Sci-Fi & Fantasy fans may recognise the title as a quote from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Everybody else may simply appreciate the opportunity to explore new places from the comfort – and safety – of their favourite armchair or free wi-fi zone.
This holiday season we are boldly going to Westeros (yes, really) to face the terrors of flight delays, lost luggage and untimely beheading so you don’t have to.
How will you celebrate your May Day bank holiday weekend? You could always get married, jump over a broomstick or get naked and paint yourself red like these folks.
You can discover the origins and traditions of the Beltane festival by clicking the link below for Lily Wight’s Beginner’s Guide To The Wheel Of The Year.
The Wheel Of The Year calendar comprises four Celtic fire festivals interspersed with two solstice and two equinox celebrations. September’s Equinox denotes the height of the Autumn season.
The Autumn Equinox is named variably as Modron (Mother Goddess) or Mabon (Divine Son) – deities from Welsh Mythology who can be found in The Legends Of King Arthur.
Modron is a harvest and fertility goddess who shares characteristics with the Roman Ceres. On the agricultural calendar Lughnasadh (August) is The First Harvest (grains and cereals) and The Autumn Equinox (September) is The Second Harvest (fruits and vegetables).
The ancient seasonal calendar – known as The Wheel Of The Year – has reached Litha (meaning “wheel”) also known as The Longest Day, Midsummer and The Summer Solstice.
Litha marks the height of the sun’s powers at the middle of the year before the inevitable shortening of daylight hours.
Midsummer has been observed since Neolithic times. It held special significance to the Scandinavian, Germanic and Anglo-Saxon people and is still celebrated throughout The Northern Hemisphere today.
Litha was a time to urge the growth of crops in the hope of a plentiful harvest. A wheel would be set on fire and rolled downhill to “warm” the fields, a practice first recorded two thousand years ago.
More from Nathan Sawaya in next month’s Lego Pick!
Beltane (meaning “bright fire”) or May Day is one of eight festival days marked upon the ancient seasonal calendar known as The Wheel Of The Year.
Beltane heralds the beginning of Summer as it lies halfway between The Spring Equinox (Ostara) and The Summer Solstice (Litha). It is a time when daylight hours are long, trees blossom and herding animals are turned out to pasture.
Beltane was originally observed by the Gaelic people of Ireland, Scotland and The Isle Of Man who performed protective rituals for their crops and livestock whilst The Celtic Tribes of Western Europe and Britain also celebrated mating rituals and male potency.
Ostara (Old High German) or Ēostre (Old English) falls upon 20th March. It is one of eight ancient Wheel Of The Year festivals denoting seasonal shifts.
Ostara marks The Vernal (meaning “youthful”) Equinox: the height of Spring.
Daylight and darkness are balanced at The Equinox, prior to the lengthening of days: a period sometimes referred to as Lent. It is a time to celebrate fecundity and growth.
Ostara is named for an ancient Germanic goddess and the month that bears her name; Ôstarmânoth, now April.
Ostara is a dawn goddess associated to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora. She represents the resurrection of light following the death of Winter.
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