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The Annual Cycle

Although the spirits of ancestors can come at any time, proper communication with them occurs only if a certain order is observed. If you want to truly establish a connection with departed ancestors and the whole bloodline, you need to commemorate them regularly. It is advisable to do this in special periods when the forces of nature are most active.

The pagan tradition follows the logic of the living – a cycle of alternating life and death. People in this tradition believed that time is nonlinear and that the most important events are repeated every year.

Human life is not purely human existence, but also a part of the life of the whole Universe, a cosmic equilibrium. Living in harmony with nature means coordinating human cycles with natural cycles. When winter comes, you need to meet the frost. When spring comes, you need to cultivate the land. There is a time for hope, a time for expectations, a time for accomplishments, a time for fruit and a time for funeral pyres. Nothing leaves without a trace: water returns as rain, efforts as results, youth turns to old age and old age nourishes childhood. And you always need to be thankful for the gifts that you receive.

In the pagan tradition, people believed that Mother Earth and Father Sun were also their ancestors. After all, they give a person energy, nutrition, heat, light and life itself.

And it is no coincidence that almost all traditional rural holidays, devoted to the key moments of the agricultural cycle, contained elements of worship to departed ancestors.

In almost all religious traditions, there are eight dates of important symbolic value – the points of the solar cycle at which the intensity of sunlight changes, meaning the next stage in the mystery of the eternal confrontation between Light and Darkness. Astrologically, these points indicate the passage of the Sun through certain degrees: the transition of the Sun into cardinal signs and into the middle of fixed signs. These are the days of the equinoxes, solstices and season changes. In traditional culture, it is believed that this is a sacred time that is removed from the usual time span and comes into contact with the mythological time that existed at the dawn of time. At such moments – at the junctions, boundaries and turns of time – the other world opens to people, invisible in ordinary times. These days are energetically charged and have different meanings depending on the astrological position of the Sun. Even a person who lives in an urban area and has nothing to do with nature, agriculture or natural magic, feels that their condition on the darkest day of the year – the winter solstice – is different from on the vernal equinox, for example.

Rituals or ceremonies conducted on these days are especially effective. Each of these dates has its own meaning, which is associated with a given natural moment of the annual cycle. Therefore, it is desirable for the meaning of the rite or ritual that you perform it corresponding to the meaning of the day itself.

These dates are usually associated with the Celtic tradition, but similar holidays exist in most traditional cultures and are confined to these eight dates or to the time around these dates.

The fact is that the reform of the calendar (the transition to the Gregorian calendar) and Christianity (ancient pagan holidays, which, despite the prohibitions, people continued to celebrate, were moved to merge with Christian church holidays) seriously affected the shift in timings. In addition, in reality the dates of the holidays could alter depending on the climate, weather (for example, the harvest festival is timed to coincide with the actual harvest) and on the phase of the moon.

Each of these days symbolically corresponds to one generation of the family tree. This means that, although on any of these days it is possible (and necessary) to remember the whole family, special attention should be paid to the generation that is responsible for the symbolic meaning of this moment of the annual cycle and its challenges.

Since this cycle is a wheel, it does not have a beginning or end. Therefore, the choice of any point as the beginning is arbitrary. So I will start with the story of the dying and reborn sun.

Yule (when the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn on 21^st–22^nd December) is the day of the winter solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year. From this day forth sunlight gradually returns, but only after it passes through its symbolic death. In the Slavic tradition, this holiday was known under the name ‘Korochun.’⁶

This period is associated with profound personality transformation, an internal change in consciousness and perceptions of the world. During these days it is advisable to carry out rituals associated with the unconscious: plunging far into the past or predicting the future. This time is symbolically associated with the cycle of rebirth. The holiday itself consists of two parts: the onset of pitch darkness due to the extinction of the old Sun; and the emergence of a new, very young Sun, which becomes stronger day by day. During this period, a ceremony of putting out and re-igniting a fire was traditionally held. In general, this time is associated, on the one hand, with immersion into the depths of the family history and, on the other hand, with the celebration of an individual’s personal will and unique fate.

