When is Yule (Jól) 2027?

In Ártala's calendar model Yule (Midwinter) falls on the full moon of the Late Yule Moon: 22 January 2027, kept for three nights from 21 January 2027 to 23 January 2027. The Late Yule Moon begins with the first crescent after the winter solstice. Celebrating Yule at the solstice is a modern practice, not this reconstruction.

When are the Winter Nights 2026?

The Winter Nights fall on the full moon of the Winter Moon, in 2026 on 26 October 2026. Bede calls this month Winterfilleth, "winter full moon". The feast lasts three nights and opens the winter half of the year.

When are the Twelve Nights 2026/27?

Ártala shows the twelve nights (Rauhnächte) from 25 December 2026 to 5 January 2027. They follow Mothers' Night on the night of 24 to 25 December and, unlike the full-moon feasts, do not depend on the Moon.

Why do the dates change every year?

The feasts are tied to the full moon of a particular lunar month, not to a fixed date. Twelve lunar months are about eleven days shorter than a solar year, so the full moons drift through the Gregorian calendar until a leap month brings them back. Only Mothers' Night is tied to the winter solstice.

When is the spring feast (Easter) 2027?

On the full moon of the Easter Moon, in 2027 on 21 April 2027. In the two-season year it marks the beginning of summer (sumarmál). It is not the Christian Easter date, which follows the church's Easter reckoning.

What do attested, partly attested and speculative mean?

The source status shows how well a feast is documented. Attested means several independent sources mention it. Partly attested means single or late sources, with part of the picture being interpretation. Speculative means the feast is only inferred, for example from a month name. The labels are the same as in the app's Blót lexicon.

Heathen Holidays 2026/2027: Germanic Festival Dates

The next festivals

Winter Nights' Blót: full moon on 26 October 2026 · more about this feast
Slaughter Blót: full moon on 24 November 2026
Mothers' Night / Modranecht: night of 24 to 25 December 2026
Twelve Nights (Rauhnächte): 25 December 2026 to 5 January 2027 · more about this feast

The dates apply to Central Europe (reference point 50° N, 10° E, Europe/Berlin time zone). They follow Ártala's reconstructed calendar model after Andreas Zautner. A full moon falls on the same calendar day across Central Europe; in other time zones it can fall on the day before or after. The app calculates the dates for your own location.

Germanic festivals 2026

Festival	Date	Rule	Sources
Midwinter / Old Jól	Sun 1 Feb3 nights: Sat 31 Jan – Mon 2 Feb	Midwinter feast - full moon of the Später Julmond	attested
Old Fasnacht	Tue 3 Mar3 nights: Mon 2 Mar – Wed 4 Mar	Full moon of the Sprokelmond - purification feast	partly attested
Disting	Thu 2 Apr3 nights: Wed 1 Apr – Fri 3 Apr	Full moon of the Erdmond - feast of the awakening earth	partly attested
Easter	Fri 1 May3 nights: Thu 30 Apr – Sat 2 May	Full moon of the Ostermond - spring blót and Sumarmál	attested
Old Midsummer Blót	Wed 29 Jul3 nights: Tue 28 Jul – Thu 30 Jul	Full moon of the Später Lithemond - midsummer feast	partly attested
Winter Nights' Blót	Mon 26 Oct3 nights: Sun 25 Oct – Tue 27 Oct	Full moon of the Wintermond - beginning of the winter half-year	attested
Slaughter Blót	Tue 24 Nov3 nights: Mon 23 Nov – Wed 25 Nov	Full moon of the Blotmond - slaughter feast	speculative
Mothers' Night / Modranecht	night of 24/25 Dec	Holy Night of the Mothers at the observable winter solstice	attested
Twelve Nights	Fri 25 Dec – Tue 5 Jan 2027	Twelve nights after Mothers' Night	attested

