The 12-month calendar as we know it was widely adopted in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII took the rather extreme decision of adding 10 days to its predecessor - the Roman calendar - to ensure that Easter would fall in the Spring months of March or April each year. The Roman calendar was originally determined by the cycles of the moon and the seasons of the agricultural year. This was a lunar year of 354 days but, because of the Roman superstition about even numbers, an additional day was added to make it 355 days long. The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December, some names you'll recognise from today's 12 month calendar.

The Moon completes 12 full cycles of its phases in about 354 days – which is 11 days short of a Gregorian calendar year. Every two and a half years or so the difference adds up to an extra, 13th full moon occurring during the year and this relatively rare occurrence is sometimes referred to as a ‘blue moon’. Many indigenous calendars still use the moon to mark the passing of time, and the names of each month's full moon are heavily influenced by the agricultural seasons e.g. September's harvest moon.

This has relevance to our journey together as this course is designed around the Wheel of the Year - a modern calendar marking ancient Celtic celebrations which have been refined and revived by modern-day Pagans and Wiccans with festival names such as 'Mabon' being introduced as recently as the 1970s! The festivals themselves hold the key to unlocking the rituals and celebrations of our Gaelic and Celtic ancestors, whose lives were deeply rooted in the cycles and seasons due to their agricultural lifestyles.

This course takes us through part of the Wheel, from Imbolc, through to Ostara at the Spring Equinox in March.