Major Feast Days

The following is a list of the major feast days that we will encourage to be celebrated. They mostly follow the liturgical calendar of the Church of England, but include several feasts that we think are important to celebrate our sense of place and identity. This list is not comprehensive and may be added to over time. In particular, only the better known Saints are included and so the list should be read in conjunction with the separate list of Saints which supplement these feast days.

Ærra Geola (December)
Movable	Advent	Start of the liturgical year, four Sundays before Christmas day and a time of preparation for it.
21/22 (winter solstice)	Start of Yuletide (Festival of Midwinter and the Anglo Saxon New Year)
24	Christmas Eve
25	Christmas Day
Æfterra Geola (January)
6	Epiphany	Celebration of the coming of the magi and their recognition of Christ as the Lord.
Movable	Baptism of Our Lord	Celebration of the baptism of Jesus. This festival takes place on the Sunday following Epiphany.
7	St Distaff’s Day or Rock Day	Return to work following Yule – or not as the case may be!
7	St Cedd	Celebration of the Blending of Celtic and Roman Christianity into the English Church.
17	Wassailing Day	Festival of the new agricultural year in which cider is poured around the roots of apple trees and pieces of toast hung on their branches for the birds. Toasts to the tree are made and wassailing songs are sung to encourage a fruitful year.
22	Christ the Pantokreter	Celebration of the Christ the All-Ruler; Logos or Cosmic Christ.
25	Festival of the Word (Burns Night)	Celebration of poetry and the pudding. Though technically a Scottish tradition, the roots of this celebration go deep into English folklore too.
Solmonað (February)
2	Candlemass	Also known as the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
11	St Caedmon
18	St Coleman
25	St Ethelbert	First English King to become Christian marking the conversion of the English people to the Christian Faith.
Movable	Shrove Tuesday
Movable	Ash Wednesday	Re-affirmation of our baptism and start of Lent.
Hredmonað (March)
2	St Chad
20	St Cuthbert
25	Lady Day or Feast of the Annunciation	Celebration of the Annunciation to Our Lady that she was to be the bearer of God.
Movable	Passion Sunday	Celebration of the beginning of the Passion of Christ – literally the events leading up to and including his crucifixion. Falls on the 5^th Sunday of Lent.
Movable	Palm Sunday	Celebration of the entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem. Falls on the Sunday before Easter.
Eosturmonað (April)
Movable	Maundy Thursday	Celebration of the Last Supper.
Movable	Good Friday and Easter	The culmination of Holy week in which we remember the sacrifice Christ made for us and his victory over death through resurrection on Easter Day.
23	St George also Saints & Martyrs of England
30	Feast of the Eve of St Walpurga or Walpurgis Night	Anticipation of spring with Easter fires and prayers for the dead.
Þrimilchi (May)
1	May Day - feast of St Walpurga	Feast of St Walpurga and the arrival of Spring.
8 or 9	St Julian of Norwich
25	The Venerable Bede	The historian of early Anglo Saxon England.
26	St Augustine	Apostle to Kent, first Archbishop of Canterbury.
31	The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Celebration of St Mary’s visit to St Elizabeth following the annunciation and of the Magnificat.
Movable	Feast of the Ascension	Celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven. Celebrated on a Thursday, forth days after Easter. Often moved to the closest Sunday.
Movable	Whitsuntide or Pentecost	Celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the apostles. The term ‘whit’ is either derived from the Old English ‘Hwita Sunnandaeg’ because early Christians wore white at this time (reflected in the colour of vestments) or is a reference to ‘wit’ or the ‘holy wisdom’ off God called Hagia Sophia in Greek and associated with the Holy Spirit. Follows seven weeks after Easter Sunday, or fifty days after Easter. ‘Pente’ is derived from the Greek word for fifty.
Movable	Trinity Sunday	Celebration of the holy and undivided trinity. Falls on the first Sunday after Whitsunday. Follows the first Sunday after Whit Sunday or Pentecost.
Movable	Corpus Christi	Celebration of the mystical body of Our Lord and the Holy Eucharist. Falls on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday. Follows the Sunday after Trinity Sunday.
Ærra Liþa (June)
23	Midsummer’s Eve and the Eve of St John	Celebration of Midsummer and of life – thinly disguised as the feast day of St John the Baptist.
24	Liþa or Midsummer and St John’s Day	As above.
29	SS Peter and Paul and the Holy Apostles
Æfterra Liþa (July)
15	St Swithun
31	St Joseph of Arimathea	Celebration of the bringing of the Holy Grael to the Holy Land of England.
Weodmonað (August)
1	Lammas Day	Feast of the Loaf Mass and celebration of the first wheat harvest of the year.
6	Feast of the Transfiguration	Celebration of the transfiguration of Christ on the mountain and his being called “son” by God’.
15	Feast of the Dormition of Our Lady (Assumption)	Celebration of the falling asleep of Our Lady and of her role as Queen of Heaven.
31	St Aidan of Lindisfarne	Apostle to the English.
Haligmonað (September)
3	Pope Gregory the Great
8	Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady	Celebration of the birth of Our Lady.
21	Feast of the Harvest Home	A celebration of the end of the harvest.
29	Michaelmas	Celebration of St Michael, Warrior Angel.
Winterfylleþ (October)
2	Feast of Guardian Angels and Wardens	Guardian Angels in folk Christianity include the old folk gods and goddesses and the Aelfe.
11	St Edwin of Northumbria
12	Feast of the Settlement of England	Celebration of the landing of Hengest and Horsa in Kent marking the birth of the English Nation.
15	Our Lady of Walsingham, who we also know as Our Lady of England
26	Alfred the Great	King and Founder of Monasteries.
31	Feast of the Eve of All Hallows (Halloween) and local Saints	Preparation for All Saints day and All Souls day. Also called Winter Nights. On this day, local Saints are also honoured.
Blotmonað (November)
1	All Saints	Celebration of all saints.
2	All Souls	Celebration of our ancestors and prayers for the souls of the dead.
11	Remembrance Day
17	St Hilda	Abbess of Whitby, Mother of the English Church.
20	St Edmund	King, Martyr and Patron Saint of Anglo Saxon England.
Movable	Christ the King	Celebration of the Kingship of Christ. Falls on the last Sunday before 27^th November.

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