Just over a week ago, on 2 February, it was Candlemas in the Western Christian calender, the anniversary of the newly-born Christ being presented at the temple of Jerusalem, although in the Catholic tradition it has subsequently become especially associated with the veneration of the Virgin Mary. In France, called Chandeleur, the day marks the end of the 40-day Christmas cycle and so Christmas decorations are finally removed (unlike in England when they are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night or the start of Epiphany, 6 January). I had a meal of savoury crêpes and sweet pancakes with my neighbours, this being the traditional meal for Chandeleur (with the batter stirred while holding a coin in the left hand to impart good luck for the year ahead) and very nice they were too, washed down with cider, which, rather than wine, is the usual drink to accompany pancakes.

The date was also the occasion for my commune, Arles-sur-Tech, to celebrate its annual Bear Festival, la Fête de l'Ours, or in Catalan, la Festa de l'Ós.

According to popular belief bears comes out of hibernation on Candlemas and, just like the actions of Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day (also Candlemas, 2 February) it is believed that the emerging bears can forecast the weather. If the bear thinks spring will be late in coming, it returns to its cave and hibernates an additional 40 days. Accordingly the bear festival is a tentatively hopeful celebration of the start of spring and the renewel of life. But it also has deeper elements reflecting the opposition between nature and culture, and between animality and humanity. However interestingly, despite these themes, and the overall message of order and civillisation triumphing over nature and base desires, the festival has absolutely no religious aspect at all neither in the charaters or in their words or actions. Since at least the 15th century the festival was always held on Candlemas (it has only recently been shifted to the next nearest Sunday for practical reasons) but the original timing was probably just an attempt by the church to recover and control a very much older pagan celebration. Indeed in the 17th and 18th centuries the church tried to supress the whole thing.

In local myth bears coming out of the rigours of winter hibernation, as well as forecasting the weather, were thought to be particularly attracted to young women, who they tried to abduct to their lairs and rape. Such forced coupling was, according to some versions of the story, how Jean de l'Ours, the hero of a French folktale of the same name, was conceived (other versions have him being abandoned and raised by a bear in a manner similar to Romulus and Remus). In the Pyrenees bears were viewed, not only as the lords of the forest and so rivals to human domination, but also inherently semi-human. Bears, unlike all other native animals, can walk upright (and they do so on the flat of their feet and not on their toes like cats, dogs, horses etc), they can manipulate things with their hands, their eyes are in the front of their face, they are omnivorous, and they have a very human-like appreciation for sweet foods such as fruits and honey.

Accordingly the local Bear Festival centers around the newly awakened bear, and the hunt for him by the villagers who are led by Pigass, a hunter, who uses his own wife, Rosetta, as a lure.

At the start of the events Pigass gives his speech rallying the village hunters and then they all set off down to the woods by the river (accompanied, as you do when on a bear hunt, by a band of musicians). The bear is eventually flushed out from his hiding place and this gives rise to a chase through the streets of the town, sometimes with the bear in the lead, sometimes with him in in pursuit. With the aid of the village hunters and two other groups of characters - the Bótes and the Tortugues, whose role is to distract the bear and block his escape - the bear is cornered and subdued. Pigass gives a speach proclaiming what a great hunter he is and announcing 'Victoria!' - except the bear then escapes while everyone is celebrating, and so the chase resumes. This happens several times at places throughout the town until the bear is eventually trapped in the central square. Here he is subdued, tamed, humiliated and finally symbolically shaved with an axe, whereupon his head is removed and he metamorphoses into a real man, to finally join the concluding dance with everyone in the village while the communal wine flask (a Catalan porron) is freely passed around.

That's our version of the festival. With its stock characters; its traditional speeches and responses (in Catalan); its mock fights and comedy balcony scene in which Rosetta (always played by a stocky bloke in a blond wig) sometimes seems to prefer the bear over Pigass and his ungallant use of her as bait; its hammy acting, slap-stick comedy, lewd jokes and cross-dressing; and with the bear having a permanent silly grin on his papier-maché head ... it all rather resembles a pantomime.



The two neighbouring towns also have bear festivals, that at Prats-de-Mollo was last Sunday (9 February) while the last one at St Laurent-de-Cerdans is next weekend - but theirs are both rather different. That at Prats in particular is rather darker, literally, and rougher. Prats has three 'bears' - men dressed in sheepskins with cylindrical fur hats and with their faces and hands blackened with oil and soot - and since they try and embrace women in the crowd or grapple with the men, everyone usually ends up with sooty marks and so it's best not to wear your best clothes.

Here one of the 'bears' at Prats-de-Mollo closes in on his better-dressed prey:



Meanwhile the bear at St. Laurent is made from a real snarling bear's head which, carried on a man's shoulders, results in a fearsome character towering over everyone else ... 



... although in the end he too, like the bears in all three villages, eventually gets subdued, shaved and his inner man released.

These bear festivals now only exist our three villages in the Haut-Vallespir valley, although there is still a considerable cult folklore associated with bears throughout the Pyrenees and there is certainly a thriving bear cult in parts of Romania, Germany and Poland amongst other places.

But there must be many other regions throughout the world with their own, very special spring traditions, rites and festivals.

I hadn't heard of the Bear festival, MM, though I have been thinking about Candlemas Day.  I need to write some pieces for shorthand dictation (I'd already done some before Christmas but they were on the computer that was stolen and I hadn't backed up my work to memory stick or external hard drive).  So I've been thinking about things I can waffle on about and had thought about festivals in February including Candlemas Day and St Valentine's (though the latter is a means to separate folk from their hard earned cash as much as function as a feast day in the 21st century I feel).