The winter solstice itself is traditionally considered to be a particularly dangerous time when the world of the living and the world of the dead come into contact with each other like no other time of the year. Therefore, on the day itself magical rites can only be performed by knowledgeable people, magicians and sorcerers. Other people usually celebrate the holiday later, a few days after the longest night when the sunlight has become a little longer and the danger of contact with the world of the dead and spirits has passed. During these days – usually four to five days after the solstice – is when Koliada is celebrated in the Slavic tradition. This holiday is celebrated cheerfully and noisily in order to drive away malevolent spirits that may interfere with the birth of a new Sun. To do this, they burn bonfires and sing and dance around them. Special actors – boys and girls dressed in the masks of terrifying animals who symbolize spirits from the dead who are visiting their descendants – go around the yards, sing special carols and demand treats from the hosts. If not treated with treats, they can promise ‘devils to the yard and worms to the garden’.

This period is symbolically associated with the seventh, most sacred, generation of the bloodline, as well as with the first generation, that is – the person themself. In nature, this is the moment of birth of the new Sun and, in the cycle of annual rites, the moment when a person, with the help of the founders of their bloodline, can change their fate. On these days it is recommended to ask your ancestors for advice about your life and future, and even to receive a psychic reading.

At this time it is also possible to conduct ceremonies with snow (that is – with figures sculpted from snow). Firstly, when the destructive forces of nature are strong, problems can be effectively destroyed or frozen: in a snow figure, a person can concentrate all the negativity that they have or the image of their enemy. Secondly, from snow someone can fashion the image of what they want. Such an image, turning into water in spring, will nourish the shoots of desire embodied in reality.

But, of course, we must not forget that the performing of magical acts on these days should be done with caution and common sense. During all dark times of the year on Earth spirits reign that can severely punish a person for any oversights.

Imbolc (when the Sun enters the middle of Aquarius on 2^nd February, the real astrological degree falls on 4^th – 5^th February) is the hidden beginning of spring. The sun, born on the day of the winter solstice, has already significantly increased in strength, and people become hopeful of future warmth.

In the Slavic tradition around this time, falls ‘Srecha’ (or ‘Sretenie’), the day when winter first meets spring; and a memorial day called Srechensky (or ‘Winter’) Grandfathers.

Another Slavic holiday around this time is Gromnitsy (literally – ‘Thunderbolts’), the only day in winter when it is said that you can hear thunder. According to the weather on that day, they speculate about how quickly spring will come and about the future harvest. On this day it is customary to light the lights in the house and melt the snow.

Gromnitsy is also associated with health: for example, on this day you can fumigate people (or animals) with smoke from burning special herbs collected in the summer. It is also a day of purification: it is recommended to meet this day in a thoroughly cleaned house and wash yourself – best with water from melted snow – or even to lie in the snow.

In the USA and Canada, Groundhog Day is celebrated at this time. It is believed that on this day, according to the behaviour of a groundhog crawling out of its hole, one can predict future weather and the onset of spring.

This period is well suited for rituals dedicated to preserving health (physical and emotional), the release of vitality, nutrition, family relationships and motherhood. From this date until midsummer is the time when rituals associated with conceiving, pregnancy and childbirth can be performed.

Symbolically, this moment of the annual cycle is associated with the second generation, that is – with parents. Therefore, it is a good time to spend with them.

The vernal equinox (when the Sun enters the sign of Aries on 21^st – 22^nd March), or Ostara, is the beginning of true spring and the astrological new year. This holiday symbolizes the return of earthly fertility and exists in all world religions. For example, the Orthodox custom of painting eggs for Easter is associated with it (in general, the egg is one of the most ancient Pagan symbols – there are many myths about the appearance of the whole world from an egg). This is a celebration of a fertile beginning, a time when nature is awakening and preparations are underway for the bustle of spring.

