The pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon calendar had, like our modern calendar, twelve months.

The year began on our Christmas Eve. The fourth month in the year was Eostremonath, and the fifth month was called Thrimilci.

The calendar was divided into only two seasons, summer and winter, each containing six months.

The first summer month was Eostremonath, which got its name from the goddess celebrated during the month, Eostre, the goddess after whom Easter is named in English.

The fifth month, our May, was called Thrimilci, which means three milkings. This was owing to the fact that for the first time in the year, cows could be milked three times.

Most of what we know about Anglo-Saxon calendars and celebration was recorded by the Venerable Bede in the eighth century.

In many Saxon cultures, and it is believed in Anglo-Saxon communities in what is now England, the festival of Walpurgis or Thrimilci was celebrated between the 22nd April and the 1st May.

The festival celebrated started on April 22nd, and days between April 22nd and April 30th revered the wood tree.

On the ninth night, Walpurgisnacht, the God Odin held the runes, grasped them, and died for an instant and all light ended.

At the stroke of midnight, light returned, fires were lit, and the God regained life. On the 30th April, the dead rule the earth. It is similar to the festival of All Hallows Eve or Halloween, in modern Christian culture.

The name came from Saint Walpurga, born in about 700 in Devon in England.

In the same way that early Christianity adopted the festivals of Yule and Easter, it appears since Walpurga’s day was set to combine with the old north, Viking and Saxon feast.

May 1st was then the festival of Thrimilci, a day of festivity, fertility and the forthcoming summer.



In pagan Anglo-Saxon culture, May Day’s Eve marked the death and rebirth of Odin. Trees were an important part of the Anglo-Saxon celebration.

This was because during the nine days before Odin’s discovery of the runes, he was strongly associated with a tree, the world tree Yggdrasil. We do not know that much about how the Anglo-Saxons celebrated the 1st of May, although it does seem to have involved trees, greenery, and the celebration of forthcoming summer.



