Seasons and their annual cycle are one of the fundamentals of life. Every culture is aware of this cycle, and some enshrine it by linking their cycle of celebrations and mythologies to it. The ancient Celts were among those cultures. Along with other pre-Christian religions, the Celts linked their mythology and their holidays to the rhythm of the seasons, the solstices and equinoxes, and the midpoints or crossquarter holidays. You can recognize vestiges of those holidays surviving in our own celebrations, including Halloween, Groundhog Day, and traditions from the vernal equinox that have migrated to Easter. We will explore these Celtic traditions, many of them revived by Wiccans: the underlying myths, how these holidays were and are celebrated, and how they continue to appear in different ways in contemporary culture.

Holley Ulbrich is a frequent OLLI teacher. A retired economics professor at Clemson University, she has a longtime interest in British history and particularly the life and culture of her Celtic and religious forebears.