The Ogham Calendar


Starting (as far as I can discern) with Robert Graves, a number of people have supported the idea that the Ogham represent a moon calendar used by the Celts. Most academic sorts disagree, but then they don't believe in magic either...

There are a number of versions of this calendar, most with set solar dates. Since Robert Graves came up with the whole thing, I'll list his first:

Graves' Tree Calendar
Beth Luis Nion Fearn Saille
24 Dec-20 Jan 21 Jan-17 Feb 18 Feb-17 Mar 18 Mar-14 Apr 15 Apr-12 May
Huath Duir Tinne Coll Quert
13 May-9 Jun 10 Jun-7 Jul 8 Jul-4 Aug 5 Aug-1 Sep 5 Aug-1 Sep
Muin Gort Ngetel Straif Ruis
2Sep-29 Sep 30 Sep-27 Oct 28 Oct-24 Nov 15 Apr-12 May 25 Nov-22 Dec

December 23rd is the "Unnamed Day", the Midwinter Solstice and the "and a day" of Celtic tradition. Most of the calendars seem to follow this pattern, though many simply ignore the doubled trees (Quert and Straif).

John King, however, takes a different twist on things, believing the Midsummer Solstice is of greater importance than the Midwinter:
King's Tree Calendar
Beth Luis Nion Fearn Saille
7 Dec-3 Jan 4 Jan-31 Jan 1 Feb-28 Feb 1 Mar-25 Apr 29 Mar-25 Apr
Huath Duir Tinne Coll Quert
26 Apr-23 May 24 May-20 Jun 22 Jun-19 Jul 20 Jul-16 Aug ?
Muin Gort Ngetel Straif Ruis
17 Aug-13 Sep 14 Sep-11 Oct 12 Oct-8 Nov ? 9 Nov-6 Dec

King's "and a day" is 21 June. He feels this makes more sense--putting the liminal day between the months of Oak and Holly, making it the time of changeover between Light King and Dark King.

There is a third group that prefer to simply count the months by moons--Beth being the first full or new moon after Winter Solstice, and so on. It makes sense--after all, the Celts certainly didn't use a Gregorian calendar! Shekinah Mountainwater has a brief section on this in her book, Ariadne's Thread.

If any of this intrigues you, read more!

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