The Month of Opening
Our name for this month comes from the old Roman name for it, Aprilis, generally thought to be derived from aperio, a verb meaning “to open,” in the sense that the earth is opening up and flowering. As the Roman poet Ovid said, “Because Spring opens everything and the sharp/Frost-bound cold vanishes, and fertile soil’s revealed.”92 However, he himself believed that the name derived from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, whom the Romans called Venus, saying that while the first month (March) was dedicated to fierce Mars, the second month was granted to Venus because love rules the whole world, bringing together human and animal partners to mate and give birth to young, especially at this time of year.
April showers bring a flurry of new growth, and everywhere flowers are opening, leaves unfolding, the birds are busy nest building, and animals are mating. According to British folklore, adders (one of our few native snakes) begin mating on April 4.
This is the month when the summer birds return to Britain, such as the swallow and the cuckoo. For the Norse April was Gaukmonad, “cuckoo month,” and in many places when the bird’s distinctive call is heard, then spring is really deemed to have arrived. In Sussex it was said that spring began when “the old woman” (the hag of winter) shook the cuckoos from her apron. The cuckoo is a summer visitor to Britain, arriving in April and leaving in August. Special cuckoo fairs were once held all over the country during April to welcome it. Sadly, much of its habitat has been destroyed in recent years, and the call of the cuckoo is a much rarer sound now.
Cuckoos bring good luck or bad luck, depending on what you are doing when you first hear them. It is lucky to hear them if standing on grass but bad luck if on barren ground. If the call comes from the right, it is good luck for the year—make a wish and it will be granted—but it is unlucky if it comes from the left. If you are looking at the ground, you will be dead within the year; the Scots say the number of calls it makes indicate the number of years you have left. Moreover, whatever you are doing, you are fated to do for the rest of the year, so if you are in bed, you will become ill and bedridden, and if you have no food in your stomach, you will be poor for the rest of the year. However, if you turn over the money in your pocket or spit on it, it will last the year.
Another European harbinger of spring is the swallow. In ancient Greece returning swallows were thought to usher in the safe return of Dionysus, the vegetation god. In the second century CE, boys in Rhodes went from house to house, singing: “The swallow is here and a new year he brings/As he lengthens the days with the beats of his wings.”93 But as Aristotle cautioned, “One swallow does not make a summer,”94 meaning that the appearance of one bird doesn’t indicate a trend, though the appearance of flocks of them do. From early times swallows have made their nests in the eaves of buildings, and for the Romans they were sacred to the Penates, the household gods, so it is lucky if they nest on your house, offering protection from lightning, fire, and storms. Destroying a nest or killing a bird meant disaster for the house and its inhabitants.
In ancient Rome the whole month was dedicated to Venus, originally a goddess of gardens, and also contained festivals in honour of other agricultural deities since work on the land was in full swing—such as Ceres, the goddess of grain crops, and Flora, goddess of flowers. The honouring of female deities of agriculture and fertility continued with sacrifices to placate Tellus, goddess of the earth.95 Her Greek equivalent is Gaia, and we often use the name Gaia for Mother Earth in connection with environmental movements, which was suggested by James Lovelock’s book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, in which the earth is viewed as a single organism with self-regulatory functions.
The Romans also remembered new animal life with the Parilia festival in honour of Pales, a woodland and pastoral deity. It was mainly observed by shepherds for the protection of their flocks. The sheep pen was decorated with green branches, and at dawn the shepherd would purify the sheep by driving them through the smoke of a bonfire composed of straw, olive branches, laurel, and sulphur. Millet cakes and milk were offered to Pales, after which the shepherd would wet his hands with dew, face east, and pray four times for protection for the flock.
The Romans held the Floralia at the end of April and the beginning of May, which gave rise to many of the May Day customs we still practice today. Flora is a goddess of the spring and flowers and blossoms in general, as well as youth and its pleasures in this youthful season of the year.
The energies of April concern the opening up and blossoming of the year and the earth. The magic of the season reminds us to open ourselves to new things and to love, beauty, and grace.
Early April
April 1: April Fool’s Day/Veneralia
As schoolchildren we celebrated April 1 as April Fool’s Day, with pranks and practical jokes that had to be played before midday. The origins of this custom are unknown. Some think it dates back to the Roman Hilaria (see March), others that it arose from the joyful and jokey customs of carnivals celebrated around Easter time, Lord of Misrule traditions, or just by people being confused by the sudden change to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, when eleven days were removed. It is still a day of fun in many parts of the world. In Scotland the first day of April is Huntigowk Day, a gowk being a cuckoo, or the person being sent up as the April fool.
