Category: Norse Pagan Calender and Celebrations

Haustmánuður arrives when the change in the air can no longer be ignored. The days are shortening, summer’s warmth is beginning to loosen its hold and the landscape is settling into its autumn colours. There may still be mild days, but winter no longer feels so far away. In the old Icelandic calendar, Haustmánuður was […]

As the days grow shorter and the air takes on a sharper chill, we reach one of those points in the year when the seasonal change becomes difficult to ignore. Summer is loosening its hold, harvest work is drawing towards its end, and winter, although not quite here yet, no longer feels very far away. […]

When the first milder breezes began to move across the old Norse lands, carrying the scent of thawing earth and waking life, it was time for Sigrblot — a rite woven into the very turning of spring. Sigrblot, sometimes written as Sígrblót or Sigrblót, may not be the best-known Norse festival today, but in the […]

In the old Icelandic and Norse calendars, the year did not begin in January. It began with Harpa, the first summer month. When Harpa arrived, winter was officially over, at least by the calendar’s reckoning, and a new year of light, work, and growth began. Harpa starts on a Thursday between 19 and 25 April, […]

We’re coming up to Einmánuður, the last winter month in the Old Norse calendar. There’s something really powerful about this month — it carries that feeling of winter not being quite over, but the promise of spring finally beginning to stir. After the long, harsh months of cold, darkness, and endurance, Einmánuður marked a turning […]

In the old Icelandic calendar, Góa (older form Gói) is the fifth and next-to-last month of winter, landing roughly from mid-February into mid-March. It’s the month where winter is still very much present… but the light is back in the conversation. Days are noticeably longer, the weather starts doing that late-winter “anything goes” thing, and […]

If winter had a personality, Þorri would be the bit where it stops being “festive” and starts being serious. In the old Icelandic calendar, Þorri is the fourth winter month, landing roughly mid-January to mid-February — the deep stretch of winter where the ground stays hard, the nights feel endless, and you really find out […]

Theme: wyrd, sacred vows, and the kind of wisdom that holds weight Oath Night — also called Twelfth Night — is the culmination of Yule. It’s a night of feasting, yes, but also a night of solemn promises: vows that shape the year ahead and bind us not just to a goal, but to a […]

Theme: fate, remembrance, bravery, and the strength to walk your own road On the eleventh night of Yule, we honour the Valkyries — the radiant, fearsome women of Odin who ride above the battlefield as “choosers of the slain.” They are the ones who decide which warriors are worthy to be gathered up and carried […]

Theme: returning light, renewal, and fairness guided by truth On the tenth night of Yule, we turn our faces toward Sunna — the Norse goddess of the Sun — and we celebrate what begins to shift after Solstice: the slow, steady return of the light. The nights are still long, winter still has teeth, but […]