I read an Alfred Duggan historical novel some years ago called "Winter Quarters".  It starts off in the Pyrenees.  One of the two main characters kills a bear which was trying to kill his girlfriend but it transpires his girlfriend was staked out as an offering to the goddess Pyrene.  There is some tut-tutting in the village as to whether the bear was Pyrene herself in bear form.  Anyway, the character involved fears he has incurred the wrath of the goddess and the rest of the events in the book could be interpreted as the person having offended the goddess.  Of course a person believing such superstitions would be prone to making interpretations like that.  I wonder if AD had done research on the cult of the Bear in the Pyrenees in bygone times in preparation for writing his novel.

In Bolivia and Peru there is a celebration of the "Virgen de la Candelaria" in February (the fourth festival mentioned in the linked article https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2015/12/south-americas-top-5-most-inspiring-cultural-festivals/  It sounds as if it is a variation on Candlemas Day so not a different rite per se and of course in that part of South America it wouldn't be spring would it, being south of the Equator.

In contrast to the rough and tumble of the Vallespir Bear Festivals, I came across this enchanting tradition which was covered by a photo feature in the Guardian: the Bird Wedding, or ‘Vogelhochzeit’ in German, or ‘Ptaci kwas’ in the local Sorbian language.

The Sorbs are a slavic minority mostly living across the east German states of Saxony and Brandenburg, and across into the Lower Silesian and Lubusz provinces of western Poland. The Sorbian language is related to Polish and Czech, and they have their own distinctive traditions. One of their unique customs is the so-called Bird Wedding celebrated annually on 25 January which is the day when supposedly all the birds get married. In the evening before children place an empty bowl or plate on the windowsill and on the 25th they receive sweets and cakes, supposedly brought by the birds themselves from their  wedding feast. This of course happens secretly overnight and as with gifts from Santa Claus, a naughty child  might just get a piece of coal. The traditional sweets are often in the shape of birds or made to resemble a nest with eggs. 



Then on the 25th children act out the birds' wedding, with kindergarten-age children dressing up as birds and slightly older ones dressing to resemble newlyweds in a traditional Sorbian wedding, with the girls dressed as brides all in white and carrying bouquets and the boys as grooms in dark suits and with top hats.



So as well as getting sweet treats the children also get a sort of lesson about the-birds-and-the-bees and an explanation of how the hedgerows will soon be filled by baby birds.

If in Sorbia the birds get married on 25 January, in Slovenia they are said to get engaged on Valentine's Day, 14 February. In Slovenia St Valentine is known as the first spring saint "Valentin- prvi spomladin" as his feast day is often taken to mark the first day of spring when work in the fields, orchards and vineyards starts.

This association of St Valentine with avian romance may akso have once been prevalent in England. Geoffrey Chaucer in the 'Parliament of Fowls' (1382) written to honour the first anniversary of the engagement of fifteen-year-old King Richard II of England to fifteen-year-old Anne of Bohemia, wrote:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make
Of euery kynde that men thinke may
And that so heuge a noyse gan they make
That erthe & eyr & tre & euery lake
So ful was that onethe was there space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.

In modern English:

For this was on Saint Valentine's Day
When every bird comes there to choose his match
Of every kind that men may think of,
And that so huge a noise they began to make
That earth and air and tree and every lake
Was so full, that not easily was there space
For me to stand—so full was all the place.

In Ireland February 1st appears in the religious calendar as "Lá Fhéile Bríde" (St Brigid's Feast Day), but this expression for the day only overtook "Imbolg" as recently as the 18th century. The feast of Imbolg ("from within the sheep's womb") is mentioned in some of Ireland's most ancient written records, it being one of the great four feasts that pre-dated Christianity and remained until very recent times of far greater import in rural Ireland, even for Christians, than Christmas or Easter.

How it is celebrated has also changed significantly over the millennia, and nowadays is a very muted affair that might involve lighting a candle in one's window (or in the local church), and only in some very rural areas still involve a trip to the local holy well. The candle however is a vestige of when this was the "hearth festival", and even in my grandmother's time was still an occasion to ensure a good hearth was lit (despite one's poverty) and to invite friends and neighbours around to share a meal in its glow. Outside the domestic hearth the more public tradition of a communal pilgrimage to a well to make offerings was also a vestige of when the day paid honour to the "earth and the sea", which was recorded in Connacht in the 1700s to involve ritual pouring of milk into the soil and the casting of porridge into the ocean in coastal areas (I'm all for that one!).

The gist of the festival, whether pagan or Christian, has always been to mark the advent of Spring and the recruitment of whichever god one fancied to give a hand in ensuring that everything stayed "on the up" for the rest of the growing season. Divination was always a huge element (portents such as bird flight and weather conditions on the day carried much more weight than normal), and even today those who subscribe to such notions place a higher value on predictions and forecasts made on that day, be it by the local priest or "Madame X" in her tent.

That sounds more subdued than the ancient festival you mentioned last year where they bumped off the oldsters, nordmann.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

That sounds more subdued than the ancient festival you mentioned last year where they bumped off the oldsters, nordmann.

