Pagan Wiccan Interfaith calendar holydays festivals feastdays

Every day's a holiday when you're Pagan! Because of calendar corrections through the ages, variances among local communities in ancient times, and disagreements among scholars, the following dates represents an approximation. Alternative dates are welcomed. We are also interested in additional sources, especially for Celtic, Heathen, Norse, Romuva, and Middle Eastern Pagan holidays.   If you can suggest some, please email to the Editor.

We've collected so much information for you that Sacred Times has been divided into 3 pages: Below you'll find:   Pagan Holy Days   Planetary Hours   Religious information related to the season -- more to come!   On our Astrology Page, you'll find: Naked eye astronomy resources Astronomical Events Ephemeris   We've moved the following to our new lunar information pages:   Perpetual Lunar Sacred Calendar                   New and Full Moons for 2007

 

Daily Deity:

Pagan  Holidays  Celebrated in June, 2007  Worship today on the planet of your choice! June was dedicated to the Old Roman Goddess Juno (Uni), the Queen of Heaven, identified in classical times with the Greek Goddess Hera. Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva together were the most important of the Old Roman Deities.   "Juno" also refers to the divine "genius" residing within each woman. Juno is the protector of brides and the family, and guarantor of faithful marriage.  She is also, as Juno Lucina, concerned with labor and delivery and the first light seen by the infant. As Uni, she is the personification of the New Moon, and all beginnings.  The Temple of Juno Moneta included the Roman mint, and so she guards money and wealth, and protects family finances as the general well-being of the community by supporting covenantal agreements. Both Juno and Hera are symbolized by the peacock, whose tail bears 100 eyes. As the Mother Goddess, her eyes were ever watchful for her young.  Even today, Greek infants are given talismans in the form of a blue eye, often stylized and produced as a bead.  These are worn constantly by the infant or pinned onto the cradle as a protective talisman. Misogynists vilify Hera as demonically jealous, because the myths show her punish philandering husbands and their girlfriends.  In archaic times, the Greeks assimilated local cultures by "marrying" the sky-God Zeus to each local version of the Earth Mother Goddess. A thousand years later, poets collecting these local traditions presumed that these were various girl-friends of Zeus, and that Hera would be therefore jealous of her prerogative as the "real" wife. Click here to visit the Virtual Temple of Hera Click here to visit the Virtual Temple of Juno. This list of Pagan holy days was compiled by Christa Landon  from various sources, including the URLs below. (Note: In Celtic, Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Arabic traditions, the day starts at the prior sunset.)

