Significance of Time, Season, and the Life Cycle: Calan Gaeaf is a festival marking the slaughter of farm animals after the crop harvest and a time for honoring and remembering the ancestors and our beloved dead (Owen, 1959; 122).  It is the "dusk" of the year, when the nights are noticeably getting longer, and we know the times of plenty are drawing to a close as the cold, lengthy darkness of winter stretches out before us.  In the seasons of life, Calan Gaeaf is analogous to old age and the event of death, when we give up the body back to the Earth, and spirit passes back to the Otherworld. 

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Nos Galan Gaeaf is an Ysbryd Nos -- a Spirit Night.  This means that spirits are more easily perceived and interacted with on this night than others.  (The other two Ysbryd Nos are Calan Haf [1st of May], which is on the opposite end of the year from Calan Gaeaf, and the Summer Solstice.)  Calan Gaeaf's Irish counterpart of Samhain has been borrowed from the Celtic into some other Pagan traditions, maintaining varying degrees of its Irishness with the borrowings.  It is considered by many as the Goidelic Pagan New Year and the Wiccan New Year, but it is questionable whether it was actually considered the New Year by Irish or other Celtic cultures. 

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Dates and Days: I celebrate Nos Galan Gaeaf and Calan Gaeaf on their Gregorian calendar dates of 31 October and 1 November, regardless of moon phase.  (After all, most of us do not operate on ancient or luni-solar calendars anymore, and even fewer reckon things by the movements of the Pleiades [at least among humans], but by all means please celebrate when is most meaningful and makes the most sense for you.)  This date also allows Calan Gaeaf to line up with Halloween and the custom of trick-or-treating which is widely practiced on October 31st in the U.S.  I observe the festival as 3 days because 3 is an auspicious number in Welsh tradition, and because people have been celebrating and honoring the dead on October 31st, November 1st, and November 2nd for at least many centuries at this point, even if that specific aspect of the observances does not predate Christianity (it may or may not). Also, in ancient Gaul, there was on their calendar a time marked "Trinox Samoni". Whether this represented 3 Nights of Summer or Three Nights of (the end of) Summer is impossible to know for certain, but it also influences my decision to celebrate for a 3-night period.

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Significance of Themes and Spiritual Meaning: Calan Gaeaf is a festival dedicated to the honor of our ancestors and the dead, as the alternate name Gŵyl y Meirw (Festival/Holiday of the Dead) would indicate.  It is a time for honoring the on-coming darkness and winter -- not only accepting the darkness and recognizing its necessity in the balance, but also learning from it, looking forward to its promise of rest and rejuvenation, renewal and rebirth.  I find peace and restoration in the mysteries of darkness -- new life arises from the ashes of death, and new beginnings arise from the dust of endings, but the endings must come first.  

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Calan Gaeaf is a very liminal, transitional time.  We transition from the warmth and light of summer to the cold and dark of winter.  We transition from the fresh plenty of harvest time to the need to rely on stored and preserved surplus.  We transition from more time spent outside to more time spent inside.  I prepare to openly welcome the spirits of the dead in their visit to the world of the living, and I likewise prepare to bid farewell to this year's newly dead in their transition from our world to the world of those who have passed.    

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Practice: Although there are celebrations at this time that are of course fun and to be enjoyed, Calan Gaeaf is, above all, a most sacred time.  I honor the plants and animals who give their lives for our food, our shelter, and our livelihoods each year at this time of final harvest.  I remember our history, my passed loved ones and ancestors -- the lessons they have taught me, their achievements, the struggles they have overcome, and also their mistakes and evils I do not wish to repeat.  I go back to my roots, honoring my heritage and keeping alive the good traditions that have been passed down to me, while discarding and atoning to the extent possible for less-than-honorable legacies that have been left by my forebears, and that I have unknowingly upheld or participated in.  It is when I most purposely remember who I am and where I come from, so I may better understand where it is I am going.  And of course, I remember my own mortality and that of those I love.

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I've been practicing a set of Welsh and Welsh-inspired customs for Calan Gaeaf for a few years now, and they've been a lovely addition to our family traditions for this time of year.  These include: a Nos Galan Gaeaf (Calan Gaeaf Eve) feast, leaving offerings of bread and cheese (bara a chaws) for the beloved dead and ancestors, divination, carving bwgan rwdan ("turnip ghouls" -- which look like fantastically creepy little shriveled skulls or ghost heads, especially when lit from inside!), and tidying up and cleansing, blessing, and warding the house (in case of ... visitors).  And, of course, we go trick-or-treating and decorate the front of the house to an obnoxious degree with all manner of spooky skeletons, tombstones, jack-o'-lanterns, and spiderwebs, because we are American, and I take great pride and joy in hearing the neighborhood children gleefully chanting "Creepy house! Creepy house!" with excitement as they approach my door for candy extortion.  :D  (And really, what kind of neighborhood witch would I be if I didn't have the creepiest house on the street?  Somebody's gotta embody the stereotypes.)

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For detailed references to the customs of Calan Gaeaf, including recipes for making a feast inspired by traditional foods eaten at Calan Gaeaf, such as oat bread, beef roast, stwnsh naw rhiw, and roast stuffed apples, please see my 2022 blog entry here.

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Nos Galan Gaeaf "Calends of Winter Eve" (31 October)

Since I celebrate Calan Gaeaf as a three-day period (see the "Dates and Days" section above), I begin observances on 31 October, Nos Galan Gaeaf -- the Eve of the Calends of Winter.  This is the busiest of the 3 days.