In Rome it was also a day of joy, consecrated to Venus Verticordia (“Venus the heart-turner”), the goddess of love, harmony, and beauty. At her temple women washed her statue, replaced her golden necklace and other jewellery, and offered her roses and other flowers. Women bathed in myrtle-scented water and wore crowns of myrtle,96 a traditional women’s plant that it is said only women can grow, associated with many goddesses of love.
Every Pagan mythology has a goddess of love—the Egyptian Hathor, the Mesopotamian Ishtar, the Irish Aine, the Norse Freya, the Slavic Lada, among many, many others. The Greeks had Aphrodite. At her birth the seas bubbled and turned rosy, and she arose, full grown and standing on a seashell, in all the surpassing glory of her loveliness and arrayed in the panoply of her irresistible charms. She floated to Cyprus, arriving in April, and as soon as her pearly white feet touched the shore, grass and flowers sprang up at her feet, a goddess of love associated with the flowering of the earth and the mating of humans and animals.
Goddess of Love Ritual
The altar is set in the centre of the room with a statue of the Goddess, a pink candle, and a goblet of water. The room can be decorated with tealights placed in shells and lit before the ritual. Each person is given a flower; if you are doing this alone, just hold a single flower.
Light the pink candle and say:
Goddess of love, opener of the year,
You are the softness of the primrose
And the lingering scent of violets.
Where you walk, the earth blossoms.
In the gentle April rain you open like a flower
Ready to receive the embrace of the God.
Your touch fills our souls with fire
And none can resist your power
For you are the source of all.
Goddess of love, be with me (us).
Each person puts their flower by the statue of the Goddess. Say:
This is a month of fire and water: the warmth of the sun, the fall of the rain,
the fire of love, and the flow of creation.
If fire is the divine spark that gives vitality to the world, the power of water allows the soul to receive it and nourish it into growth.
Water is a living thing and honoured as sacred. It nurtures and sustains life, cleanses, and regenerates. Love flows throughout creation, underpinning all life and giving it meaning.
Drink from the cup and say:
Goddess of love,
Open my spirit to joy and my heart to love.
Bless me with compassion and kindness.
Let your goodness flow through me.
Surround me with love.
Take a moment to reflect and feel this, then say:
This rite is ended. Blessed be.
Blow out the candles.
April 2: The Graces
According to Greek legend, after Aphrodite, the goddess of love, arose from the sea and arrived at Cyprus, the Three Graces bedecked her with golden ornaments and escorted her to the divine halls of Olympus. Her attendants are Thalia (“joy”), Euphrosyne (“mirth”), and Aglaea (“splendour”), the Three Graces of life who inspire poets and artists and bring joy, charm, and beauty to gods and men. They preside over all banquets, dances, and happy social events. Don’t forget to honour them, by whatever name you call such deities, for without love and friendship, fun, grace, beauty, and art, all striving is meaningless and the wonder of the world is lost.
Three Graces Ritual
Decorate the altar with spring flowers. To 20 millilitres of sunflower oil add
3 drops of cardamom essential oil. Set up three pink candles. Anoint each one with the oil.
Light the first candle, saying:
Goddess of joy, hear me. May there be joy in my life.
May there be love, friendship, and wonder at the beauty of creation.
Light the second candle, saying:
Goddess of mirth, hear me. May there be mirth in my life.
May there be laughter with friends.
Light the third candle, saying:
Goddess of splendour, hear me. May there be splendour in my life.
May there be beauty, grace, and creativity.
Let this ritual end with love and blessings. Blessed be.
Allow the candles to burn out.
April 6: Self-Blessing
In the month of love and opening, it is important to love and honour your relationship with the gods. Prepare a sacred space to work in by cleaning it thoroughly and decorating it with flowers. On a low table place a clean white cloth, a white candle, some flowers, and a phial of olive oil. Say:
This is the time of opening, when all about us blossoms and we open ourselves to the joy of the world. I call upon the Lord and Lady to witness my acts tonight and bless me that I may walk in their ways.
Light the candle. Take the oil and anoint your feet:
Blessed be my feet that shall walk the sacred paths.
