I I was talking to Kimberley over at the Mother House of the Goddess about celebrating deity. She was telling me that her devoted friends in the Voudou traditions celebrate their Orisha’s (their spirit or Deity) birthday every year hugely. Some of them have all out parties and everything. I thought that was wonderful! So I have been looking up feast days and holy days for my goddesses, my main ladies, so I can create a celebration calendar of my own.
Morgen Le Fay
Ah, my first love, Morgen. She’s a tricksy shapeshiftery one she is – part legend, part story, part goddess. Her origins are shrouded in mystery, but in all the stories she is always involved somehow, making an appearance.
It’s hard to find a feast day for her, as her Goddess status isn’t very often acknowledged. We can find dates for goddesses like her: like the Morrigan’s Feast Day on January 7th, but it’s tough to find a Morgen-specific day.
After an internet looksie however, I find a weird little post saying that September 22 is, according to some medieval Breton churches, the feast day of “Saint” Morgan le Fey, whose only good act was looking the dying King Arthur. Hmmm!
I love the September 22nd Feast Day for Morgen, no matter how tenuous it may be, because I always felt she was an Autumn Equinox girl. As a faery woman between the worlds, I feel like the equinox is a super appropriate time to celebrate her. The other day, of course, being Samhain, when the roads between the worlds are open and the path to Avalon (either mystical magical Avalon or Avalon as the isle of the dead) is just a little bit clearer.
Feast Days of Rhiannon
Moving onto Rhiannon. Rhiannon is my homegirl, she inspires me to live life fully and joyfully. She is a goddess of sovereignty, horses, faeries, sexuality, death, love and transformation.
Looking up her feast days we get loads. Her most repeated feast day is March 4th, and of course she is associated with Beltaine, and so Beltaine Eve, April 30th, can be counted as a feast day for Rhiannon. According to the Romans, December 18th is a feast day for her and July 4th as well.
However, all of these dates are disputed: some sources say that July 4th and December 18th are days for the Gaul horse goddess Epona (who may or may not be a version of Rhiannon), and everywhere says different stuff. March the 4th is the least contested feast date.
What’s a Rhiannon girl to do?
Why, celebrate all of them of course!
There is nothing wrong with designating a special day to honour your favourite Goddess, even if it’s not the historically perfect day. Do you think a Goddess would mind you devoting a full day to her, even if it wasn’t historically her traditional day? No! I think the most important thing is to take action in our relationship with the Goddess, and take every excuse we can to celebrate Her and build a close relationship with Her.
I’m looking forward to spending a day with Rhiannon this July 4th.
Do you know if your favourite goddess has a feast day? If they don’t, when do you feel it should be?
Header photo credit: A. Davey on Flickr