The events that seemed to stand out for our ancestors were the changing of the day length and the appearance of the sun in the sky, which gave rise to the solar festivals, and the observable phases of the moon
The four solar festivals were linked to:
The shortest day of the year, December 21st, which became the winter solstice.
A point when night and day are of equal length, March 21st, which became the spring equinox.
The longest day, June 21st, which became the summer solstice.
A second point when night and day are of equal length, which became the autumn equinox.
It is the solar pattern that has largely continued until the present day.
The lunar festivals were more typical of the Celtic calendar and were:
Samhain, October 31st, which was close to the dark moon.
Imbolc, February 1st, which was close to the waxing moon.
Beltane, May 1st, which was close to a full moon.
Lughnsadh, August 1st, which was close to the waning moon.
The day began at dusk, it continued until the next dusk.
Samhain and Beltane divided the year into a winter and a summer, and the other festivals subdivided these into quarters. Imbolc is also known as Candlemas and Lughnasadh as Lammas, which have survived as "quarter" days in some areas.
The coming of Christianity posed a difficulty, since the festivals were seen as pagan celebrations. The church chose to adapt the old festivals to the Christian story, thus the winter solstice feast gave way to a "birthday" for Jesus.
The year was determined by the passage of the earth around the sun, the period of its orbit, though this was not known in early days. Later, the months became related to the lunar cycles of some 28 days. Using the period of the lunar cycle gives some 13 months, a feature that appears in a later druidic calendar of tree months. Farming festivals were often linked to the weather and state of the harvest, Christian festivals were often linked to dates that were moveable, and the months in the various calendars to not fit exactly to the months of the calendar in use today.
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