Anoint your knees:
Blessed be my knees that shall kneel before the sacred altars.
Anoint your breast:
Blessed be my heart that shall be filled with love for the Lord and the Lady.
Anoint your mouth:
Blessed be my lips that shall speak the sacred words.
Anoint your forehead:
Blessed be my self. Let me walk in love and blessing. Fill my heart with rejoicing, with beauty and strength, power and compassion, humour and humility, reverence and mirth. Sacred pair, bless your servant.
Let the candle burn out.
Mid-April
The natural world is certainly opening up and blossoming. I go out into the fields and woods with my collecting basket to find seasonal treats and wild herbs for medicines. This is the best month for dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) flowers; traditionally, you should pick them on St. George’s Day (April 23) to make your dandelion wine. I collect violets (Viola sp.) in the woods, which I use in moisturisers and face creams; alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum), one of the best wild vegetables of spring; and the first early leaves on the brambles (Rubus fruticosus). Most people know the blackberry fruit that comes later, but the astringent leaves are full of antioxidants and vitamin C and make a medicinal tea for sore throats and mouth ulcers. On the edge of the fields I discover Jack-by-the-hedge (Alliaria petiolata), which has a mild peppery-garlicy flavour, which I put in salads and sandwiches. My favourite seasonal treat is the ramsons or wild garlic in the woods (Ullium ursinum). They have a very strong garlic scent, and the leaves and flowers can be used for a garlic pesto, infused in oil, or added to soups and salads.
This is a busy month in the garden too. As I’m planting my seeds, I’m aware of the old gardener’s advice and plant “one for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow,” and put plenty in. Dwarf beans are sown under cloches outside, and beetroot, carrot, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsnips, peas, spring onions, rocket, spinach, and chard are sown directly into the ground. In the greenhouse I am making up the hanging baskets I put outside the kitchen in summer, though I won’t be able to put them out until late May, when all chance of frosts are past here.
170 grams ramsons (you can use the leaves,
stems, and flowers)
270 millilitres olive oil
65 grams pine nuts (walnuts also work well)
70 grams Parmesan cheese, grated
pinch of salt
The ramsons will need careful washing to remove any insects, especially if you are using the flowers too. Place on a cloth to dry. Put everything in a food processor and blitz. This is best used fresh but will keep for 2–3 days in the fridge or you can freeze it.
April 20: Lord of the Animals
At this time we also look to the young animals born in spring, both wild and domesticated, and ask the Lord of the Animals to protect them. In Rome they celebrated the Parilia in honour of Pales, a woodland and pastoral deity.97
Lord of the Animals Ritual
Prepare a bowl of water and have ready a sprig of rosemary or bay. Prepare an incense of frankincense and pine oil. If you are working outdoors, you can light a bonfire or brazier in the centre of the ritual space. If you are working indoors, place a white candle on a low table in the centre of the work area, with a heatproof dish and lit block of charcoal beside it. Have some honey cakes or bread and wine ready.
Sprinkle the ground with water to sanctify the space, then throw the incense on the fire or charcoal. Sprinkle yourself with water using the sprig of herbs as an act of purification. Say:
I call upon the lord of the animals, protector of flocks and herds,
protector of the wild creatures of the woods and forests.
Go to the east of the working area. Offer one of the cakes and some wine by putting them on the ground and saying:
Lord, bless the animals and the farmers, bless the bees and insects, bless the birds of the air, bless the fish in the waters, bless the plants and the gardeners, and protect them from harm. If I have offended you and your wild places with my loud voice and heavy footsteps or if I have cut branches from a tree sacred to you, forgive me. Lord, grant blessing to the animals. Let them grow strong and healthy. May my prayers be granted.
Repeat this in the south, the west, and finally the north. Go back to the centre. Wash your hands and face in the water as a final act of purification. Eat some of the bread and drink some of the wine. Say:
O kindly lord of the animals, I honour you. I have sprinkled myself with water,
I have offered cakes and wine. May my prayers be heard and answered.
This rite is ended. Blessed be.
