Autumn Equinox: universal harvest celebrations

September/October is my favourite period of the year.

This is the moment when the days get rapidly shorter, when you can still feel the warmth of summer tinged with a fresher breeze and sometimes a snap in the air, when you're tempted to relight a fire in the hearth after months of non-use, when nature becomes a swirl of yellow, orange and red brightness, when the sky changes fast and multicolour, multiform clouds quickly criss-cross it, and when you can taste the last offerings of mother earth before the cold, barren days of winter.

Indeed, according to the pagan organization of the year, the autumn equinox (September 22nd this year) marks the second harvest festival, the first being Lughnasadh, or Lammas, on August 1st, while Samhain, widely known as Halloween, is the third.
It depends on where you live, but here in Europe ans also in North America, apples, pears, grapes, blackberries, honey, walnuts, hazelnuts, squashes, pumkins, potatoes and corn are some of the delicious food nature offers us in September and October.
And, in some amazing harmony, a lot of these fruits and vegetables echo with their colours the amber tones nature takes in this period. The golden yellows and firy reds seem to pay a tribute to the sun, a last homage as the nights begin to overpower the days and before the start of the dark season, the day after Samhain.

Since it happens on this Saturday, I'd like to talk a bit about this second harvest festival, the Autumn Equinox.

I. Quick history

At the equinox, "equal night" in latin, night and day will be of similar length. After, the nights will be longer than the days, and will keep on taking on length until the winter solstice, end of December.

Harvest festivals can be found in many cultures around the world. Actually, probably in every sedentary cultures growing crops. They are very old pre-Christian celebrations, some of whose traditions can still be found in folklore, especially in Ireland and the UK, or other countries that have retained a lot of pagan customs (see the festival of Guldize in Cornwall for instance).

A tradition in particular appears to have been widespread: giving special treatment to the last sheaf standing in the harvested field.

A custom attested in Normandy (northwestern region of France) until at least the end of the 19th century, was for reapers to dance around the last sheaf, as, one can imagine, a way to celebrate the bounty of the harvest. [1]

Imbolc and Candlemas: origins and continuation

The month of February begins on 2 important cultural festivals: Imbolc and Candlemas.

I. Definitions

Imbolc was a pre-christian pagan festival celebrated by the Celts early in February (the date was moveable according to the lunar phases). Today, Imbolc is still celebrated by neo-pagans and celtic reconstructionists, but most people chose the fixed date of February 1st.

Candlemas is also called Presentation at the temple, and for Christians it marks the Purification of Mary after Jesus' birth. The Jewish tradition had it that new mothers were to be purified at the temple 40 days after the birth of their child. It is celebrated on February 2nd.

II. Relation between the 2 festivals

It is not new that early Christianity appropriated various dates and themes of pagan festivals, as well as worship places, in order to facilitate the establishment of the new religion.
If the presentation at the temple was not "invented" to replace Imbolc (this presentation was an old Jewish ritual as said above), it's interesting to notice that both festivals share common themes. Again, contrary to what I read too often, in this case the main theme in question (purification) is intrinsic to the Christian festival and was not "stolen" from the pagan festival, but rather the festival swallowed up folk rituals (details below).

The name Candlemas refers to candle being blessed and then taken home as protection by Christians. According to Pope Innocent XII (17th century) the pagans "at the beginning of the month, walked about the city with lighted candles. Because the holy fathers could not extirpate the custom, they ordained that Christians should carry about candles in honor of the Blessed Virgin; and thus what was done before in the honor of Ceres is now done in honor of the Blessed Virgin."
He considered that the association of candles with the Presentation at the temple (hence becoming known as Candlemas) was an appropriation of a Roman (Ceres being a Roman Goddess of agriculture and fertility - of the land and by extension of people) pagan ritual.