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The
Wheel of |
This is a list of
annual festivals of ancient goddesses.
It will grow in time. I would appreciate any festival of an old
goddess,
which you can report to me.
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January |
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| 2. | Inanna's Birth |
| 7. | Day of Sekhmet, Egyptian Goddess |
| 23. | Day of Hathor, Egyptian Goddess |
| 27. | Day of Ishtar |
| 31. | Festival of Hekate |
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February |
|
| 1. |
Imbolc, the Celtic spring festival, honors Brigit. The Druids called this sacred holiday Oimelc, meaning "ewe's milk". Held on February 1st , it celebrated the birthing and freshening of sheep and goats. This festival was christianized as Candlemas or Lady Day and Her Feast day, La Feill Bhride, was attended by tremendous local celebration and elaborate rituals. Her festival is also called Brigit. Brigit (the Goddess and the Festival) represents the stirring of life again after the dead months of the winter, and her special blessings are called forth at this time. |
| 17. | Birth of Kali, Indian Goddess |
| 21. | Day of the Egyptian Goddess Nut |
| March | |
| 10. | Festival of Aphrodite |
| 15. | Anna Furrinna: An Etruscan and subsequently Roman (river-)goddess whose fertility festivals were aimed at stimulating the fertility of both plants and humans. Her worship also involved sacred prostitution. Her ritual festival was celebrated on March, 15 in the Via Flamina in a grove. |
| 15. | Festival of Cybelle and Attis |
| 17. | Festival of Astarte |
| 19. | Day of Minerva |
| April | |
| 15. | Festival of Bastet |
| 21. | Pales, Roman Goddess of herdsmen. Her festival was called "Parilia". |
| 22. | Festival of Ishtar |
| 28. | Hestia's festival, founded by the roman emperor Augustus. |
| 28.4-3.5. | Flora Italian Springgoddess. Goddess of flowers and blooming plants. Her cult festival was called "Floralia". |
| May | |
| 25. | Festival of the Earth-Goddess Gaia |
| June | |
| 1. | Sacred to Juno Moneta (Juno the Warner), the aspect of Juno who warns of impending disasters and harmful events. It was her sacred geese who warned the Romans of the impending attack by the Gauls in 363 a.u.c. (389 BCE) |
| 3. | Sacred to Bellona, Goddess of war. |
| 7.-15. | These days were connected to the preparations for the Vestalia. On the 7th, the inner sanctum (known as the penus) of Her temple is opened up; it is closed again on the 15th. On the 15th, the dirt is swept from the temple of Vesta and taken to the Tiber. |
| 8. | Hestia's festival of old. |
| 9. | The holiday of Vesta, Goddess of the hearth. The Vestal Virgins employ the mola salsa, the holy cake, in the celebrations of the day. First, water is drawn by the Virgins from a sacred spring; the water may not be set down on the ground (contact with the earth would destroy its sacred nature), and is carried in narrow-bottomed vessels to prevent this. The salt used in the cakes is specially made from brine brought in a salt pan and then ground in a mortar and baked in a jar. The salt thus produced was cut with an iron saw. This salt was used on the grain or flour, using the ears of grain gathered on the 7th, 9th, and 11th days of Maius, and then turned into flour. |
| 11. | The festival of Mater Matuta, Goddess of growth, childbirth, motherhood, and the raising of children. On this day mothers are honored by their children and husbands, and mothers pray for their children and the children of their siblings. |
| 13. | Minerva |
| 19. | Sacred to Minerva, Goddess of crafts and trade guilds, associated with the Greek Athena. |
| 24. | Sacred to Fors Fortuna, Goddess of good fortune. Her festival is a spirited affair, with both people on foot and some on flower-bedecked boats attending. Gardeners bring their vegetables and flowers to market, and then sing solemn prayers to Fors Fortuna. The festival is especially marked by florists and other tradespeople, but is widely celebrated by the common folk. |
| July | |
| 7.-9. | Festival of Vesta (the Vestalia) |
| August | |
| 1. | Tailtiu: Irish Earth-Goddess, who was the stepmother of Lugh. In her name the celtic festival Lughnasadh (1st August) was celebrated. |
| 12. | Isis was celebrated at one festival called The Lychnapsia, the Festival of Lights, on August 12, to commemorate seeking her spouse in the darkness by torchlight, and her processions resembled those of Bastet. |
| 13. | Diana(greek: Artemis) Roman Goddess of the moon, free nature, wild beasts and hunting. |
| 13.-14. |
Hecate's annual festival in Greece was a propitiary one, to avert the harvest-destroying storms which the moon was apt to send at around that time. |
|
September |
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| 2. | Festival of Ariadne on Cyprus |
| 18. | Feast of Ceres in Rome |
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October |
|
| 7. | Day of Pallas Athene |
| November | |
| 1. |
Feast of Pomona, Roman Goddess of fruit
Beginning of the three day festival for Isis |
| 2. |
Festival of Ariadne on Cyprus
Festival of Hathor in ancient egypt |
| 6. | Birth of Tiamat, Babylonian Goddess |
| 7. | Night of Hekate, Greek Goddess |
| 16. | Festival of Bastet, Egyptian Cat Goddess |
| 18. | Feast of Ceres in Rome |
| 21. | Festival of Hathor, Egyptian Goddess |
| 25. | Festival of Persephone |
| 28/29. | Day of Sekhmet, Egyptian Goddess |
| 29. | Day of Minerva in Rome |
| December | |
| 3. | Festival of Bona Dea (Rome) |
| 4. | Festival of Minerva (Rome) |
| 8. | Festival of the Egyptian Goddess Neith |
| 16. | Festival of the Roman Goddess Sapientia |
| 18. | Eponalia: (around) Eponas annual festival in Roman times (in Mantua/Italy). |
| 22. | Tohji-Taisai: Festival for the sun Goddess Ameratsu |
| 23. |
Acca Larentia, also known simply as Lara, she is a goddess of sexuality in whose worship sacred prostitution played an important role. A semi-divine prostitute, she passed into Roman mythology as a benefactress of the lower classes and as the she-wolf foster-mother of Remus and Romulus, the mythical founders of Rome. Her festival was called the Larentalia. |
| 25. | Day of Astarte |
| 27. | Birth of Freya |
| 31. | The Lucky Day of Sekhmet,
Egyptian Goddess or Birthday of Isis
Festival of Yemaha (Santeria Goddess) |