The need for old people to make the ultimate sacrifice so that Lúgh can appropriate enough of the harvest from the Crom Dubh and at least the younger members of society might hopefully make it to spring doesn't apply in February. It's heading into the winter when that becomes a logical and necessary ritual (or, as the UK government might now deem it - an "unfortunate" feature of the "big society"). At least the Gaelic Irish only celebrated Lúghnasadh once a year.

nordmann wrote:

In Ireland February 1st appears in the religious calendar as "Lá Fhéile Bríde" (St Brigid's Feast Day), .... nowadays is a very muted affair that might involve lighting a candle in one's window (or in the local church), and only in some very rural areas still involve a trip to the local holy well. The candle however is a vestige of when this was the "hearth festival", and even in my grandmother's time was still an occasion to ensure a good hearth was lit (despite one's poverty) and to invite friends and neighbours around to share a meal in its glow ... The gist of the festival, whether pagan or Christian, has always been to mark the advent of Spring and the recruitment of whichever god one fancied to give a hand in ensuring that everything stayed "on the up" for the rest of the growing season.

Yes I can well understand the church wanting to appropriate an older Spring festival, with all its attendant pleas for a productive and fecund year ahead, by cleverly morphing the "hearth festival" into a Candle festival, although the whole "I am the light of the world" theme seems rather too obviously contrived to me. But how then did it shift from being about Jesus to become a veneration of the Virgin Mary? In the western Christian tradition Candlemas 2nd February commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Certainly by Jewish tradition (Leviticus 12) after the birth of a child a woman was to be purified by presenting lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy's circumcision, but the Catholic church, by making the day the 'Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary', rather takes the emphasis away from baby Jesus. It was the son of God's first big public event, yet it has now become very much all about his mother. Shouldn't we be lighting pigeons rather than candles?  

Anyhow, as we are now approaching Ash Wednesday, we're into Carnival season, when authority often turns a blind eye to a certain degree of decadence and boistrousness after the confines of Winter and before the 40 days of enforced pious austerity and abstinence of Lent. Those held in Venice or Rio de Janeiro are well known, but there must be many local variations. I like the all the doggy characters in this one in the Czech town of Roztoky (picture from The Guardian):

Meles meles wrote:

But how then did it shift from being about Jesus to become a veneration of the Virgin Mary?

In Ireland this has always been especially true - Mary traditionally attracted much more obvious veneration as a "personable god" than the Jesus character in the pantheon. If one looks at the older Celtic deities that preceded Christianity the explanation for this seems obvious - in the old pantheon the male gods, though powerful, were capricious and often untrustworthy. The females however tended towards benevolence and dependability, Mary and Brigid seemingly inheriting this public trust right from the outset. Iserninus, who the Irish probably should recognise as having pre-dated Patrick and was probably responsible for a large chunk of early conversions, has a huge link with Mary - churches in areas that are traditionally linked to his field of operations favour Mary as patron more than any other more conventional Christian saint, and this might indicate that Iserninus knew not to mess too much with people's expectations and traditions when introducing this new-fangled pantheon to the masses (pardon the pun).

This website mentions pre-Christian Romans lighting candles to Februa (not dissociated with Lupercalia - which I'm sure has been mentioned on this site before).  www.angelfire.com/de/poetry/Holy_Days/feb.html

I suppose "beating the bounds" (as in boundaries) is a spring festival but I guess it's a moot point whether it's "unusual". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beating_the_bounds

I'm not quite sure why I put "unusual", LiR, other than I was thinking along the lines of oddities and interesting local variations that differ from the 'standard' round of Shrove Tuesday, Easter, Mothers' Day, etc. I've now modified the title and also made it applicable for festivals and traditions throughout the whole year as I expect they'll be some quirky, locally-important, summer and autumn festivals coming up as the year proceeds.

The history and whole raison d'être of beating the bounds is interesting ... though I'm never quite sure if originally it was the village boundaries or the village children that were subject to the beating.

Yesterday, February 24th, was Dragobete in Romania, a festival associated with love and the arrival of spring, and yet again the day "when birds get betrothed". Dragobete was the son of Baba Dochia, and she is the main character in the myths related to spring's arrival. Dagobete, due to his endless kindness, was chosen by Virgin Mary to be the Guardian of Love. Accordingly on this day young men and women go off into the woods to - ahem - gather spring flowers, and then engage in a game of kiss-chase back to the villages. Married women have to touch a male stranger for good luck, and any man who annoys a woman will have bad luck for the rest of the year.

So pagan myths intertwine with Christianity again - Mary and Dagobete.  Many years ago I heard a version of the "Wedding of the Birds" folksong in English but I can't find an example (or exactly remember the translation after all these years).  Here are some German school children singing it in the original tongue.  Alas, my German (one year of night school in the early 1970s working through "Deutsches Leben Teil 1") isn't up to providing a translation. Is Dagobete related to Dragobert (I recall the name Dr------t from the Holy Blood, Holy Grail hoax) or is it a co-incidence?

I'm sure that St David's Day (1st March) has been discussed in other threads in the past.  There will be  bunches of daffodils on sale I'm sure even though I don't live in Wales (I'm sure you all know St David is the patron saint of Wales) and maybe a few pictures of dragons will make an appearance.  Can MM rustle up a St David's Day recipe, I wonder.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

... Is Dagobete related to Dragobert (I recall the name Dr------t from the Holy Blood, Holy Grail hoax) or is it a co-incidence?

Without having seen or heard the attached youtube, I'd suggest that 'Dagobert' in contemporary German language probably refer to the person of Dagobert Duck whose English alias is Scrooge McDuck. Take a look at wiki the persons bear widely different names in the various languages.

How does this connotation sound to you?