Late April
We enter the zodiac sign of Taurus the Bull, one of the largest constellations, which contains the clusters of stars that form the Pleiades (which nestles on the bull’s shoulder) and the Hyades cluster (which forms its face). Its bright red eye, the star Aldebaran, seems to glare at Orion the Hunter. Taurus is one of the oldest recognised constellations and may even have been identified as such in the Upper Palaeolithic age, as depicted in the cave paintings of Lascaux (c. 15,000 BCE).98 The Babylonians called it “The Bull of Heaven,” which the goddess Ishtar sent to kill Gilgamesh for spurning her advances.99 In Greek mythology Taurus was identified with the Cretan bull captured by the solar Herakles as one of his twelve labours (his journey around the zodiac). According to the tale, King Minos of Crete prayed to the god Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull as a sign that he had the right to rule. Poseidon duly sent the bull, but with the provision that Minos would sacrifice it to him. Minos decided to keep the lovely bull and substituted an inferior animal for sacrifice. Angered by this, Poseidon asked Aphrodite to cause Minos’s wife Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull, and the woman subsequently gave birth to the half man, half bull Minotaur.
The bull is an ancient symbol of the fertility, virility, and vitality of the season, associated with several gods such as the Sumerian Dumuzi, the wild bull who is sacrificed and dies for his people; the Egyptian corn god Osiris; and the “bull-footed” Dionysus of Greece, vegetation gods who were sacrificed with the harvest and reborn in spring so that life could continue.
April 22: Spud Planting Day
This was traditionally Spud Planting Day in Sussex. In the evening Tater Beer Night was celebrated to toast the crops. I shall be putting in my main crop potatoes today.
April 23: St. George’s Day
In Christian lore St. George is the patron of soldiers and farmers, said to have been born either in Turkey, Syria, or Palestine and to have served in the Roman army before being martyred for refusing to spurn Christianity. Despite being the patron saint of England, there is no connection at all to Britain. He is first mentioned in the fifth century CE, and the dragon-slaying legend was added in the eleventh century and popularised in the late thirteenth century by Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend. The story goes that St. George rode into Silene (modern-day Libya) to free the city from a dragon, saving the daughter of a king of Asia Minor who was being sacrificed to it. After defeating the dragon, he refused to kill it but asked the princess to wrap her girdle round the monster’s head and lead it through the town. He told the inhabitants he would dispatch it if they all converted to Christianity. The story is very similar to the Greek myth of Perseus saving Andromeda from the sea monster, and it is tempting to think the chronicler stole this to spice up George’s story. The Roman Catholic Church, finding no evidence of his actual existence, removed him from the official list of saints in 1969.
It is an interesting myth, however. George is also honoured throughout the Middle East, where his story is somewhat different. Here, Jiryis—or Girgus, as he was known—was martyred under the rule of Diocletian, being killed three times but springing back to life each time. In the Iranian version, he also resurrected the dead and made trees bud and pillars sprout flowers. After one of his deaths, the world was covered by darkness that was lifted only when he was resurrected.100 Sometimes he is identified with al-Khidr, the “green one” or “verdant one,” a prophet or angel who guards the sea and teaches secret knowledge.
George may well have originated in an ancient vegetation god. He is considered a patron saint of farmers, with a feast day in the planting season of spring. George means “cultivator of the land” or “ploughman.” Jiryis Baqiya translates as “George, the resurrected one.”101 The motifs of deaths and resurrections are repeated in the mythologies of gods such as Tammuz, Dionysus, and Adonis, seasonal myths that represent the conflict of summer and winter (the dragon) and who restore fertility to the land.102 In England the old mummer’s play featuring George’s battle with the Turkish knight is still performed at Christmas and in spring. There are many versions of the play, but in all of them George is killed and returns to life. It is possible to see him as a pre-Christian form of a fertility icon in the foliate head (Green Man) in churches.103
The importance of George in Eastern European countries cannot be understated. The Russians say “George will bring spring” and “There is no spring without George.” Finnish proverbs of “St. George comes with his fish basket” alternate with others that indicate he brings grasses. George is fertility. This is no more evident than in France, where statues of St. George were carried through the cherry orchards of Anjou to ensure a good crop.
Eastern European lore also states that the earth of winter is poisonous and cannot be sat or walked upon before St. George’s Day. On St. George’s Day, the earth is reborn and alive once again.104 Folklorist James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, recorded that
amongst the Slavs of Carinthia, on St. George’s Day…the young people deck with flowers and garlands a tree which has been felled on the eve of the festival. The tree is then carried in procession, accompanied with music and joyful acclamations, the chief figure in the procession being the Green George…105
Other rituals of St. George’s Day included the blessing of crops in the Ukraine, where, after the blessing given by a priest, couples lay down in the fields and rolled several times over the newly sprouted shoots.106
Today is the traditional day to make dandelion wine, and indeed, this is usually the time when the dandelions are in full flower, sunny golden flowers covering the fields and verges. I will be gathering flowers for wine, which should be kept at least two years before it is drunk.
