Calendar of Observances

Collated by Axiom

Whatever Pagan Path you walk, this calendar aims to provide you with dates relevant to your faith. At this point we are only covering the below listed paths - if your path is not shown, please email me (Axiom) so I can rectify that. It's a long and time-consuming task, so any suggestions/help will be appreciated. To help it grow and better reflect your beliefs, please contact me with any observances you feel are missing, or corrections/additions to ones shown.

When emailing concerning an observance, please

• list the date it falls (and note if it is a moveable date),
• the religious Path it belongs to,
• the deity it venerates,
• and any relevant details about how it is celebrated (such as foods and customs).
• References providing sources for further information on the festival are appreciated as well.

   

Calendar for 2005.
January	February	March	April
May - Coming Soon	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

   

These icons represent the current paths we have details of observances for. Over the next month individual pages will be posted with the festivals specific to these paths only. Clicking on the icon below will take you to the relevant calendar.
Celtic/Wiccan	Egyptian	Northern Trad	Greek
Eastern European	Roman	Mesopotamian	Streghe

How did I decide upon the dating systems used for the various calendars? After all, there are a lot of sites out there with dates listed. What makes this any different? Well, firstly I do not list every festival I stumble across on the date listed. If there appears to be no historical evidence for an observance, I tend to leave it out. The exception is of course modern observances. Secondly, wherever possible I try and reconstruct the ancient calendar (or one of them) and work out the date according to that calendar. Then I try and create a concordence with today's calendar to reach a modern date. Finally, I am trying to create observance guides which list the original deity and method of worship, not just the day and festival name. This is of course a lengthy process, and there are gaps. Please email me with anything that may fill these in.

• Celtic/Wiccan - the eight Wheel of the Year festivals are based upon the dating of the solstices and equinoxes. The four cross-quarter festivals falling between those are placed exactly halfway between each solstice/equinox pairing, not arbitrarily assigned to the beginning of the month.
• Egyptian - the Egyptian Religious Festivals and Observances Calendar was initially based upon the heliacal rising of Sopdet (Sirius the Dog-Star). This event marked the New Year. Unfortunately, because the Egyptian year is 365 days long, over time the calendar fell significantly out of synch, taking over 1400 years to realign itself. I calculate the day Sopdet rises each year, and that is taken as day one. Most other Egyptian religious calendars are based upon the traditional Egyptian one of 365 days, and so mine is out of synch with them at this time. If you are interested in joining an Egyptian group, I suggest you use their dating system. However, if you are a solitary observer, this one may appeal to you.
• Northern Tradition - these festival dates are based upon those listed by current paths. If, after further research, I decide to work out a calendar based upon Northern beliefs that differs, I will post my findings.
• Greco-Romano - I have dug up the old Greek and Roman calendars and calculated out the current dating based upon a comparison of old and new.
• Eastern-European and Streghe - Very little is available in English on these paths, however, based upon what I can find I have been able to provide calendar details of festivals and observances. I have stuck to the dates listed - unless I come across clear evidence of a different date being more accurate. I try to steer clear of Western sites unless they are set up by Streghe or Eastern-European groups.
• Mesopotamian - I have selected one of the many calendars left to us by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and am using that as my dating system. With the close similarities of pantheons and observance styles, it's working out as a way to list the different festivals from the various tribes and cities. As always, I am trying to track down and verify historically each festival listed.