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I'm sure that St David's Day (1st March) has been discussed in other threads in the past.  There will be  bunches of daffodils on sale I'm sure even though I don't live in Wales (I'm sure you all know St David is the patron saint of Wales) and maybe a few pictures of dragons will make an appearance.  Can MM rustle up a St David's Day recipe, I wonder.

Maybe he deserves a break. Besides, Meles already gave a St David's Day Welsh rabbit (rarebit) entry on the Don't Say Cheese thread a couple of years ago. That said - today is indeed a significant St David's Day, LiR, as it's the 900th anniversary of his canonisation by Pope Callistus II in 1120.

Cawl, or cawl Cymreig (a stew of leeks, potatoes, swedes, carrots and other seasonal vegetables, nowadays with lamb, but salt bacon or beef is more historically correct), is probably more the Welsh national dish. Or there's bara brith (a fruity/spicy loaf), or crempog (an oaty buttermilk pancake), or laverbread (made with seaweed), or Glamorgan sausage (a breadcrumbed sausage made of Caerphilly cheese), or Welsh cakes, picau ar y maen (spicy griddle-baked shortbreads).

Nielsen, I don't know if Dagobete features in the song on the YouTube; I was thinking of the Dagobete mentioned by MM in the Romanian feast, but I probably didn't explain things clearly.

Vizzer, maybe MM does deserve a rest.

I didn't attend the Ash Wednesday service this year but when I have in the past the ashes have always been placed on the forehead.  Today I was running late for the morning service so I went to the 12.15 mass for the Polish community (in Polish but they don't run non-Polish people out of the church).  The  Polish priest gave a blessing of ashes today but I noticed he placed them on the top of the head - so even within one form of the Christian religion there can be variation in the performing of a ceremony.

LiR, in my time it was also on the forehead in Belgium...a cross...we called it an "assekruis" (an ash cross?)...those Polish ones on the top of the head...that's special...and what as a woman and a bit "hairy" on the head...all that beautyfull hair ruined with that black-gray ashes all over the place...hmm...

Kind regards from Paul.

I may have mentioned that St Patrick's feast day and my birthday are tomorrow.  I don't know that there is any special custom other than wearing shamrock as a buttonhole adornment and the St Patrick's Day parades that occur in some places. St Patrick's Day has been looked at extensively on this site in earlier years of course but I didn't know until today that shamrock was edible (or should that be on Dish of the Day).  I doubt I'll eat any shamrock though - I don't know where to get any.  If I could get hold of some gluten free soda farl maybe I could have some of that.  Anyhow, a link to an article in an Irish newspaper treating on shamrock as a foodstuff https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/eating-and-drinking-the-shamrock-1.1728268

It being Good Friday, this evening would usually have seen the torch-lit 'Procession de la Sanch' winding its way through the narrow streets of my neighbouring town, but I assume it has been cancelled this year because of the curfew. However as PPE against covid-19, I reckon the penitents' distinctive hooded and masked robes would be quite effective.

 

The brotherhood of 'La Sanch' (the blood) was founded in 1416 by Vincent Ferrier at the church of St Jaques in Perpignan; its origin being to assist and accompany the condemned to their execution. In 1398, Ferrier, stricken by plague, was miraculously cured after Christ appeared to him in an apparition, and he consequently dedicated his life to being a preacher. He led his flock of penitents around Europe, preaching penance and helping sinners to prepare for judgment and punishment.

The wearing of the black and red hooded robes - the capirote in French, coroza in Spanish, or caparutxe in Catalan - derives from it being a symbol of penance: those condemned by the Inquisition had to wear a paper conical hat in public as sign of public humiliation, with the colour conforming to the judgement - those condemned to be executed wore a red capirote, other punishments/crimes had different colours. The brotherhood of the Sanch took to wearing similar hats as they accompanied and gave solace to the condemned on their way to execution, but in their case masked with an all-covering hood to maintain pious anonymity.

The procession on Good Friday of course commemorates the Passion and the Agony of Christ. At the head of the parade walks a red robed figure, 'le regidor', warning of the procession’s approach by intermittently ringing a hand-bell. Behind him are the black-robed penitents carrying a large cross and several 'misteris' - large representations of different scenes of the Passion - who march in silence accompanied only by the steady beat of drums. The Sanch is quite common in Spain, but in France the processions have been banned several times both by secular government and by the Catholic church itself, and they are now only conducted in three towns; Perpignan, Collioure and Arles-sur-Tech (where I am).

I rather assume the use by the Holy Inquisition of the humiliating conical paper hat for those under investigation or condemnation, is related, if not the origin of the Victorian school's dunce's cap.




'The Inquisition Tribunal', by Francisco Goya; circa 1812-19.


'Auto-da-fé', by Vesasquez, 1853.

Perhaps also being related to the flagellant movement (14th century and onwards), who flogged themselves to do penance, but, at least in later centuries, often hid their faces because strictly penance could only be performed under control of the church, and so their actions were potentially heretical.


'The flagellants', by Pieter van Laer, 1635.

Apparently my knowledge of traditional lore is weak, but what combine Judeo-Christian Easter traditions with Easter Bunnies and Chocolate Eggs?

In China April is the month for tomb-sweeping and remembering the dead. To honour ancestors and respect elders is an integral part of traditional Chinese culture. During the Cultural Revolution, however, this ethos was directly subverted by the Mao regime. Between 1966-76, instead of honouring past generations and respecting elders, students and other youngsters were encouraged to desecrate and even destroy cultural artefacts regardless of historical value. Older academics and other members of the intelligentsia were targeted for ritual humiliation and the use of dunce’s caps played a central role in this.    





