One of these commercialized holidays is Halloween, known as Samhain by some of our ancestors and means “Summer’s End.” It is the third and final harvest feast and festival. Likewise, it goes by many names, Halloween, Day of the Dead, Third Harvest, and Hallow tide. Samhain not only celebrates the final harvest before winter, but also celebrates lost loved ones, and the beginning of Winter. 

Another commercialized holiday is Christmas, but is known as Yule by those who look at that time of year through a nature-based lens, which goes back to the ancient practice of celebrating the Winter Solstice. Whatever your religious background, Winter Solstice offers a perfect opportunity to get together with family and reflect on the year that has gone and the year to come. If your family have different religious beliefs, Winter Solstice is a good chance to be together and celebrate a non-denominational festival, a time of gratitude for Nature’s cycles.

Another important day was Ostara which celebrates the first day of Spring and is commonly referred to as the vernal or spring equinox. 

These ancient celebrations prove that our ancestors were more connected to the Sun than we are today. They observed its pathway across the sky; they tracked how the sunrise, sunset, and day length changed, using the Sun (and Moon) as a clock and calendar.