June   1	Roman:        Juno Regina; Juno Moneta,                       Cardea: Goddess of doors and locks, guardian of family life.                       Tempestates: Weather Goddesses. Old Greek:    Hera Urania Egyptian:     Queen of Heaven: Isis/Hathor Sumerian:    Inanna Babylonian: Ishtar Canaanite:   Old Hebrew Astarte Old Arabic:   Al-Uzza Greek:           Hebe, a maiden cup-bearer to the Olympian Gods.
June  2	Roman: Tellus Mater (Mother Earth), "bountiful in crops and cattle."
June  3	Roman: Bellona, Goddess of Battles.
June  4	470, b.c.e Socrates was born.
June  5	World Environment Day: contemplate Mother Earth's beauty and to mourn environmental devastation. Irish: Domnu, the Sheela-Na-Gig
June  7	Roman: Vesta Aperit: opening of the sanctuary in the Temple of Vesta.
June  7 - 15	Vestalia--Old Roman festival honoring Goddess Vesta (Greek Hestia), virgin Goddess of the hearth. Women made food offerings at the sacred hearths of home and temple.
June  8	Roman: Feast of the Goddess Mens (Consciousness): resolve to act more consciously, taking responsibility for your habitual deeds.
June  9	Roman: Feast of Vesta: virgin goddess of the hearth and its fire; and the milling of grain. Vesta represents fire in service and dedicated priesthood.  The Vestal virgins retained the legal and sacred documents of Rome, and continued the ritual functions of the daughters of the sacred King after the end of monarchy in Rome. These functions included the making of mola salsa, ground grain and salt, sprinkled over the heads of sacrificial animals.
June  10	Beginning at sunset, the Old European feast of the Triple Goddess (Goddess of the Moon and the Seasons), marks the transformation of the Virgin into the Mother. 1692: Hangings from Salem Witch Trials began.
June  11	Roman: Concordia, honoring the personification of family love.  1604: James I Witchcraft Statute passed. Witchcraft remains illegal in England for three and a half centuries. Roman: Feast of Fortuna (Fors) Roman: Feast of Matuta/MaterMatuta; the Matralia Mater Matuta was an old Italian goddess of dawn, birth, harbors and the sea, identified with Leucothea (Greek). This was celebrated by women, especially by those who had not yet children of their own, and prayed for blessings for their neices and nephews.
June  12
June  13	Greek: Athena, the Goddess who blends power and wisdom, patron of strategists and Goddess of practical and aesthetic arts, especially weaving. Roman: Minerva. Associated with Athena. Greek: Mnemosyne: the birth of the Muses
June  14	Norse: Sacred to Vidor, son of Odhinn. Vidar combats the Fenris wolf in the Twilight of the Gods.
June  15	Vestalia: Roman festival of first fruits, celebrated by women. On this day, the temple of Vesta was closed and swept out. Old European feast of the Triple Goddess (Goddess of the Moon and the Seasons), marking the transformation of the Virgin into the Mother. 1648: Margaret Jones, a doctor in Boston became the first person to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The "proof" was the death of several patients.
June  16
June  17	Orpheus and Euridice -- honoring faithful married love.
June  18	Sixth Source Day: In 1995 Unitarian Universalists adopted as a source of faith, "Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature."
June  19
June  20	Martyrdom of Iron Skegge, a Pagan tortured to death on orders of Norwegian King "Saint" Olaf "the Lawbreaker" in an illegal campaign to "win souls for Christ."
June  20-23	Lakota/Plains Tribes: Sun Dance -- Festival of prayer, fasting, dancing, and healing in honor of Sun God Wi; offerings are also made to Maka/Mother Earth and Haokah/Father Sky. Lakotas believe all Deities are aspects of Creator Takuskanskan.
June  20-24	Egyptian: Feast of the Sun--dedicated to God-Goddess as Ra-Rait (Old Egyptian); Old Sumerian: Feast of Sun God as Utu. Old Babylonian: Feast of Sun God as Shamash. Old Greek: Sun God Helios Roman: Sun God Sol Old Slavic:  Dajbog Old Celtic: Goddess as Grian/Sul Pawnee: Sun God Shakuru Igaehindvo (Cherokee).
June  21	Summer Solstice: The Sun enters the sign Cancer, marking the beginning of Summer and the longest day and shortest night of the year. Celebrations include dancing around bonfires.  Midsummer/Midsommer: celebrating the longest day of the year and the height of summer.  Litha is the Anglo-Saxon name for this holiday. In many modern Pagan groups, this is celebrated as the Hieros Gamos, the wedding of the God and Goddess. Scandinavian nations had their "Midsommer Bride" who selects her own bridegroom and receives money from the community. They are considered "married" for the festivities. Roman: Vesta's new fire light this night Greek: Oraea: Goddess of Summer; Greek New Year. Babylonian: Ishtar and Tammuz. Syrian: Astarte (Aphrodite and Adonis)             Feast of the Great Spirit  that encompasses Mother Earth and Father Sky; the Great Spirit is known as Orenda among the Iroquois, Tirawa (Pawnee) & Wakonda (Sioux). Taoist festival dedicated to Lao-Tien-Yeh (Heavenly Father), the Te (Virtue), and Father of Justice and Law; for the Chinese, the summer solstice represents the greatest strength of the masculine Yang part of the year. Yoruban religion (Voudon): Orisha Yemaya, Mother of the Sun and Moon, guardian of sailors, lovers, and the sea.
June  22	1951: Final witchcraft law repealed in England.
June  23
June  24	This is the "traditional date" for the Summer solstice, before the calendar was corrected. Christians tried to co-opt this feast by rededicating it to St. John the Baptist. Fors Fortuna: Roman Goddess of Luck.  Egyptian: Burning of the Lamps at Sais in honor of Neith and Isis; this was a renewal ritual held underground to revive Osiris by processing around his coffin with lamps, symbols of lunar light. Lux Madriana, Rosa Mundi: the Theosophical Society's feast of the Great Mother.
June  25	Old date of summer solstice
June  26	Norse: Day when the shadow of the tip of Mount Scartis, shows the entrance to the center of the earth
June  27	New Moon visible after sunset in the western sky. 363 c.e. Martyrdom of Julian, the Blessed, last Pagan Emperor of Rome who sought to bring back the Old Religion. Graeco-Roman: The Nymphs, maiden companions of Artemis. Roman: The Lares (ancestral spirits)
June  28	Secular Humanism Day--Day to celebrate all life-affirming humanist, rationalist, and scientific belief systems.
June  29	6/29: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Eleggua, intercessor and ruler of destinies. Yorubas/Santeros celebrate with divination and food offerings.
June 30	Feast of the Sky God as named as An (Old Sumerian), El (Old Canaanite-Hebrew), Uranus (Old Greek), Svarog (Old Slavic), Obatala (Yoruban), Oonawieh Unggi (Cherokee), Gaoh (Iroquois), Haokah (Sioux) & Father Sky (Pan-Native American); and Goddess as Nut/Neith (Old Egyptian).