Attempts by the regime to ban public displays of mourning following the death of premier Chou En-Lai in 1976 (Chou had been decidedly lukewarm about the Cultural Revolution and many of his political supporters had fallen victim to it) saw an unprecedented public backlash against Mao's 'Gang of Four'. The Tiananmen Incident of April effectively marked the end of the Cultural Revolution and Mao's own death in September that year saw the power of the Gang of Four rapidly begin to wane.

Celebrations for the First of May date back centuries are widespread throughout Europe.

Beltane: excerpt from The Golden Bough J G Frazer:

The Beltane Fires

The fullest of the descriptions is the one bequeathed to us by John Ramsay, laird of Ochtertyre, near Crieff, the patron of Burns and the friend of Sir Walter Scott. He says: “But the most considerable of the Druidical festivals is that of Beltane, or May-day, which was lately observed in some parts of the Highlands with extraordinary ceremonies. … Like the other public worship of the Druids, the Beltane feast seems to have been performed on hills or eminences.

Maypole dance in Llanfyllin, 1st May 1941;



Walpurgisnacht (30 April) in the open air theatre in Heidelberg:



1st May was also selected as International Workers Day.

Union Square in New York, 1st May 1912:

Here's one for Gil;

And of course THE definitive paean to Jack ....

Triceratops wrote:

Walpurgisnacht (30 April) in the open air theatre in Heidelberg

On the Tumbleweed Suite at Hallowe’en, Caro mentioned how the darkness at that time of year didn’t make much difference to the atmosphere despite it being Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Walpurgisnacht would lend credence to this as it’s a sort of German Hallowe’en after all and takes place in the Northern Hemisphere Spring and indeed 6 months (i.e. half a year) equidistant from 31 October. Things which are popularly associated with Hallowe’en are bats and yet by the end of October most of them have begun thinking about migrating south or hibernating. In the British Isles bats tend to be seen in the Spring and Summertime. 3 weeks ago I noticed a pipistrelle patrolling back and forth at dusk on Good Friday which was a sure indication of the turn of the season.

Today in my neck of the woods the weather has alternated between periods of overcast skies and sunshine.  I was thinking yesterday when the weather was very dismal that it was hardly dancing round the maypole weather even if the country* hadn't been largely confined to barracks because 
 the Covid-19 crisis.  It's still somewhat 'blowy' at the moment although it is one of the sunny intervals.  Rough winds certainly have been shaking the darling buds of May today (and yesterday).

* I suppose I should more properly say the inhabitants of the country.

Well, as the old saying goes: "ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out". But then does that mean until the month of May has ended (ie June) or until the May trees (hawthorns) are in full blossom, or even maybe until they have completely finished flowering? Also remember the 11-day date shift that occurred in September 1752 arising from Britain's belated adoption of the Gregorian calendar. In May 1753 there was a lot of interest to see whether prominent hawthorn trees, such as the Glastonbury Thorn, would flower according to the old 'Protestant' Julian calendar, or to the new 'Popish' Gregorian one.

The Filipino festival Flores de Mayo lasts the entire month of May:

Flores de Mayo

Meles meles wrote:

Well, as the old saying goes: "ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out". But then does that mean until the month of May has ended (ie June) or until the May trees (hawthorns) are in full blossom, or even maybe until they have completely finished flowering? Also remember the 11-day date shift that occurred in September 1752 arising from Britain's belated adoption of the Gregorian calendar. In May 1753 there was a lot of interest to see whether prominent hawthorn trees, such as the Glastonbury Thorn, would flower according to the old 'Protestant' Julian calendar, or to the new 'Popish' Gregorian one.

 
MM, overhere, Dutch speaking part of Belgium, we haven't that much sayings for May...at least that I know...for March and April: "maartse buien, aprilse grillen" (march showers, april whims)
I found for May:
"Mei koel ende nat brengt koren in het vat" (May cool and wet, brings grain in the barrel)
and a rather not saying that much in my opinion: "In Mei leggen alle vogels een ei" (in May lay all birds an egg)
although perhaps not that stupid as it refers to the "broedseizoen" (breeding season) and for the humans...
So I come to one of the oldest Dutch texts about "that" (whatever you call it)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebban_olla_vogala

Old Dutch

Hebban

olla

uogala

nestas

hagunnan

hinase

hic

enda

thu

uuat

unbidan

uue

nu?

Dutch

Hebben

alle

vogels

nesten

begonnen

(behalve)

ik

ende/en

u/jij

wat

(ver)beiden

we

nu?

English

Have

all

fowls (birds)

nests

begun

(except)

I

and

thou

what

bide (= are waiting for)

we

now?

The form hinase corresponds morphologically to Modern Dutch tenzij^[5] ("unless", from het en zij) and does not seem to have a Modern English cognate.

