The Druidcraft calendar is a perpetual ritual calendar for practising pagans.

The calendar is inspired by the Aubrey holes at Stonehenge, and the 19 year Metonic cycle of the sun and moon. Together these two systems allow this calendar to mark all the major pagan celebrations and astronomical events. Stonehenge is famously considered to be a calendar that can predict events like eclipses, where as the Coligny Calendar is more concerned with months and years, and the reconciliation of the cycles of the sun with the cycles of the moon. This project started life as an investigation into the calendar of the druids, and what system any potential druid calendar may have been based on.

While no one can be sure weather or not the druid calendar was based on the Metonic sequence, all the evidence would suggest that it was, simply because the calendar would have been observational in nature, tracking the movements of the sun and the moon.

The Druidcraft calendar is a peg and hole system known as a parapegmata and comprises of a set of 7 rings of holes, each with their own pegs. The calendar works by simply moving 3 pegs each day to keep track of where you are within the Metonic cycle/year and the location of the sun and the moon in the sky. The calendar is therefore capable of indicating the following;

Each of the 4 Celtic fire festivals, or cross quarter days. (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh)

Each of the 4 annual solar events (Summer and Winter solstices, Spring and Autumn equinoxes)

The current moon phase, including full and new moons.

Current position of the sun and moon in the (sidereal) zodiac

Solar and Lunar eclipses

Lunar standstills

Blue Moons

The current day, month and year of the Metonic cycle.

Moving the pegs of the calendar each day helps you to attune with the cycles of the seasons and the cycles of the moon, as it becomes a daily ritual of astronomical observation and a deepening of your understanding of these natural rhythms.

This web site contains detailed information about the system the calendar uses and how it was developed, as well as instructions on building your own calendar, and a digital online version that you can use to setup or check your own calendar.