On the night of February 1–2, the Celts celebrated Imbolc, which they also called the Festival of Brigid. In February, the days began to grow longer again, and Brigid, the Maiden of Light, appeared, replacing the dark goddess Morrigan, who had ruled over winter.

Imbolc, the Festival of Brigid

Ewes that were about to give birth to spring lambs were once again producing milk. The land was tilled with spades and plows to prepare it for spring planting. When Brigid rode her stag on Imbolc to shake the trees awake and awaken the seeds, the spirits of fertility and elemental beings rose from the earth.

Brigid, who according to mythology was born on a doorstep amid flames and pillars of light, was always surrounded by flames. She was regarded as the guardian of fire. On the night of Imbolc, Brigid guarded the sacred fire, which was otherwise tended by 19 priestesses. Her fiery arrow was the first ray of spring sunlight to warm the earth.

On Imbolc, the Celts wove Brigid crosses out of straw and decorated their homes with fresh birch branches or scattered salt as a purification ritual. A straw doll, which they called Brigid, was symbolically treated to a feast. In rural areas of Ireland, Imbolc is still celebrated today as St. Brigid’s Day, and straw dolls are carried through the villages to bless the fields. In Christianity, Imbolc became Candlemas.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. Starting at 6:00 p.m., we’ll welcome you with a special seasonal celebration menu and a complementary aperitif. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

In ancient times, celebrations took place from the equinox until the full moon. In March, the goddess welcomed her child of light— the sun—by eating magical foods. The lily of the valley is dedicated to the goddess Ostara. The first Easter eggs were painted red—the color of blood and life—and adorned with golden marks representing mystical symbols of fertility. Springs and wells are decorated with twigs, paper flowers, shavings of wood, and wish ribbons as a token of gratitude for the healing water.

The goddess of spring wishes to be welcomed with joy and enthusiasm. To this end, sun-shaped cookies are baked, flowers are picked, and green dishes made from herbs are prepared. By Ostara, spring has become visible everywhere in nature: the “day” is now growing longer month by month; flowers are sprouting, and the migratory birds have returned and are beginning to nest. That is why Ostara is also considered the Celtic “Bird Festival” of spring. Eggs and chicks are therefore a central part of this festival. They symbolize the Druids’ traditional connection to birds. The egg is regarded as a symbol of fertility and rebirth.

Eggs were painted with symbols representing wishes that were to come true in the coming year. Dyed eggs were also a tradition at that time. The “Easter Bunny,” commonly associated with “Easter” today, was also an ancient symbol of fertility due to its prolific nature.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. Starting at 6:00 p.m., we’ll welcome you with a special seasonal celebration menu and a complementary aperitif of the day. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

Festival of the Sun's Victory

This was, after all, one of the most important festivals of all, and perhaps its significance can be gleaned a bit from what follows. Just as Samhain marks the beginning of winter and the death of the King of the Year in the Celtic calendar, Beltane signifies the beginning of summer. And just as Samhain is a festival of death, the dead, and the ancestors, Beltane is a festival of life, fertility, union, procreation, and the triumph of the sun and summer over winter. For the Celts, May 1 marks the beginning of the summer half-year, which was characterized above all by joy, warmth, light, festivals, and celebrations. May 1 falls between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

Experience the magic of the cycle of the year with all your senses. We'll start with an aperitif at 6 p.m.

Afterward , we’ll treat you to a special seasonal celebration menu. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

The summer solstice is one of the four major solar festivals and is celebrated at the end of June. The Celts celebrated for 12 days. This time of year is also called Midsummer. In nature, everything was growing and thriving. The Earth Goddess was pregnant with ripening fruits, many of which were already ready to be harvested.

People could smell and taste nature in all its abundance. Midsummer was a festival of gratitude and joy. Women brewed beer, to which they added herbs that had aphrodisiac properties. A midsummer bonfire was lit as a celebration, and people danced around it all night long. They were naked, wearing only a belt made of verbena or mugwort to symbolize their connection to nature. They wore wreaths of flowers in their hair.