Germanic festivals 2027

Festival	Date	Rule	Sources
Midwinter / Old Jól	Fri 22 Jan3 nights: Thu 21 Jan – Sat 23 Jan	Midwinter feast - full moon of the Später Julmond	attested
Old Fasnacht	Sun 21 Feb3 nights: Sat 20 Feb – Mon 22 Feb	Full moon of the Sprokelmond - purification feast	partly attested
Disting	Mon 22 Mar3 nights: Sun 21 Mar – Tue 23 Mar	Full moon of the Erdmond - feast of the awakening earth	partly attested
Easter	Wed 21 Apr3 nights: Tue 20 Apr – Thu 22 Apr	Full moon of the Ostermond - spring blót and Sumarmál	attested
Old Midsummer Blót	Sun 18 Jul3 nights: Sat 17 Jul – Mon 19 Jul	Full moon of the Später Lithemond - midsummer feast	partly attested
Winter Nights' Blót	Fri 15 Oct3 nights: Thu 14 Oct – Sat 16 Oct	Full moon of the Wintermond - beginning of the winter half-year	attested
Slaughter Blót	Sun 14 Nov3 nights: Sat 13 Nov – Mon 15 Nov	Full moon of the Blotmond - slaughter feast	speculative
Mothers' Night / Modranecht	night of 24/25 Dec	Holy Night of the Mothers at the observable winter solstice	attested
Twelve Nights	Sat 25 Dec – Wed 5 Jan 2028	Twelve nights after Mothers' Night	attested

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In the lunar year 2028 the calendar inserts a thirteenth month, the Third Lithe Moon. The feasts after this leap month therefore fall about one month later than they would without it. Without leap months they would move about eleven days earlier every year and drift through all the seasons.

How the dates are calculated

A lunar month begins with the first visible crescent after the new moon. The feasts fall on the full moon of a particular month: Yule on the full moon of the Late Yule Moon, Disting on the full moon of the Earth Moon, the spring feast on the full moon of the Easter Moon, the Winter Nights on the full moon of the Winter Moon. Which month is which is decided by the winter solstice: the Late Yule Moon begins with the first crescent after the observable solstice. This assignment of feasts to lunar months follows Andreas Zautner's reconstruction (Der gebundene Mondkalender der Germanen, ch. 10), which for Yule builds on Andreas Nordberg. How the feast days sit around the full moon is Ártala's own rule: the full-moon day is the middle of the feast, and the day before and the day after belong to it. The date in the table is the calendar day of the astronomical full moon. Other calendars and printed tables can differ by one or two days, depending on whether they use the astronomical full moon or a counted day of the month.

Two dates do not depend on the Moon. Bede, writing around 725, names Mothers' Night (modranecht) for the night before 25 December; Ártala fixes it on the night of 24 to 25 December. It opens the Twelve Nights. In the eight-year year, the last year of the eight-year leap cycle, Yule lasts nine nights instead of three. How month beginnings, the leap month and the eight-year cycle fit together is explained in the article on the Germanic lunar calendar and in the piece on the octaeteris. All new and full moons are listed in the lunar calendar 2026/2027.

What is attested and what is inferred

The source status column shows how well a feast is documented. It separates the source evidence from interpretation:

Attested: Yule, the spring feast, the Winter Nights, Mothers' Night and the Twelve Nights. Bede, Snorri and Adam of Bremen report on Yule; Bede names the modranecht and the month Winterfilleth.
Partly attested: Disting, Old Fasnacht and the Midsummer Blót. Disting is mainly a regional Swedish feast known from later sources. The word miðsumarsblót occurs only once, in Snorri.
Speculative: the Slaughter Blót. It is inferred from Bede's month name Blōtmōnaþ, "month of sacrifice"; no great feast of this name is recorded.

The full-moon dates themselves are astronomically precise. Ártala does not claim that every Germanic community dated its feasts exactly like this: the evidence is regional and incomplete, and the calendar model is a reconstruction.

Why other calendars give other dates

Many groups today celebrate on fixed solar dates: Yule at the winter solstice on 21 or 22 December, Midsummer at the summer solstice. The widespread Wheel of the Year with eight festivals is a twentieth-century compilation. Both are living practice, but neither is a reconstruction of the Germanic lunar calendar. Ártala follows the Moon and uses the solar dates where the calculation needs them, for instance at the winter solstice.

Germanic Festival Dates 2026 and 2027: Heathen Holidays in the Lunar Calendar