A central feature of the Celtic calendar was its historical split into two halves, not merely four seasonal quarters.
The dark half of the year began with Samhain, the first of November using modern dating conventions. The light half began on Bealtaine, the first of May. This concept of duality was central to the Celtic understanding of the world: day does not purely follow night, it emerges from it (and vice-versa). It is in this context that a festival such as Oíche Shamhna, the Celtic New Year and celebration of the beginning of the dark half of the year, is best understood. Oíche Shamhna has now been widely adopted as Halloween. On this night the Celts believed that the gates between our world and the supernatural were opened and that beings on either side would, or could, mix. Many customs relate to this festival, such as leaving a gate open in the back garden or in country fields to allow spirits to enter or leave.
Similarly, the Celtic druids, or draoithe, were known to perform their rituals at dusk and dawn, as the sun and the moon exchanged places. It was believed that magic was at its height at these liminal times; where day became night and night became day.
This distinction can be seen in the above short video describing the Winter Solstice at Brú na Bóinne/Newgrange, in the east of Ireland. Located in County Meath, Brú na Bóinne/Newgrange, is a Neolithic passage grave built most likely to exalt the dead and exhibit the rebirth of the sun, the giver of life. On the 21st December every year, the sunlight in the passage forms a beam into the central burial chamber. This process took a complex understanding of the laws of time and motion making it an incredible feat considering that it was built some 5,000 years ago. Today, the complex is a UNESCO world heritage site in recognition of being a remarkable testament not just to the ancient Gael but our common heritage as human beings. More information regarding this amazing structure from our past is available here Brú na Bóinne/Newgrange.
Interestingly, this notion of duality is far from purely a Celtic one. Many cultures, from the Ancient Greeks to Chinese Taoists, place huge store in the notion of light and dark as contrasts and, indeed, as being symbiotic, that one cannot exist without the other.
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