Summer is here!

 

A backyard fire pit with a fire on Lughnasadh 2014
Lughnasadh 2014 Fire

There's some interesting things afoot with the month names for this "moonth."  First, according to the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon calendar I use, this month is technically Triliða, an intercalary month that seems to appear about every other year, to realign the solar and lunar cycles.  I don't know if it was treated as a time outside of time as Gēola is, but I'm chosing to treat it that way, and using the extended Summer Solstice 12-day devotional (check under the labels to find it, if I forget to link it).

(As an aside, Liða meant something like "gentle" or "navigable," because the breezes were good for sailing.  It doesn't really mean "midsummer," but is just the month in which the solstice occurs, which is why the name was chosen for the Neopagan calendar.)

For the Gaulish Celts, we have Simivisonnos.  According to some this can mean "Semi Spring" but our grove translates it as "Midsummer Month" (along the same lines as Liða, really).  Our grove celebrates by blessing travel tokens, as summer vacations happen.

The Farmer's Almanac designates it Buck Moon.  The antlers of male deer have begun to significantly grow back.   (Another aside.  The Farmer's Almanac sort of combines moon names for various Native American nations.  I looked at a couple of sites and cannot tell which nation this comes from.)

Kondratiev has labeled this "The Moon of the Fiery God" after the line:

I am the God who puts Fire in the head.

Some folks (certainly Kondratiev) believe that refers to the inspiration that comes that can't be quenched until the task that is being inspired is done. Think of a work of art, or a poem, that does not leave the artist or author alone, disturbing their sleep, until the work or poem is done.  

So... how can I blend these?  I am not really sure I can.  The heat of the sun may be a good metaphor for the fire in the head, or one could think about connecting these two, or through the gentler reflection of the sun's intense heat via the full moon.

I'd be interested to hear what folks think about this one (or any one, really).


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