Introduction
This
poem explores the month from a farming perspective and draws from ‘The Good
Reeve' an Anglo-Saxon farming document.
We know from Bede
that in Saxon times, in April the spring goddess handed over to the goddess of
fertility Eostre. From whom we get the modern name for Easter together with the
fertility hormone oestrogen. This was one of eight major feast days in the
calendar.
The two evenings
when supernatural and magical powers were at their highest were: the eve of May
(Walpurgis) and All Hallows Eve. Until the reformation it was common practice
for priests to brew ale and sell it on feast days to raise money (however this
may have started after the Saxon era).
Helheim was a cold
dark subterranean world.
A furlong is the
distance that a team of oxen can plough before needing a rest and thereby set
the length of a field. The width (a chains length) was set by the area that
could be ploughed in a day. The area defined by a furlong times a chain became
an acre.
April (Eostremonath)
Anglo-Saxon,
Eostremonath,
Spring vegetables, we shall soweth.
Much
ale be drunk, this Eostre feast,
A
whole hogs head, brewed by the priest.
Goddess
of spring, with sacred hare,
Eostre
maiden, art young and fair.
Days
art longer, than damp dark nights,
Sacred
season, for thy spring rites.
Winter
banished, to cold Hellheim,
Ivy
quickens, its oaken climb.
Bullace
blossom, budding on shoot,
From
heat returns, forthcoming fruit.
Fertile
spirit, of furlong fields,
Rises
again, as winter yields.
With
oxen plough, no longer toil,
As
shoots spring forth, upon soft soil.
Fire
on hill top, beneath starry sky,
Walpurgis
night, powers art high.
Raise
the great wand, in night time toil,
In
wild witch wood, with maiden loyal.
Copyright
Andrew Rea Yule 2012 reworked
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