gstafleu

As you noticed it is connected with harvest. Here in North America we have two harvest festivities: Canadian Thanksgiving (second Monday in October) and American Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November). Then in England we have Harvest Festival. From the Wikipedia page on this:
Notice "The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox," so we're on the right track. We see a mixture here between the solar and the lunar calendar system, like we see with the definition of Easter (the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox).

In Canada the festival is later than in England, because Canada is a bit more to the South, so the growing season is a bit longer. In the US, even more to the South and hence with an even longer growing season, the festivity is even later.

Gerard Stafleu

Casper

oops, that seems to be at odds your original postulate; the growing season is the milestone, not the solar alignment.

mountainman

I was referring to the tradition of keeping of Sunday
as the "day of rest", which practice was codified by
Constantine c.321 CE.

The digression about the applicability of this to the
southern hemisphere is interesting, but entirely a
digression because the history of the beginnings
of the new Roman religion is obviously confined to
the Roman empire.

To this end, it would be interesting to name the
major points in this circle of feasts by their old names.
By this, I mean the names that these festivals were
known --- for example in the period 0 to 300 CE,
and specifically within the Roman empire, where it
is presumed the tribe of christians evolved.

The major winter solstice feast in the Roman empire
during the period of antiquity in which most people
in this forum are interested, was called the Saturnalia,
or in Greek, the Kronia. It had special significance.

The Saturnalia festival ------- Christmas by any other name,
hijacked by the new Roman religion during the fourth century.

gstafleu

Let's put it this way: it is a bit silly to have a harvest festival when nothing has been harvested yet. In England the end of harvest coincided better with the equinox, in NA it doesn't. So here the feasts got shifted for practical reasons, while the solar position wasn't seen as all that important anymore. Don't forget that colonization happened well into the Christian period.

Gerard Stafleu

gstafleu

You mentioned the Saturnalia, which was at the winter solstice.

Then we have the Lupercalia. Notice "It survived until 494, when it was changed by Pope Gelasius into the feast of the Purification of the Virgin (then on February 14, now on February 2)." We do run into these dating issues I mentioned in the OP, but it is a good candidate for the cross quarter feast between winter solstice and vernal equinox.

The Equiria seem to have been celebrated around the vernal equinox.

Roman festivities aren't the only ones of interest though. Since Christianity replaced both the Celtic and Nordic mythologies these should be looked at as well.

In Celtic we have Samhain for Halloween, Imbolc for Groundhog Day, Beltane for May Day and Lughnassadh for Lammas. Celts in other words wore strong on Cross Quarter days.

The Norse may have been stronger on the solstices and the equinoxes. This website tells us that "The ancient Norse knew four major holidays the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes which we call Summer and Winter Finding, and the two solstices which we call Midsummer and Yule." I'm not sure I would trust the site as a whole, but perhaps they got this right.

The Wikipedia Winter Solstice Celebration Page gives a whole list of winter solstice festivities.

The Wikipedia Vernal Equinox Page gives, under Cultural Aspects, a whole list of cultures that celebrate it. In Japan Shunbun no hi is a national holiday! Notice that Autumnal Equinox festivities are also mentioned.

See also The Midsummer Page .

I think it is fairly safe to say that festivities on the solstices, equinoxes and Cross Quarter days are a wide spread phenomenon, predating Christianity in a wide range of cultures, including in the cultures whose mythologies were replaced by Christianity.

Gerard Stafleu

mountainman

Yes, this is a good point, from the necessary aspect of integration.
The CIRCLE of Feasts is an appropriate title:
This is the type I stuff that I term relational history.
And a good starting point for these four important aspects
of the solar year ...

I agree with this assessment. It raises questions.

One series of questions relate to the timetable by
which these customs were replaced by the customs
of christianity, and the degree to which these new
customs were associated with the Roman empire.
Evidence indicates the fourth century as the time
of change, and not earlier.