In the Caucasus, there is a custom of polishing all bronze and copper utensils so that they shine by the day of the vernal equinox and are exposed in the courtyard, as if invoking the Sun with their bright radiance.

Two weeks after the vernal equinox, Qingming is celebrated in China (translated as ‘pure brightness’). The alternative name for the Qingming festival is the ‘Grave Sweeping Festival’. On this day (which is non-working in China), people commemorate the ancestors of their family tree, visit their graves, clean and decorate them, offer prayers and sacrifices to the Heavenly Lord and the Earth Deity in the form of ‘three animal sacrifices’ – pork, lamb and chicken (now more often in the form of fruits and vegetables) – and sacrificial money. Another name for this holiday is ‘Cold Food Festival’. In the past it was forbidden to have a fire in the hearth and cook food on this day. It was believed that otherwise the whole of the following year’s harvest would die.

In the Slavic tradition, Maslenitsa (or ‘Komoyeditsa’) is celebrated at this time. This is a significant holiday during which festivities, fun, games, ‘khorovods’⁷ and fist fights take place. This holiday is associated with the Sun and the warming up of the soil – at this time people make fires and burn stuffed animals and straw wreaths on high poles, symbolising the passing winter. In addition, burning straw – ‘fumigation’ means to invite the spirits of departed ancestors – is one of the ways of remembering the dead, as the rite of ‘warming the dead’, which was held on days of remembrance.

It was believed that during all these days people needed to eat well. Then the future harvest would be good and people would live in abundance all year long. Traditionally on these days everyone was fed, especially orphans and lonely old people. Even animals were fed to bursting, with crumbs thrown into all the dark corners of the house.

The main ritual dish for Maslenitsa is pancakes, which bear a similarity to the Sun in their shape and color. On this day there should be the ‘smell of a frying pan’ in the house, since it was believed that the spirits of ancestors visiting their relatives on that day fed on the smell of fat or oil. Traditionally, they did not eat the first pancake themselves, but put it on the attic window, sacrificing it to the spirits of their ancestors, who, at that time, flew ‘on bird wings’ to visit their descendants and rejoice with them by celebrating the end of winter.

During this period, it is good to ask ancestors for help in matters that should bring results and prosperity in the future: in work, career, studies, or in the realization of certain abilities. This time is also well suited for rituals associated with being active, energetic and quick witted.

The most important thing during these days is the connection with the third generation of the bloodline, that is – with grandparents. If they are alive, it is a good idea to celebrate this holiday with them. If they have already died, you should pay special attention to commemorating them.

Beltane⁸ is traditionally celebrated on 1^st May (astrologically, on 5^th to 6^th May). It is a celebration of fertility, both of the soil and people, the forces of the Earth, physical matter and love. Celebrations at this time are considered predominantly female: there are various fortune-telling rituals, rites for love, happy marriage and for ensuring a good harvest in the upcoming summer. ‘The May tree’ is a fundamental feature of these rituals. It is a living tree decorated with ribbons, beads, flowers and so on, which symbolizes the awakening of nature and ‘the world tree.’⁹ Traditionally, this time is most ardently celebrated by young women and men: it is considered that those who stay at home and do not participate in these celebrations are destined for an unhappy marriage.

In general, the whole period from Beltane to the summer solstice is a succession of celebrations related to fertility, female energy and love. The gradual blooming of life in nature also makes the invisible world of spirits stronger, so that by June these spirits become dangerous to humans.

The night of 1^st May is traditionally known as ‘Walpurgis Night’. In the Middle Ages it was believed that the borders between the worlds of humans and spirits were erased on that night and that witches prepared for their own festivities. As such, regular people needed to be more careful and use the necessary rituals to protect themselves and their homes from dark magic.

In Ancient Rome around the same period, ‘Lemuralia’¹⁰ – days of the dead – were celebrated. It was believed that during these days spirits could linger around as vampire ghosts. At midnight, the father of the family was expected to walk around the house barefoot and do a special ritual to scare off the ghosts, throwing around black beans while pronouncing special incantations in order to allay the spirits. After that, he would wash himself with water, take a copper basin and beat it as hard as he could, asking the spirits to leave the house.

