Besides the solstices and equinoxes, the traditional European calendar knew four other great thresholds of the year, placed midway between those astronomical points. Medieval Irish sources call them Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. They were farming and herding festivals, tied to the rhythm of livestock, sowing and harvest, and many of their customs have survived to this day under other names.
"In-between" festivals and the fixed signs
These four festivals fall, with some variation, at the beginning of November, February, May and August. If you look at the tropical zodiac you notice an interesting fact: they correspond roughly to the Sun's passage through the middle of the four fixed signs.
| Festival | Traditional date | Approximate position of the Sun |
|---|---|---|
| Samhain | 1 November | Mid-Scorpio |
| Imbolc | 1 February | Mid-Aquarius |
| Beltane | 1 May | Mid-Taurus |
| Lughnasadh | 1 August | Mid-Leo |
If the cardinal signs open the seasons, the fixed signs represent their heart, and these festivals celebrate precisely the moment when the character of each season is at its fullest. It should be remembered that the Celts did not use the zodiac: the correspondence is a later symbolic observation, not a doctrine of theirs.
Samhain: the threshold of darkness
Samhain marked the end of the light season and the beginning of the dark one. The herds came back from pasture and the winter stores were counted. It was considered a time when the boundary between the world of the living and that of the dead grew thinner.
The memory of this threshold survives in the eve of All Saints, from which the name Halloween derives, and in All Souls' Day on 2 November. In many Italian regions special sweets were made for the dead and the table was left laid for visiting souls.
Imbolc: the light returns
Imbolc, at the beginning of February, celebrated the first signs of awakening: ewes beginning to give milk, days visibly longer. In Ireland it is linked to Saint Brigid, a figure in whom many scholars see continuity with an ancient goddess of fire and poetry.
In Italy the same period is marked by Candlemas, on 2 February, the feast of the Purification when candles are blessed. A proverb found in many variants says, roughly: "At holy Candlemas, if it snows or if it rains, winter is behind us; but if there is sun or a little sun, we are still in mid-winter." It is a perfect example of how a seasonal threshold became folk wisdom.
Beltane: the fire of spring
Beltane, on the first of May, opened the light season. Great fires were lit and livestock were driven between two bonfires as an act of protection before the summer on the pastures. It was a festival of fertility, union and joy.
In many parts of Italy Calendimaggio survives, with door-to-door songs, decorated trees and celebrations of spring, such as those still alive in Tuscany and Umbria. The May tree, planted in the square and decorated, is a familiar image throughout Europe.
Lughnasadh: the first harvest
Lughnasadh, on the first of August, takes its name from the Irish god Lugh and was the festival of the first grain harvest. Fairs, games and gatherings were held. In the Anglo-Saxon world the same date became Lammas, from the Old English hlaf-mæsse, "loaf mass", when bread made from the first grain was blessed.
In Italy the height of summer is marked by Ferragosto, whose name comes from the Feriae Augusti established by the emperor Augustus and which Christian tradition made coincide with the Assumption of Mary on 15 August.
The wheel of the year
In the twentieth century some spiritual movements combined these four festivals with the solstices and equinoxes, creating a "wheel of the year" of eight celebrations. It is a modern synthesis: no ancient culture, as far as we know, celebrated all eight dates within a single system. The synthesis nonetheless remains useful as a frame for living the rhythm of the seasons.
Approaching these festivals today
At Studio Esoterico Cornelio these thresholds are offered as occasions for seasonal awareness, in dialogue with the Italian folk calendar:
- at Samhain, a moment of remembrance for your ancestors;
- at Imbolc, a lit candle and a resolution of renewal;
- at Beltane, a walk in nature in bloom;
- at Lughnasadh, gratitude for the fruits of your work.
In short
- Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh fall midway between solstices and equinoxes.
- They correspond roughly to the middle of the fixed signs, the heart of the seasons.
- Their customs survive in All Saints, Candlemas, Calendimaggio and the August festivals.
- The eight-festival "wheel of the year" is a modern synthesis, not a single ancient calendar.
- These thresholds can be lived as moments of remembrance, renewal and gratitude.