6 pints dandelion flower heads
1 gallon water
3 pounds sugar
2 lemons, separated into rinds and juice
1 orange, separated into rinds and juice
1 cup brewed black tea
yeast and nutrient
1 pound raisins
Gather the flowers when you are ready to use them fresh. Boil the water and pour over the flowers; let this stand for two days, stirring daily. Boil with the sugar and citrus fruit rinds for 60 minutes. Put it back in the bin and add the citrus fruit juice. Cool to lukewarm and add the tea (leaves or teabag removed), yeast, and nutrient. Cover the bin and leave in a warm place for three days, stirring daily. Strain into a demijohn and add the raisins. Fit an airlock.
April 25: Robigalia
In Rome this was the Robigalia,107 a festival that beseeched Robigus, the personification of mildew or blight, to leave the growing crops alone.108 The name implies a reddish colour, as is found in wheat rust. According to Ovid, the priest, carrying a bowl of wine and a cask of incense, prayed:
Thou scaly Mildew, spare the sprouting corn,
And let the smooth top quiver on the surface of the ground.
O let the crops, nursed by the heaven’s propitious stars,
Grow till they are ripe for the sickle.109
I think this is a good time to bless the seedlings in the greenhouse and vegetable garden, as the tiny little plants are vulnerable until they get stronger. As well as literally blessing seedlings, you can ask for help with the seedlings of new ideas and projects.
Seedling Protection Ritual
I go to the seedlings, light a green votive candle, and say:
Lord and Lady, protect my seedlings, whether of plants or new ideas.
Let them grow freely, nursed by the earth and the sun, until they are ripe.
Blessed be.
April 30: Walpurgisnacht/Beltane Eve
In Celtic tradition, the last night of April was thought of as the darkest of the year. The transition between winter and summer is a liminal point, a time between times, and therefore surrounded by danger and supernatural forces. It was believed that malevolent spirits and witches flew to frighten people, spawning evil throughout the land. The bad fairies of mischief and the winter spirits make a last foray, for at dawn tomorrow, the good fairies will emerge and claim the land for summer completely.110 In Britain and Ireland people pounded on kettles, slammed doors, cracked whips, rang church bells, and made all the noise they could to scare off the corruption they imagined to be moving on the air. They lit bonfires and torches and hung primroses or rowan and red thread crosses on the barns and byres to protect the animals. Such vigils were kept throughout the night until the rising of the May dawn, when the forces of bane would have been finally defeated and the summer safely delivered.
In Germany, April 30 is Walpurgisnacht, named after St. Walpurga, an eighth-
century Englishwoman who became the abbess of a German monastery. She was renowned for battling pests, sickness, and witchcraft, so it is not surprising that people called upon her intercession to protect them from evil spirits and pestilence on this, one of the most dangerous nights of the year. It is said that for nine nights before the first of May, Walpurga is in flight, chased by the Wild Hunt, going from village to village. People left their windows open so she could shelter behind the cross-shaped windowpane struts from her enemies. In thanks, she laid a little gold coin on the windowsill and fled further.111 One farmer described her as a white lady with long flowing hair, a crown upon her head, and shoes of fiery gold, while in her hands she carried a spindle and a three-cornered mirror that showed the future. A troop of white riders chased and tried to capture her. Walpurga begged another farmer to hide her in a sheaf of grain. No sooner was she hidden than the riders rushed by overhead. The next morning the farmer found grains of gold instead of rye.112 The stories would seem to be an analogy of summer fleeing from winter at this time of year. The Walpurga processions enacted around the villages and fields in Germany and France are supposed to protect the lands against strong winds and bad weather in the coming month.
