The Irish Calendar: Months, Seasons and the Festivals Behind Them
The Irish names for the months and seasons carry the old Celtic year inside them — where spring begins in February, and four ancient festivals still mark the turning of the year.
Ask an Irish schoolchild when spring begins and they won't say March — they'll say the first of February. That isn't a mistake. The Irish calendar keeps time by an older, Celtic reckoning of the year, and its names for the months and seasons still carry that history inside them. Learn them, and you learn a little of how Ireland has always understood the turning year.
The twelve months — na míonna
The word for month is mí; the months are na míonna. Here they are, with a rough guide to pronunciation:
| Irish | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Eanáir | January | AN-ir |
| Feabhra | February | FYOW-ra |
| Márta | March | MAWR-ta |
| Aibreán | April | AB-rawn |
| Bealtaine | May | BYAL-tin-eh |
| Meitheamh | June | MEH-hiv |
| Iúil | July | OO-il |
| Lúnasa | August | LOO-na-sa |
| Meán Fómhair | September | MAWN FOH-wir |
| Deireadh Fómhair | October | DER-a FOH-wir |
| Samhain | November | SOW-in |
| Nollaig | December | NUL-ig |
A few of these reward a closer look. Meán Fómhair literally means "middle of harvest" and Deireadh Fómhair means "end of harvest" — September and October named not by number but by where they fall in the farming year. Nollaig is both December and Christmas, borrowed long ago from the Latin natalicia. And three of the months — Bealtaine, Lúnasa and Samhain — are named after festivals, which is where the story really begins.
The four seasons — na séasúir
Season is séasúr; the seasons are na séasúir:
- Earrach (AR-akh) — Spring
- Samhradh (SOW-ra) — Summer
- Fómhar (FOH-war) — Autumn
- Geimhreadh (GEV-ra) — Winter
Here's the surprise for anyone used to the modern calendar: in the Irish tradition each season begins about six weeks earlier than you might expect.
- Earrach (Spring) — February, March, April
- Samhradh (Summer) — May, June, July
- Fómhar (Autumn) — August, September, October
- Geimhreadh (Winter) — November, December, January
So spring opens on 1 February, summer on 1 May, autumn on 1 August and winter on 1 November. Each of those four dates is an ancient festival — and the whole year is built around them.
The four festivals — na féilte
The old Celtic year turned on four "cross-quarter" days, each opening a season:
- Imbolc — 1 February. The first stirrings of spring and the feast of Brigid (Lá Fhéile Bríde), later Saint Brigid. Lambs, the first milk, and the light coming back to the land.
- Bealtaine — 1 May. The start of summer. Bonfires were lit and cattle driven between them for luck before heading out to the summer pastures. The month of May still carries the festival's name.
- Lúnasa — 1 August. The start of the harvest, named for the god Lugh. A season of fairs, games and gathering in the first of the crops — and, again, the name of the month.
- Samhain — 1 November. The start of winter and the turning of the whole year, when the boundary with the Otherworld was said to grow thin. It survives today as Halloween — and as the Irish word for November.
Notice what has happened here: three of these festival names — Bealtaine, Lúnasa and Samhain — simply became the months they open. The calendar didn't just record the festivals; it was shaped by them.
Putting it to use
A few handy patterns for everyday Irish:
- "in January" → i mí Eanáir (in the month of January), or simply in Eanáir.
- "my birthday is in May" → tá mo bhreithlá i mí na Bealtaine.
- "in the spring" → san earrach; "in winter" → sa gheimhreadh.
Learn the months and the seasons and you've done more than memorise a list — you've picked up the shape of the Irish year, festivals and all. Not bad for twelve words and four.
Want to hear these spoken? The months and seasons are in the Love Irish vocabulary trainer with native audio — a perfect small set to practise this week.