At the same time, Siberian Tatars celebrate ‘Tsym Payram,’¹¹ a day for remembering ancestors. It is celebrated when the soil (‘tsym’) dries out and the ice on the rivers melt. On this day, one is supposed to tidy the graves in cemeteries, read memorial prayers to one’s ancestors up to the seventh generation, and eat colored eggs, scattering the eggshells on the graves. The ritual of remembrance for ancestors is held at home, where national dishes are prepared and relatives are invited, or else a mullah or someone who knows the prayers performs this ritual. It is considered that ploughing the fields and pruning trees can only be done after this celebration.

In the Slavic tradition, ‘Radonitsa,’¹² which is several days of joyful remembrance of ancestors (the alternative name is ‘Joyful Grandads’), is celebrated during the same period. Again, this is a general and public celebration. People would go to graveyards, bringing commemorative food with them.

‘The Day of Nav’¹³ is the most dangerous day of this week, because that is when the prematurely deceased (those who died unnatural or untimely deaths and so have not completely moved to another world, staying on Earth as restless souls – about which more will be said in the chapter on ‘Disappearing Blood’) are able to leave their graves and harm the living. As during the winter Yuletide carols, it is traditional to participate in the rituals of this period disguised with masks of animals, devils and rusalkas,¹⁴ depicting souls that are visiting from the world of the dead.

‘Green Week’ or ‘Semik’¹⁵ is the only significant Slavic celebration that does not coincide with any point in the annual solar cycle (it is celebrated between Beltane and the summer solstice, on the seventh Thursday after Easter).

Semik was one of the main commemorative days for Slavs, during which people would not work, but would visit the graves of ancestors and put out a memorial feast. This was the only day in the whole year when the prematurely deceased were permitted to be commemorated. It was considered that, in comparison to the naturally deceased, the prematurely deceased were more ‘demanding’. The scent of food would suffice for the naturally deceased, whereas the prematurely deceased needed the actual food of the living; clothing placed on the grave would be enough for the naturally deceased, whereas the prematurely deceased quickly wore it away and demanded more and so on. On this day the prematurely deceased especially tried to interfere with those living relatives who had forgotten them and did not commemorate them. As a result, during Green Week commemorative rituals people tried to allay their souls, performing a ‘trizna’¹⁶ on their graves, so that they would not harm the living.

In Rus’,¹⁷ every year during Semik the prematurely deceased were given funerals and burials, and then alms of money and food would be distributed to the beggars. Sometimes nobles and boyars,¹⁸ even the Tsar, would attend this ritual.

During this period, people would have to be particularly vigilant because there was a high chance of encounters with ‘otherworldly’ beings. It was thought that during the ‘rusalka days’, rusalkas leave the water in order to brush their hair, swing on tree branches as if on swings (sometimes luring passersby with “Hey you, come swing!”), play and frolic on the ground, do ‘khorovods’¹⁹ with singing, dancing, joking and laughter; they were visible at crossroads, in cemeteries, fields, flowering meadows and in the woods and among the branches of trees (most often birches). Traditionally, rusalkas were considered to be the souls of women who had committed suicide or drowned.

There was a belief that after death a dark force boiled their souls in a cauldron together with various potions, whereby these souls became eternally young and unusually beautiful. Rusalkas do not like living women and so, if they see them in the woods, they attack them, ripping off their clothes and driving them away with branches. But with men – who cannot resist their beauty – they try to seduce them and then tickle them to death. It was believed that sometimes, during their dances, rusalkas performed a rite that protected the harvest, but they equally also punished people who treated them with disrespect (for example, those working during Semik) by sending them locusts, drought, prolonged rain, frost on the fields or dying cattle. Traditionally, it was considered that meeting a rusalka could bring fortune and riches, yet, on the other hand, a death. As such, it was best to avoid walking in the woods alone, staying there after sunset and, of course, swimming, especially at midday or midnight.