It is safe to assume that the folk practices around St. Walpurga’s Eve predated the saint and were subsequently associated with her, meaning the real Walpurga took on the attributes of an earlier fertility goddess or possibly the combined characteristics of several. Churches in Germany and at Antwerp, and an eleventh-century manuscript from Cologne, show St. Walpurga with ears of grain, like earlier mother goddesses.113 She is represented with a dog, like the Celto-Germanic fertility goddess Nehalennia,114 as well as Frau Gode and Frau Frick (Frigga). There may be some connection with the Windhound, a mysterious dog connected to fertility that is left behind by the Wild Hunt, which must be fed in order to ensure good crops. Other illustrations show her with a staff. The Gothic word walus appears to be an epithet of someone (usually female) who carries a magic staff of office, such as a sybil or diviner.The historic Waluburg of 500 years earlier was a woman of the Germanic Semnonii tribe who served as a mystic adviser to a Roman governor of Egypt in the second century CE.115 It is possible that there was originally a goddess called Walburga, Waldborg, or Walburg, as several Pagan websites and books suggest, though there is a distinct lack of direct evidence for it.
Walpurgisnacht is also known as Hexennacht or “witches’ night” in Germany, when witches are abroad, many flying up to revel on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, an eerie place featuring two rock formations called the Devil’s Pulpit and the Witch’s Altar, as well as the Brocken Spectre, which are weird halos of light seen around the mountain. According to Grimm, some mountains were once the residence of Dame Holda, the crone of winter, and her host, the “night-women” who rode through the air on certain nights and did men kindnesses. It was Holda herself who led the revels on the mountains to dance the snow away.
Tomorrow summer will have arrived, but tonight the forces of winter try to make their final assault and have to be fought back. May Day festivals traditionally included a fierce battle between the forces of winter and summer.
May Eve Ritual
It was traditional to burn all worn-out household items such as brooms, cloths, and wooden implements in the Walpurgis Night fires. Life-size (or smaller) strawmen were made and “loaded” with the ill health and ill luck of the past, then burned in the fires on Walpurgisnacht. This is the forcible casting-out of winter, illness, and that which is worn out so the May King and May Queen and their green-bedecked and licentious troops can bring in the fertility of crops, beasts, and humankind.
Prepare a figure of paper or straw and load it with worn-out items to represent the old season and things you wish to be rid of to be burned on the bonfire or brazier. If you can’t do this, take an old piece of paper, perhaps something on which you have written old ideas and things you no longer believe in. Write on it other things you wish to be rid of, and this can be burned in a candle flame.
Say:
I cast out winter, I cast out illness, I cast out ill luck,
I cast out all that has passed its time.
Let it be gone so I may greet the summer anew.
92. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFour.php, accessed 6.3.19.
93. Miller, Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture.
94. https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/files/Nicomachean_Ethics_0.pdf.
95. Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People.
96. Plutarch’s Lives (The Dryden Translation; New York: Modern Library, 2001).
97. James L. Butrica, “Propertius on the Parilia,” Classical Quarterly (Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000) and Ovid, Fasti IV, https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFour.php#BkIVintro, accessed 20.4.19.
98. Dr. David Whitehouse, BBC News, 9 August 2000, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/871930.stm, accessed 18.9.19.
99. https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/ancient-epic-gilgamesh-and-precession-equinox-003957, accessed 18.9.19, and Hines, Gilgamesh.
100. The Encyclopaedia of Islam.
101. Ibid.
102. J. Mackley, “The Pagan Heritage of St. George,” paper presented to International Medieval Congress (IMC), University of Leeds, 11–14 July 2011.
103. Ibid.
104. Mall Hiiemäe, “Some Possible Origins of St. George’s Day Customs and Beliefs,” Folklore 1 (June 1996), published by the Institute of Estonian Languages, Tartu.
105. Frazer, The Golden Bough, 166.
106. Frazer, The Golden Bough.
107. Ovid, Fasti.
108. Rhiannon Evans, Utopia Antiqua: Readings of the Golden Age and Decline at Rome (Routledge, 2008).
109. Ovid, Fasti.
110. Anna Franklin, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fairies (London: Paper Tiger, 2004).
111. E. L. Rochholz, Drei Gaugöttinen: Walburg, Verena und Gertrud, als deutsche Kirchenheilige. Sittenbilder aus germanischen Frauenleben (Leipzig: Verlag von Friedrich Fischer, 1870).
112. Ibid.
113. Nigel Pennick, personal communication.
114. Hilda Ellis Davidson, Roles of the Northern Goddess (Routledge, 1998).
115. Jones and Pennick, A History of Pagan Europe.