Holidays & Festivals

The Filianic Calendar is full of its own holidays, generally called festivals. There are two different types: High Festivals & Low Festivals. High festivals were marked with a Rite in the past, while low festivals were not, but with the end of the Madrian communities & priestesshood there is not much difference between them for the individual Filiani. 

The original Madrian calendar contained many holidays that were counted by lunar cycles and so varied from year to year; later calendars gradually lost this and those holidays became fixed. (See this post and the comments on it for more details.)

Because of this gradual change, you may see two dates for certain holidays. Rosa Mundi, for instance, may be marked as occurring on 9 Rosea (21 June), alongside or instead of the Day of All Helati, OR as occurring anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks later, depending on when the next full or new moon occurred. Originally, Rosa Mundi was one of the moveable feasts; it was celebrated on the day of the first full or new moon to occur after the Day of All Helati. It is perfectly acceptable to celebrate these festivals on either date.

Links lead to posts that go in depth on some aspect of that holiday, and are updated periodically.

Spring

• 1 Culverine/21 March—Eastre
• 5 Culverine/25 March—Day of Our Sovereign Lady
• 1 Maia/18 April—Maia’s Day
• 14 Maia/1 May—Exaltation of the Queen of Heaven
  culmination of the Eastre cycle; the Daughter is Crowned
• 1 Hera/16 May—Sai Rayanna Day
• 10 Hera/25 May—Florimaia
  a celebration of flowers

Summer

• 9 Rosea/21 June—Day of All Helati; also, Rosa Mundi (see note on moveable feasts above)
  
• 9 Rosea/21 June—High Feast of Rosa Mundi
  (date changes; occurs on the first full or new moon after Day of All Helati)
• 22 Kerea/1 Aug.—Chelanya, the Golden Festival
  festival of first fruits; also known as the Feast of Regeneration
• 16 Vaskaras/23 Aug.—Day of Werdë
  day of making resolutions; reviewing your life and where you are on your path

Autumn

• 17 Abolan/21 Sept—Cuivanya, Feast of Divine Life
• 1-3 Werdë/31 Oct to 2 Nov—Tamala
  a three day feast for the dead; final High Feast of the Mother half of the year
  

Winter

• 1 Astraea/28 Nov—Advent begins
  one candle is lit each week: for Janites, on each Sunday; for Filyanis, on the beginning day of the week
• 11 Astraea/8 Dec—Conception of the Daughter
• 28 Astraea/25 Dec—Nativity begins
  Nativity continues for twelve days (28 Astraea—11 Herthe)
• 12 Herthe/6 Dec.—Princess Day (Epiphany)
  also known as Duodecima
• 25 Jan—Purple Monday
  date changes: first Candrëdi (Monday) in Brighe; beginning of the purification period before Luciad
  
• 11 Brighe/2 Feb—Luciad
  festival of lights, in honor of the Daughter's taking on of Her fate to bring light to all places and things
  
• 28 Brighe/19 Feb—Moura Eve
  a feast before the restrictions and “Lenten” period of Moura

Moura

• 1 Moura/20 Feb—Moura Day
  first full day of Moura; some fast for the day
• 15 Moura/5 March—Med Moura
  on 4 March in leap years; a break from restrictions and Moura disciplines; a feast day and day for honouring the Mothers and Mother-like figures in our lives
• 28 Moura/19 March—Kala
  on 18 March in leap years; the day the Daughter is slain
  

Hiatus

• (no date)/20 March (19 & 20 March in leap years)
  a day of mourning, not marked on our Calendars. Images of the Goddess are veiled, and daily activities restricted to the bare minimum; no new tasks are begun on this day