In addition, it was necessary to appease the rusalkas so they would not have cause to harm the living. So people would leave bread crusts on the edges of fields or at crossroads, as well as old clothing, embroidered towels and skeins of thread on tree branches by rivers and lakes. In case of a face-to-face encounter with a rusalka, it was necessary to be carrying garlic or a sprig of wormwood and in answer to the rusalka’s question “Wormwood or parsley?” to say “Wormwood”. Then the rusalka would reply with annoyance, “Scoot!” (or shout, “Hide under the fence, you should”) and run away. And if replying “Parsley”, the rusalka would wake up, “Ah you, my ducksey” and tickle them until they dropped dead. There were other ways not to fall under the spell of a rusalka, the simplest of which was to look at the ground, avoid looking a rusalka in the eye or responding to her call. Apart from that, a sign of the cross could save a person from a rusalka, making a circle on the ground, pricking the rusalka with a needle or pin or the singing of special safeguarding rusalka songs.

Usually on the Sunday of ‘Rusalka Week’ or on the first day of The Apostles’ Fast²⁰, the ritual of ‘seeing off the rusalka’ took place (although it could be on Whit Monday, Pentecost or Kupala Night (summer solstice)). The ritual happened in the evening, often at midnight, at which the main attendee would be disguised as a rusalka (sometimes a rusalka effigy) who, with cries and songs (for example: “I am leading the rusalka to the forest, but I am going home”, “So that they do not visit us, don’t take our bread, don’t catch our girls”), was taken out of the village to a field, the woods or a river, during which this disguised rusalka would try to scare the remaining people or make them laugh with her antics. After being driven out she would hide for some time, then secretly return to the village and the festivities would continue. Sometimes there was a similar rite called a ‘rusalka funeral’, at which an effigy of rusalka was burnt or drowned in the river. The point of these rites was that rusalkas (as malign souls or the prematurely deceased) should be banished from places of habitation at the end of springtime. For this it was necessary to have folk festivities and then a rusalka funeral. During this, ‘corpses’ of rusalkas, as unnaturally deceased, could not be buried. Instead, they had to be drowned in water, burned or left on the surface.

During this time (until Pentecost) female rites of initiation took place: young girls were recognized as adults, having reached the age of marriage. One respected woman from the village would gather the girls together and lead them into the woods. In the woods (usually birch) the girls sang spiritual songs, did ‘Horovods’ and carried out the ritual of ‘Kumlenie’ – two girls passed under a birch ark, kissed each other, exchanged small gifts and called one another “Kuma” (however, there is a hypothesis that during this ritual the girls did not do this with each other but – for a time – with rusalkas, in order to appease them and find out their fate).

The rituals of Beltane are concerned with fertility of all kinds (for example, the conception and birth of children, future harvests and material wealth). Also at this time it is possible to carry out rituals for the improvement of health and for beauty. Traditionally, it was considered that in order for a girl to become a beauty, she had to wash her face with dew – or even to roll around completely in the dew – on the 1^st May at sunrise. And this is the best time for rituals connected with love, marriage and relationships in general.

This period is connected with a person’s great grandparents – in other words, the fourth generation. It is very beneficial during these days to commemorate them, reminisce about their lives and turn to them with requests.

Litha (when the Sun enters the first degree of Cancer on 21^st – 22^nd June) is a midsummer holiday, also known as the Summer solstice. This is the moment of the holy marriage of Fire and Water. This night is the ‘strongest’ of the year, but during this time both good and less benevolent spirits are equally active. During this period, there was still a great danger of meeting mermaids and other creatures from different worlds.

At this time, just like in the spring holidays, the elements of water and fire are very important. At night people bathe in dew and in the daytime in rivers, as well as making fires and jumping over them.

In the Slavic tradition, during this period the Ivan Kupala night is celebrated, as well as Trinity and Spirit days.

