Day Eight: Holidays

I honestly am pretty bad at keeping up with holidays. I am a reconstructionist pagan who worships deities from several pantheons, so there's a lot to keep track of generally. I definitely narrow them down to ones that are specifically relevant, but I am also a modern person who has to deal with modern life and I have ADHD and struggle to organize and prioritize tasks.

The one that I have celebrated the most is Hekate's Deipnon and Noumenia, which happened on the day before the new moon and on the day of the new moon respectively. The ideal celebration of Hekate's Deipnon for my partner and I is tidying up (hopefully including cleaning the altar thoroughly), doing prayers to Hekate and other relevant theoi, giving wine and lighting incense. Noumenia is similar, but it's mostly just prayers and offerings for Selene.

I have been incredibly bad at keeping up with Irish pagan holidays, but it's something I want to get better at this year. I think I was able to do something for Samhain last year (which was dedicated to the Dagda and the Morrigan), but I'd like to be more consistent in 2026.

Norse holidays have been incredibly dire, I don't think I can even remember the last time I remembered to celebrate one.

I do think the best way to actually set up a holiday calendar is to find out which holidays are/were celebrated (Hellenic pagans might want to check out Hellenion's calendar. I do not recommend supporting them though) and figure out which ones are the most relevant to you. If you're in a city like I am, planting and harvest festivals likely aren't terribly relevant to you. Another suggestion would be to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. If there are celebrations close to those dates, you could prioritize those. A lot of different pagan traditions do have holidays during those times anyway.