These holidays are drawn from various Slavic traditions and nations. They are converted to the Gregorian calendar.
July
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Blog posts tagged in Slavic Paganism
These holidays are drawn from various Slavic traditions and nations. Some of them are reconstructed and some of them are continuously celebrated in their countries of origin. Some of the continuously celebrated holidays are also celebrated by Christians.
April
...For 2018, I'm posting a 4-part series of Slavic pagan holiday dates, one for each season. I'm posting the Winter 2018 dates in December of 2017, and I'll try to post the dates for Spring just before Spring, and so forth. These holidays are drawn from various Slavic traditions and nations. Some of these holidays are reconstructed pagan holidays from modern day reconstructionist pagan religions. Some holiday dates are currently celebrated in their countries of origin. Holidays which have been continuously celebrated from ancient times down to modern times are also celebrated by Christians.
January
...The calendar seeds I planted last February and March have come to fruition. The Heathen Calendar and Slavic Calendar Projects 2017 are now published through Spero Publishing, an imprint of Caliburn Press, and available on lulu. I am incredibly relieved, because producing the Heathen Calendar was a Yule boar oath, and now it is fulfilled.
I ordered some Calendars and hope they arrive in time to vend them from the American Asatru Association booth I'll be staffing at my local Pagan Pride Day next Saturday. At PPD I'll also be giving a talk about Asatru, teaching a drum circle workshop, and participating in a panel of different traditions from the local community.
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In the early 20th century, there were pagan revivals all across Europe. Polish pagans developed a calendar of Polish pagan holidays based on surviving traditions and the best research available at the time. During World War 2, the precious calendar was saved from the Nazis by burying it in a jar.
In 1946, it was dug up and published in a booklet edited by Władysław Kołodziej. The booklet also contained poetry and articles of interest to Polish pagans.
I'm creating a Heathen Calendar and a Slavic Calendar for 2017. I've accumulated holidays from various heathen traditions for the Heathen Calendar, including American Asatru, Icelandic Asatru, Theod, Forn Sed, Forn Sidr, American Northern Tradition, etc. I've also collected holidays from various Slavic traditions, including Old Slavic, Modern Rodnovery, and American Rus.
This is how I came to start this project. The company for which I work was recently purchased, and I'm now working for the same person who published my book American Celebration at Spero Publishing. One day Alan mentioned he'd like to start publishing calendars. And I emailed back, "Calendars, ay? You know what would be cool?" So there we are. Caliburn Press / Spero is going to start with two calendars, a Heathen one and a Slavic one, and hopefully add more calendars in future years.
When I started this project, I didn't realize how much work it was going to be. Now I know why no one has produced a modern calendar with all the different heathen holidays on it. Some holidays on old lunar calendars are set by moon phases, in the old Icelandic calendar all months started on Sunday, most of the historical records that provide Christian calendar dates equivalent to their country's then-current heathen calendar provide dates for the Julian calendar which then have to be translated to the Gregorian calendar, and there's a modern holiday for which I had to appeal to my friends to tell me how to calculate the heliacal rising of Sirius for future years. I've collected quite a list of holidays, but I'll be open to adding more right up until I turn the project over to the boss, which won't be until after I select 12 artworks for each calendar.
I'm looking for classical paintings to illustrate the two calendars. In future years, we hope to use art by living artists, but at least for the first year, we plan to use art that has fallen into the public domain due to its age. I've been deep in Google Image Search. I decided on paintings because I think full color art would look best on a calendar in print. These decisions necessarily mean most of the art will be from the Romantic era, but I promise: no horned helmets.
If anyone would like to suggest art, or holidays, for either the Heathen or Slavic calendars, please comment with your suggestions.
Image: Golden Tears by Gustav Klimt. I see this as an image of Freya, who wept tears of gold and amber while she searched for Odh ("Inspiration.")
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Not specifically, as far as I know. The American Rus holidays are only celebrated by American groups that honor multiple tradition -
Can you point us to more information on the "American Rus" you mention? First I've heard of it. -
American Rus holidays are modern additions to the Slavic pagan calendar which are celebrations of Rus heroes, particularly the ear
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Are there any American Rus groups? Links would be helpful.
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How cool! Excited to see them when they are done!
Some stories tell themselves.
In The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions, Rolling Stone editor Randall Sullivan tells the story of the supposed Marian visionaries of Medjugorje, of the processes by which the Vatican authenticates (and de-authenticates) visions, and a personal tale of unbelief wrestling with belief.
But (to this reader, at least) the book's most intriguing story is its underlying pagan subtext.
