Alban Elfed – 22 September 2024
In England, Alban Elfed will occur on Sunday, September 22, 2024.
Alban Elfed is a term from Druidic and Celtic traditions marking the turning point when the days grow shorter and the nights longer. It is associated with themes of abundance, gratitude, reflection, and preparation for the darker, colder months ahead.
In Druidic spirituality, it is a time of giving thanks for the harvest and reflecting on the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is now known as the Autumn Equinox and the Christian Feast of St Michael of All Angels or Michaelmas.
In Welsh, it means “Light of the Water,” symbolizing the balance between light and dark during the equinox. The point when day and night are approximately equal in length, marking the start of autumn.
This festival is one of the key points on the Wheel of the Year, a calendar of seasonal celebrations observed in various nature-based spiritual practices. Its placement is in the West, the place of the setting sun in the evening, because harvest marks the completion of the cycle which started with the planting of seeds during Lughnasadh. For this reason, it was also known as the Time of Fulfilment.
For our ancestors, who were dependent on the land for survival, it was a time of thanksgiving after gathering in the harvest and a large community celebration for the culmination of their year’s work. Everyone worked hard to bring in the harvest, ensuring they would have enough food for the winter. The wheat, barley, oats, and rye were stored over the winter and used the following year to make bread and beer.
We can use this time to celebrate the abundance of fruits from the land around us provided by our Mother Earth, and we can reflect on the past year to prepare for a new cycle.
Light a candle, sit quietly, and remember the achievements and experiences of the year and what you have learned. Ideas for gratitude:
- The thing that has given your body the most support, comfort, and sustenance.
- Something that has sustained your heart.
- The idea that has most interested and inspired you.
- The thing that has most fired your passions and energized you.
Afterward, prepare a meal of local seasonal produce and reflect on the fruits of your labour.
The painting is by the Italian Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593) whose imaginative portrait heads made of fruit, vegetables, and flowers were renowned in Europe during the 16th Century.
Arcimboldo was a court painter for the Habsburg rulers in Vienna and Prague, where he created his famous series of portrait heads, which remain iconic for their surreal and fantastical style.
During the early 20th century his flair for the surreal and allegorical inspired Surrealist artists including Man Ray and Salvador Dalí.
0
0
20