On this day in 1975 endangered species became internationally protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. On this day do something to help endangered species by improving habitat or by supporting organizations which protect Nature. 

August 15

Egyptian: Dog Days after the Dog Star Sirius, 
identified with the Egyptian goddess Sothis and Isis-Hathor and called Loki's Brand in the Nordic tradition. When Sirius rises, the Nile floods, renewing the fields of Lower Egypt with silt and water. 

Anglo-Saxon and Norse: Day of White Holde and Black Hela (Hel), Goddesses of the Underworld.

Britain: Day to honor Lady Godiva (Goddess) perhaps a vestige of worship of Celtic Horse Goddess Epona or Rhiannon. A procession in Her honor near Coventry included images of the two Goddesses, White Holde and Black Hela.

Norse: Knut the Reaper: He is portrayed bearing a scythe, like the destroyer Goddess Skadi (another Goddess of the Underworld). 

On this day in 1817 Henry David Thoreau was born. Thoreau was a naturalist, a war protester, and a Transcendentalist.  Like the other Transcendentalists, he promoted individualism in his writing.  He is best known for Walden Pond, a diary focussed on living simply in harmony with Nature. [Died 5/6/1862] 

Roman: Adonia, a re-enactment of the marriage feast of Venus and her tragic mortal lover, Adonis.

Anniversary of the day when women demanded recognition of their equality to men in the legal, political, economic, religious, and domestic spheres (Seneca Falls, New York 1848). [Declaration of Sentiments drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott & other Founding Mothers at the Women's Rights Convention 7/19-7/20/1848.]

Egyptian: Opet Festival celebrating the marriage of Isis and Osiris; also sacred to Sothis, the Dog Star. 

Rome: Furrinalia: Furrina was the Goddess of springs in Italy long before the Romans emerged. Think about 1 more thing you can do to preserve our aquifers and springs. 

Egypt: Day of Hatshepsut, healer queen.

Norse: Festival of Thor (Anglo-Saxon "Thunor" German "Donner")

Catholic feast of St. Olaf, who was slain near Lammas. Pagans called King Olaf "the Lawbreaker," for raising an army illegally and using it to force conversions to Christianity, committing mass murder to do it. 

Greek: Kronia, feast of Kronos, God of the limitations of Time, identified by astrologers with the jollier Roman Saturnus.