At this time, the rite of so-called ‘Bush Driving’²¹ is held, which seems to be the oldest of the Pagan Slavic rites that have been passed down to us (it is still observed in Belarus). During this holiday, a girl (‘bush’) dressed up in greenery and branches walks along with other women in the village singing songs and wishing well to the owners of each house, who give them treats, gifts and money. In this rite, the bush symbolizes not only the forces of nature and fertility, but also the family spirit: among Slavs it was believed that the souls of ancestors could be hidden in fresh greenery (recall that the tree is often a symbol of the family). It is no coincidence that on Trinity – another important commemoration day – people decorated houses and temples with green branches and flowers.

Rituals during this time are associated with the strength and fullness of life: they should help to find courage, achieve goals, uncover and realize one’s skills and abilities, occupy a good place in life, achieve the best health and happiness and find love. It is also a traditional time of male initiations, best of all on the days before Ivan Kupala.

This period is associated with a person’s fifth generation, that is – with the parents of their great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers.

Lughnasadh (1^st August, astrologically 7^th – 8^th August) is the ‘first harvest festival.’ At this time, the plants begin to dry out and fruits and seeds begin to dry out for the coming crop. If, up to this point, a person has worked well, on these days they see the result of their labours. This is a time of plenty and prosperity.

Around this time, Japan celebrates the holiday ‘Obon’. It was originally celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, but after Japan moved to the Gregorian calendar some celebrate it according to the new system (13^th – 15^th July), while others do so on 13^th – 15^th August, which is closer to the traditional dates.

Obon is an important holiday, not only for the Cult of Ancestors but also, possibly, for the whole culture of modern Japan. Sometimes this holiday is also called the ‘Lantern Festival’. On this day, people light lanterns in the evening to make it easier for the souls of their ancestors, who are returning to Earth to visit their relatives, to find the way. On this holiday, people thoroughly clean their houses and decorate them with branches from a sacred tree, laying memorial plaques with the names of deceased ancestors next to the altar and offering spirits commemorative treats. A special meal is left in cemeteries, incense is burned and sacred books are read in temples. This holiday is celebrated cheerfully, colorfully and noisily, with dances as its most important component, symbolizing the expression of gratitude to the ancestors – the Bon Odori, that everyone dances.

An interesting holiday associated with death takes place around these days in Galicia in Spain, called the feast of Saint Martha (or Saint Marfa). She was the sister of Lazarus, who believed in Christ even before her brother was resurrected. This holiday is dedicated to those who practically stood with one foot in the grave, but miraculously escaped death.

On this day, people who escape death lie in coffins in the church. Relatives and friends carry them in coffins to the cemetery, then the procession returns to the church. Afterwards, the survivors share their memories of their near deaths.

It is a good idea during these days to conduct ceremonies to attract good luck, money and general material wellbeing and confidence for the future.

Symbolically, this period of the annual cycle is associated with the sixth generation – with the parents of the great-grandparents.

Mabon (21^st September, the sun enters Libra on 24^th September) is the autumn equinox, or the ‘festival of the second harvest’, the time of completion of the harvest.

This is the last ‘light’ holiday of the annual cycle. It is believed that at this time good spirits leave the world of the living and, with the beginning of winter, are replaced by their opposites.

In the Slavic tradition, ‘Oseniny’ is celebrated at this time – a celebration of the end of the harvest.

And in Hinduism during this period falls one of the most important holidays of the remembrance of ancestors. This is ‘Pitr Paksa’ (‘a crescent moon for ancestors’) – a period of sixteen lunar days up to Navaratri (approximately mid-September to early October), when Indians honor their ancestors, especially through food offerings. In Vedic culture, it is believed that this is a very important period for working with one’s bloodline and that any action relating to the ancestors that is done at this time is amplified many times.

From the day of the autumn equinox, the time of fairs begins. Even for those who usually cautiously tell people about their achievements and well-being (so that they do not jinx them), at this time people can – and should – brag about the harvested crops and praise their children during the birthing holidays.

The autumn equinox is suitable for rituals relating to well-being, social status, education, spiritual practices and travel.