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During the day of the 31st, I clean the house (in the mundane way) before purifying the home by performing a variation on the Welsh custom of the New Year's Water by going about the house sprinkling blessed water from a sprig of rosemary (Owen, 1968; 43 & Unknown, 2014, Amgueddfa Cymru).  I then protect the home by burning the rosemary sprig I used for the water along with some dried juniper and fumigating all the rooms of the home and around the property with the smoke.  This is all done using invocations and magic that is appropriate to my own relationships and beliefs regarding deities and other beings, of course, so the details of any such practice will vary.

We carve happy-faced jack-o'-lantern pumpkins for the front door and a spectral bwgan rwdan for the ancestor altar.  I then take the carved lanterns to hold ritual, where I honor Gwyn ap Nudd -- whose name literally means White/Blessed son of Mist/Catcher.  He is a psychopomp (this is referenced directly in Skene, 1868; 293 found on sacred-texts.com, in a translation of The Dialogue of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd from the Black Book of Carmarthen, where he states "I am the escort of the grave").  He is also a leader of the Wild Hunt (Rhys, 1901) and the Lord of the Forest (Lindahl, et al, 2002; 190).  I beseech Gwyn to lift his veil of mist that separates the worlds (this detail regarding the mist is UPG of mine, not found in folklore anywhere to my knowledge) and permit the spirits of the dead to visit their families for the holidays.  I bless our lanterns so that their light may serve as a guide to our beloved dead and to spirits of the dead who are welcome and have good intent.  I then ceremoniously light our large carved jack-o'-lanterns and carry them from the ritual location to my front door to guide the beloved dead, placing them near the entrance to our home, visible from the street.

The bwgan rwdan goes to the ancestor altar, which is already covered in photos of the beloved dead year-round.  The altar is then adorned to especially welcome and honor our deceased loved ones.  One of the 3 candles I keep on the altar is lit in the evening when I pray for them, talk to them, and remember them.  I also leave the offering of bara a chaws (bread and cheese) for them on this night.

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We share a feast of roast beef, stwnsh naw rhiw, oat bread, white cheese, and baked stuffed apples before going out for the childhood joy of trick-or-treating.

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Below is a very simple little song that I wrote about Calan Gaeaf, based on the Welsh children's song about Saint David's Day called Mawrth y Cyntaf.

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Calan Gaeaf                                                               

Mae heddiw'n Galan Gaeaf, 

Calan Gaeaf, Calan Gaeaf. 

Mae heddiw'n Galan Gaeaf, 

Dydd Gŵyl y Meirw yw hi. 

 

Aberthwn fara a chaws,

bara a chaws, bara a chaws.

Aberthwn fara a chaws,

Dydd Gŵyl y Meirw yw hi.

 

Bwytawn gig ac afalau, 

ac afalau, ac afalau, 

Bwytawn gig ac afalau, 

Dydd Gŵyl y Meirw yw hi.

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Adapted from the Welsh children's song: Mawrth y Cyntaf, original author unknown

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Calan Gaeaf "Calends of Winter" (1 November)

I light the second of the 3 candles on the ancestor altar, leaving offerings of treats, incense, flowers, art, colorful leaves, and small items that were special to them or that remind us of them.  

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Although there is no lore that ties the time of Calan Gaeaf to Cerridwen as far as I am aware, I treat this day as her feast day with ritual and offerings in her honor.  I do this as part of the Calan Gaeaf festivities because she is the brewer of Awen, and because I regard her as the Welsh goddess of witches and magic (among other things), which of course are themes strongly tied to this time of year.  

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Divinations of the sort that attempt to communicate with the dead are popular as we seek guidance from our ancestors and dead loved ones.  It is also fun to tell scary stories on this night, in line with the theme of facing our fears, the unknown, and our own mortality.  Some favorite sources for storytelling include The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas, and Hallowe'en in the Cwm by Owen Wynne Jones.

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Trydedd Noson "Third Night" (2 November)

The term trydedd noson, meaning simply "third night", is not a traditional name for any holiday celebrated during this period in Welsh culture that I'm aware of.  It is just what I call the third night of observances, since I celebrate this sacred time for 3 days. 

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I leave personalized letters or cards to the beloved dead on the ancestor altar.  We tell stories of our beloved dead and what we know from history of how life was for our ancestors who lived so long ago that they are no longer known to us by name.  We also remember beloved animals and plants who are no longer with us, and especially honor the sacrifices of plants and animals who have given up their lives to become our food over this past year.  An empty place is set for them at the table.  It is a day of celebrating the lives of our deceased family and friends and learning about the history of our culture(s) and people.

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Some years, if the weather allows, I make a visit to any nearby graveyard and flowers are thoughtfully left at a grave that has obviously not been tended for a long while, along with prayers for the peaceful rest of the soul whose grave it is.  

 

As evening closes on this final day of observances, I speak to the ancestors again before leading them back to the ritual space by the light of our lanterns.  A fire is lit, and symbols of old bad habits and attitudes, illness, toxic relationships, relationships or events or life stages that have ended but are hard to move on from, bad traits, or other things I wish to be rid of or to let go of are symbolically burned in the fire.  I thank Gwyn ap Nudd for parting the mists that separate the worlds so that we can visit with our beloved dead more directly, thank Cerridwen for her inspiration and aid in magic, and I thank the spirits of our ancestors for sharing this special time with us.  Then, I ceremoniously bid their souls farewell again until next year's visit as the fire is doused, bringing a piece of wood from the fire back to the hearth/fireplace at home (or a candle lit from the flames).  This fire symbolizes bringing home light and warmth for the coming winter, and it also symbolizes lighting the way forward into the future with our knowledge from the past.  Items bought for decorating or as offerings for the ancestor altar are donated to those in need in their honor.

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