Some theories say that it can also be old English, and another: with Moorish influence and another: from female perspective
https://www.entoen.nu/en/hebbanollavogala



Kind regards, Paul.

nordmann wrote:

older Celtic deities that preceded Christianity

Midsummer bonfires have been common throughout Europe since ancient times. In Scandinavia they tend to occur on the solstice itself (normally 21st of June) and denote a pagan origin, while fires on St John’s Eve (23th of June) suggest a Christian overlay:



(A Midsummer bonfire in Finland)


St John’s Eve bonfires are particularly popular in the Iberian peninsula:



(A St John’s Eve bonfire in Barcelona)


Just as St John’s Eve bonfires can be seen as being Midsummer bonfires only delayed by 3 days, so can Ireland’s 11th Night bonfires in July be seen as being Midsummer bonfires only delayed by 3 weeks. The 11th of July marks the eve of ‘The Twelfth’ which commemorates the victory of William of Orange over King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The term ‘Ireland’s 11th Night bonfires’ is used loosely however, as, despite the fact that battle took place outside of Ulster, the bonfires have really only ever been lit in that province. This 330th anniversary year of the battle initially saw an agreement (due to the pandemic) for there to be no 11th Night bonfires or Twelfth of July parades. Since the slight easing of restrictions over the last fortnite, however, a few small bonfires (they’re often gigantic) are indeed to be lit tonite while some scaled-back parades are also due to take place tomorrow:



(A towering bonfire awaiting ignition at Dungannon, County Tyrone in 2019)

Alas, in Denmark there is a dark side to the Christian celelebrations on St John's Eve as well.

It has become a tradition that at the top of the bonfire there's an effigy of a witch - said 'to scare witches and witchcraft away from those participating and thus the parish.'

It is still, though, a hefty reminder of the days when the State demanded uniformity in religion as well as other things, and those - even in secret - still subscribing to the old gods and their witchcraft might be denounced and burned at the stake, often after a gruesome torture.

Another newish tradition here is that a local person of note give a public speech, mentioning good and bad things happening locally and in general, nowadays it's not uncommon to mention the persecution of witches - male though mostly female - and reminding everybody present of their 'good fortune in living in a place where spiritual freedom now leaves space for people of every faith.'

That's a good thing, Nielsen, that the nowadays society has lost their old "demons", but perhaps has this nowadays society created new "demons"...?

That said, I am still ashamed that overhere in the national news a serious news reader mentions as I said in another thread the custom of the middle ages of relics...as the hairs of the Polish pope...



https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/07/02/relikwie-van-paus-johannes-paulus-officieel-ingehuldigd-in-basil/

Kind regards from Paul.

As far as I know, Paul,* the idea of having relics stems from tradition rather than anything in the Bible.  When Christianity was an underground sect where people sometimes hid in the Roman catacombs services were said with the priest using the coffin or casket of a dead person as a table and from there the habit of having saintly bones in an altar devolved. I must admit to me it rankles of superstition.

Edit:  I'm not sure if all catholic altars do have relics these days - some of them are wooden and made to look like tables.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

As far as I know, Paul,* the idea of having relics stems from tradition rather than anything in the Bible.  When Christianity was an underground sect where people sometimes hid in the Roman catacombs services were said with the priest using the coffin or casket of a dead person as a table and from there the habit of having saintly bones in an altar devolved. I must admit to me it rankles of superstition.

That seems to be what is said in this documentary, 'Treasures of Heaven', which is about the artistry of relics (and with the knowledgeable Sister Wendy as a bonus).

LadyinRetirement wrote:

As far as I know, Paul,* the idea of having relics stems from tradition rather than anything in the Bible.  When Christianity was an underground sect where people sometimes hid in the Roman catacombs services were said with the priest using the coffin or casket of a dead person as a table and from there the habit of having saintly bones in an altar devolved. I must admit to me it rankles of superstition.

Edit:  I'm not sure if all catholic altars do have relics these days - some of them are wooden and made to look like tables.

 
Lir, of course no bible oops, Bible. We, Catholics and "Old Catholics?", stick to the "word" of the priest and pope as far as I know...and as you said, the relics come not only from the Middle-Ages but indeed from the time of the Roman Empire...and perhaps earlier in other religions?...

PS: Up to my knowledge each altar has to have a relic, otherwise you can't celebrate a mass...but not sure anymore nowadays...the Catholic church is evoluting a bit, you never know...and with the new Argentine pope, in my opinion for the good...

Kind regards from Paul.

And thinking about it, I suppose the "Protestants" from whatever "souche" (strain?) have no relics and all...and as Temperance says their "temples"  are rather "austère" (austere), transparent glass, no statues of saints, against the colourful life a Catholic cathedral, stained glass windows (brandramen) colourful statues to start with...
Not only the mind has to be catched, also the eyes have their rights for convincing...? Public relations and all that...?
But I wonder if one can consider the Anglicans as real "Protestants"? They have neither Luther nor Calvin?...

Paul.

Meles meles wrote:

That seems to be what is said in this documentary, 'Treasures of Heaven', which is about the artistry of relics (and with the knowledgeable Sister Wendy as a bonus).

Thank you very much for this documentary. Overhere we can't watch BBC Four.
It is a splendid documentary. Not to my custom, I watched every minute, no speeding up with the cursor and perfect understandable English not needing (for me!) English subtitles...

And yes I have to admit that relics can be for believers a source of not only mental survival but also physical survival (as we know from statitics of WWII, the power of the mind on the physical body)

I did some quick research for the antecedents of the film...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012248j
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Graham-Dixon

And yes that description of "vierendelen" (split (splijten) in four) (quarter)...
And that Baldwin of ours, murdering and plundering in Constantinople in connection with the "Holy Blood" in Bruges...
I see now that our Baldwin that I mentioned was the Baldwin I and the one of the Crown of Thorns mentioned in the documentary was the son Baldwin II.
If I have time I will make a thread about the "Holy Blood" of first Baldwin and the controversy and the "Crown of Thorns" of the second Baldwin...with all those Baldwins...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_I,_Latin_Emperor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_II,_Latin_Emperor

For memory I will put already here the entries for my later thread:
Not so much about the controversy in the English wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Holy_Blood
More in the Dutch language wiki:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilig_Bloed_(Brugge)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Huyghebaert
https://www.vormingplus-brugge.be/rinaldo-neels
And the Crown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_thorns

Kind regards from Paul.

