just around the corner and we can see the approach clearly. From the grave of winter’s death will spring leaves and flowers, with fields and forests once again green.
In a rush of activity the world changed and the people stepped from the dark of winter to the light of summer and the hands that plied crafts at the hearth now turn to the fields to plow and to plant. Bealteinne, the rite of the good fire is held with new flowers decorating the ceremony held outdoors on the new green. The fields are planted and the herds and young men who guard them are driven forth with blessings into the hills and far meadows to find grazing. And a new peace descends, one which is rife with bright activity but devoid of the smells of many people and animals crowded together, also lessened is the chatter so comforting at the start of winter and maddening by the end. The good fire burns for us also and we have the rite of Bealtienne to bless and embrace the bright season when we can garden though not with the same imperative need, our activities turn also to the outside and we can take to the forests, rivers and lakes when we can sail, camp and hike. Scattering to the winds, we take our summer vacations and we see less of one another as we are just generally more out and about.
Across the year from the peaceful rite on the hearth came the festival and rite of Lughnasadh when the world was warm and life raged in the hearts. Fields were planted but not yet ready for the big harvest, herds were growing and fattening but not yet ready for slaughter. Energy was high, youth was strong and work was at a short lull. There was time to travel and the people could join together in a large multi-day festival where they could arrange contracts, discuss laws and settle disputes. There would be contests and games where people could test and demonstrate their prowess. Craftspeople would have their wears available and the people could trade for the things that they needed but could not make at home. And there would be a special peace between tribes and clans and even those at war would not fight at this time and place. And a massive rite was held in honor of Lugh, his folk and especially his foster-mother Tailtui. In our time Lughnasadh is still celebrated and we have a rite to honor Lugh, and feast to celebrate his wedding and we have games to mark the funeral of Tailtui. There is running, jumping, throwing and all sorts of demonstrations of physical strength and skill. We are alive with the energy of the season and the heat of the summer burns and boils in us.
In the dark and the light halves of the year these four rites were and are marked and celebrated. Now, so many generations removed from that ancient world we touch it still as we worship the same gods at those same points of the original cycle. Our spiritual life and our rites of worship turn through a yearly cycle of two halves plus one day out of time giving us a year and a day, half in the dark time and half in the light time. Our modern activities have changed in many ways yet in some ways they are similar. A time of work and school, a time of vacation when we travel and move about more. Winter still drives many of us inside and summer allows us to get out.
Different groups place their celebrations of these rites through the year in slightly varying ways. Some people and groups will celebrate these festivals on a standardized calendar with certain dates always being the date for a rite or the weekend closest to the date being the actual celebration. Others may follow local seasonal changes very closely with specific local events dictating the scheduling of rites. Some will schedule according to lunar events with specific points in the phases of the moon indicating when a holy day shall be noted. There are those who will arrange these high day rites according to solar or other astronomical events.  These festivals exist in our faith with myriad methods for scheduling but there existence continues.
Some of the people and local congregations of Comhaltacht Draiocht have also adopted another set of festivals which are not of Celtic origin and which blend a solar schedule of rites into the agricultural rites. These rites are celebrated on the solstices and equinai and have been adopted from various sources some people adopting them based on their use among non-Celtic peoples and others adopting them based on their presence during the Neolithic age in areas that would become Celtic during the Iron age. There is no broad agreement on the appropriateness of these additional solar feasts within Comhaltacht Draiocht as a body with some folks feeling that since they are not Celtic in origin they should not be celebrated and other folks feeling that though they are not Celtic they have come to serve a spiritual need and so should be celebrated. Where these additional rites are concerned each individual and group will decide the appropriateness of these particular rites to their personal and small group spirituality. Due to the pluralistic ethical views taught in our faith both sets of practices are considered correct and acceptable.
In addition to the standard four Celtic holy days and the often incorporated solstices and equinai some individuals and local groups adopt into their annual cycle of rites other rites which may be based on local traditions or very specific local spiritual practices. Each person and local group will build, through practice, a set of ritual traditions which meet their spiritual needs and this is the nature of the structure of our Fellowship. So we see that there are many options for rites during the year with some groups having four only while others have eight or more.