The Celts believed that at Midsummer (as well as during other festivals in the annual cycle), gates to other states of consciousness would open, and people could see gods and nature spirits dancing. In Celtic times, the state of consciousness during the dance around the fire was altered by herbs that induced a state of ecstasy. The next morning, dew was collected from the meadows, as it was said to possess healing powers.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. We’ll start with an aperitif at 6 p.m. Afterward , we’ll treat you to a special seasonal celebration menu. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

In early August, at the start of harvest season, the Celts celebrated the festival of light, Lugnasadh. It is pronounced “Luu-na-sah” and translates to “Wedding of the Light.” According to mythology, Lugh, the Celtic god of the sun and light, established the festival in memory of his foster mother, the fertility goddess Tailtiu, who had sacrificed her life for the Irish people.

At Lughnasadh, the first bread—baked from the first harvest of grain—was offered to Lugh and other gods to ensure continued bountiful harvests. In Celtic mythology, a goddess in the form of a reaper performs the sacrifice. The grain god is chased from ear to ear until he finally leaps into the last ear and prepares to die there. When the harvest is complete at the autumn equinox, the life of the grain god also comes to an end. Just as at Samhain, it is believed that at Lughnasadh, people can make contact with the inhabitants of the Otherworld and the Sid. The Celts began Lughnasadh with a feast, dancing, singing, and plenty of wine, as well as competitions and a straw fire.

On Lughnasadh, marriages were contracted that could be dissolved after one year. This was intended to help the spouses determine whether they were compatible. Since the Celts practiced separate property, neither party took any risk. The main sites of Celtic festivals were Teltown and Tara, both in County Meath, as well as Kildare in the county of the same name. Even today, Lughnasadh festivals are held in many parts of Ireland, during which corn dolls—said to symbolize the dying grain god—are sacrificed in a fire.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. Starting at 6:00 p.m., we’ll welcome you with a special seasonal celebration menu and a complementary aperitif of the day. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

Mabon is the harvest festival. During this seasonal celebration, we honor the grape harvest, as well as the harvest of fruits and nuts. From this point on, we enter the dark half of the year. For the next six months, the nights will be longer than the days. Energetically speaking, it is a time of balance and harmony!

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. Starting at 6:00 p.m., we’ll welcome you with a special seasonal celebration menu and a complementary aperitif of the day. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

Time to let go of the old and begin something new. The Celtic year begins on the night of November 1 with the festival of Samhain. The Celts believed that on this night they had access to the inhabitants of the Otherworld and the parallel world of Sid (the Hill of the Elves and the gateway to the underworld). On this day, people feared spirits from the Otherworld and avoided leaving their homes. For this reason, they dressed in frightening costumes—also to avoid being recognized by the spirits of their deceased ancestors. For the Celts , the Samhain festival symbolized the final harvest. They bid farewell to summer with a fire and welcomed the dark half of the year. To do so, the village community gathered around a large fire into which they threw cattle bones. The bone fire was blessed by a druid. The families of the village then used embers from this bone fire to light fires in their homes as a ritual act to strengthen the village community.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. We’ll start with an aperitif at 6 p.m. Afterward , we’ll treat you to a special seasonal celebration menu. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.

The winter solstice is undoubtedly the oldest and most important festival of the annual cycle. All cultures, right up to the present day, have agreed that on the day that brings the deepest darkness, a seed of light is reborn in the form of a child—an event worthy of a grand communal celebration.

On the winter solstice, we can perform various rituals; we celebrate the return of light and fertility, but we also honor our ancestors. This festival gave our ancestors strength, courage, and hope that they would make it through the dark days in good health and that nature would soon awaken to new life. Traditionally, on this night (in some places, the first of the “Raunächte,” known as “Thomasnacht”), people would already be performing cleansing smoke rituals. We should take a moment to pause, bring the old year to a close, clarify our heart’s desires, and let go of limiting patterns so that we can enter the new year feeling liberated.

Experience the magic of the seasonal cycle with all your senses. Starting at 6:00 p.m., we’ll welcome you with a special seasonal celebration menu and a complementary aperitif. You can also look forward to a themed sauna infusion that brings your body and soul into harmony.