Paul, I wonder if in the days of the Reformation (in England at least which apart from the reign of Queen Mary, Henry VIII's daughter was a country which largely went over to Protestantism) the priests who were travelling about and saying mass in secret would carry relics with them - it's not something I've ever looked into but I would have thought that to do so would be a clue that they were catholic priests if they were apprehended.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Paul, I wonder if in the days of the Reformation (in England at least which apart from the reign of Queen Mary, Henry VIII's daughter was a country which largely went over to Protestantism) the priests who were travelling about and saying mass in secret would carry relics with them - it's not something I've ev ever looked into but I would have thought that to do so would be a clue that they were catholic priests if they were apprehended.

LiR,

"went over to Protestantism" I agree, but under Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth it was Anglicanism and not Calvinism or whatever and I agree as I saw in the documentary of BBC Four a Catholic priest could be "quartered" for treason, not for dissidence of the faith, but treason because they chose to consider the Catholic pope as their head...and so I wondered if the Anglicans had also that "austere" look, or were rather like their former Catholic brothers...after all it was only a question of "chief": the Queen or the Pope?...

Paul wrote:
And thinking about it, I suppose the "Protestants" from whatever "souche" (strain?) have no relics and all...and as Temperance says their "temples"  are rather "austère" (austere), transparent glass, no statues of saints, against the colourful life a Catholic cathedral, stained glass windows (brandramen) colourful statues to start with...
Not only the mind has to be catched, also the eyes have their rights for convincing...? Public relations and all that...?
But I wonder if one can consider the Anglicans as real "Protestants"? They have neither Luther nor Calvin?..

Kind regards from Paul.

Paul, I have heard some folk argue that there isn't that much difference between Anglicanism and Protestantism.  The Catholic view would be that Anglicanism is a form of protetantism.

LiR, I did a bit research on google about statues of saints and stained glass windows in Anglican churches and on the first sight it is not that different from Catholic churches.
Even the mass seems not that different of what I saw in childhood here in Belgium.



I don't know if it is an exception, but our statues of saints sees to be more coloured...



And I don't like the rose cursif letters...it is like in a cinema or worser like in a...
But yes as Temperance pointed to, not that austere as the Protestants. Even the same public relations as I was used to here in Belgium.

But whatever place of worship they seem always to inspire...



Kind regards from Paul.

Vizzer - the 11th bonfires are a rather odd tradition in that they were by no means a universal feature of Protestant or Loyalist celebration since the time of King William as one might infer from Wikipedia these days, though have certainly grown (quite literally) in popularity in recent decades. They were certainly most associated with urban loyalist communities and in Belfast in particular have a very long tradition associated with them, though if you were to speak to extremely superannuated denizens of Londonderry I imagine you'd hear quite a different recollection of their frequency and importance than in the larger city to their east. In rural areas with predominantly Presbyterian populations you'd have more likely encountered a dismissive disdain for such frivolity than enthusiasm for a bonfire commemorating anything up until the second half of the 20th century, though in some places (I am aware myself of places like Newcastle and Rostrevor in Down) small bonfires - very similar to St John bonfires here in Norway - were lit on the coast that night as a direct historical reference to the beacons lit to guide the Williamite ships to port during his armies' deployment under Schomberg. However in Bangor, the actual site of Schomberg's troops' landings, the local tradition was to light a beacon on August 13th, the anniversary of his troops' landing in 1689, almost a full year before the Boyne battle.

The Bangor commemoration, had it caught on in popularity and tradition throughout Loyalist communities at the expense of the Boyne association, would in fact have been even more contentious and troublesome (a loaded term in Northern Ireland) than the "11th Night", being the day immediately prior to what had been a very long-standing bonfire night celebrated by Catholics around Ireland, and especially in the North, commemorating the BVM's supposed "assumption" into heaven the following day. In recent times this tradition isn't as prevalent as it once was, and in fact has moved a calendar day in its observance in recent decades, but it does beg a disturbing question unique to that neck of the woods regarding the double "what if" of weather possibly delaying Schomberg by a further day and then no encounter at the Boyne the following year to complicate the calendar. I imagine it's not just the Fire Brigade who are mightily relieved that this narrowly missed little historical coincidence never actually occurred as things panned out.

PaulRyckier wrote:

"Mei koel ende nat brengt koren in het vat" (May cool and wet, brings grain in the barrel)

With the ongoing cool, wet, stormy weather in the British Isles and with some bookies taking bets on whether 2021 could be the first year since 1975 that England gets snow in June, it seems apt to remind ourselves that today is Whitsun which is popularly seen as being the first day of Summer. Whitsun, or Pentecost Sunday, is traditionally marked across Western Europe by parades, fairs, walks, ales, dances, wakes and kermesses etc. Whitsuntide festivities also often continue on the following day Whit Monday and throughout the week including Whit Friday. As with Easter and Christmas, Whitsun is a Christian feast day superimposed upon an existing heathen holiday. In some places a Whitsun-ale or a church-ale is a fundraising event held to raise money or pledges of work for such things as repairs to the church buildings and other charitable causes in the parish.



(Lancashire Morris Dancers)




(Choosing the Pentecost Queen in a village in Hungary)




(Pentecostal shower of rose petals in the Pantheon in Rome)

Vizzer wrote:

In some places a Whitsun-ale or a church-ale is a fundraising event held to raise money or pledges of work for such things as repairs to the church buildings and other charitable causes in the parish.

There's an English song to that effect called "Exaltation of Ale" written by Francis Beaumont and included in Thomas Park's 1819 'Collection of English Songs':
The Churches much owe, as well we do knowe
For when they be drooping and ready to fall,
By a Whitsun or Church Ale up again they shall go.
And owe their repairing to a pot of good ale.

The Puritans had a good go at trying to stop the brewing and drinking of parish church ales in much the same way that they strived to suppress ostentatious Christmas and Easter celebrations. A Church of England canon law of 1604 stipulated that "no Plays, Feasts, Banquets, Suppers, Church-Ales, Drinkings, Temporal Courts, or Leets, Lay-Juries, Musters, or any other profane Usage to be kept in the Church." But along with other attempted prohibitions (like making special Christmas mince pies, putting up Christmas decorations and wassailing around the parish) nobody seems to have ever taken much notice. And then in 1617 James I's 'Declaration of Sports' (listing the sports and recreations that were permitted on Sundays and other holy days) overtuned the earlier declaration and allowed Whitsun and other parish ales, but only once Sunday services were over.

The brewing and more especially the drinking of Parish Ales were clearly occasions for some pleasant "hilarity and jocularity", albeit with "appropriate demeanour", if this general invitation to Milton's Whitsun Ale festival, advertised in the 'Oxford Journal' of Saturday 20 May 1809, is anything to go by:

The Greenhill Bower in Lichfield has, like many other such vents, been relocated to the Spring Bank Holiday. We always used to attend with my grandparents in my youth. https://lichfieldbower.co.uk/

Today, 23 June, is St John's Eve (24 June being the feast day of John the Baptist) which, since it roughly coincides with the summer solstice, is celebrated throughout much of Europe with midsummer festivals, very often involving bonfires. Like the other solstice and equinox celebrations the whole thing is at heart a pagan festival that got shoe-horned into the Christian calendar.

The traditional celebrations in Catalunya for the Verbene de Sant Joan (St John's Eve) are similar to those throughout much of Europe, with bonfires, jumping through the flames, dancing and plenty of food and drink. But here in North Catalunya (the French bit) there now is a slight refinement to the traditional festivities, dating back to just 1964. In that year a small group of local historians, striving to boost awareness of Catalan culture - it was when the Catalan language and culture was still being suppressed by national government, particularly in Franco's Spain -  came up with a modification to the old ritual. They used a magnifying glass and the sun's rays to ignite some twigs of olive and laurel that they had gathered from the garden of the renowned 19th century Catalan poet, Jacint Verdaguer. From this small fire they lit a paraffin lamp and by this means carried the flame all the way from Perpignan to the summit of Canigó (2,784 m) the iconic mountain of the Catalans, where it was used to light a bonfire on the night of the 22 June. After a night-long vigil the flames of the dying fire were then used to relight the lamp and so the flame was carried back down to Perpignan. Here it was used to kindle the traditional Foc de Sant Joan (St John's Fire) as well as lighting an oil lamp in Perpignan's Castillet fortress which would be kept burning throughout the following year.

This has been repeated every year since with the flame taken from the lamp in Perpignan's Castillet, transported up the mountain to light the summit bonfire, and then carried back down to relight the lamp in the Castillet where the 'sacred' flame resides throughout the year. The initial ritual has now developed further in that most towns and villages throughout the region help build the summit pyre, join in the procession carrying the flame up the mountain and then collect a bit of flame from the resulting bonfire which they carry down and use to light their own local St John's Eve fires. Well that's the idea anyway although I distinctly remember our village Foc de Sant Joan once being lit by the mayor using just a humble box of matches, and last year the whole bonfire, barbeque and booze-up was cancelled due to Covid. Alas this morning when I passed by the village square it was again noticeably empty of any pyre. So I while I'm sure the fire was lit on the top of Canigó as usual, I rather fear our village festivities have been put on hold again for this year. As the Catalan saying goes, sense foc no hi ha festa : without fire there is no festival.

Hopefully next year we'll be back to normal.

John Betjemen’s poem Diary of a Church Mouse, mentioned on the What is poetry? thread, refers to the Harvest Festival. Probably the time of year with the lowest profile, is the Autumn Equinox, Michaelmas and the Harvest Festival. In England there are no public holidays or bank holidays between August and December and the Autumn Equinox is often overlooked. It tends to fall around the 21st of September while Michaelmas follows on the 29th. Michaelmas (which originally served as a harvest festival) is so archaic that it’s now only known for giving its name to an academic term. The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving is probably the ultimate movable feast. Not to be confused with the American Thanksgiving (which takes place on the fourth Thursday in November), the Harvest Festival is dependent upon the weather and making hay while the sun shines etc and so there is no fixed date. That said - the Harvest Festival is often observed in Church of England parishes on the second Sunday in October (today). In Canada, Thanksgiving is a public holiday which takes place on the second Monday in October (tomorrow). Coincidentally this is also the date of Old Michaelmas Day which (under the Julian Calendar) falls on the 11th of October. This was traditionally the date when the archangel Lucifer (after being driven out of heaven by Michael and the other archangels) was said to have fallen to earth as the Devil and scrabbed himself on the briars of a bramble bush. He cursed and spat on the bramble’s berries thus poisoning them. Tradition has it, therefore, that blackberries should not be picked after this date.



(Revelers at the Blackberry Fair in Whitchurch, Shropshire which takes place on the first Saturday in October to ensure that it falls before Old Michaelmas Day)