Wednesbury Shire celebrates three High Holy tides and numerous lesser ones. We know there were three High Holy Tides from the Heimskringla. Snorri states:
þâ
skyldi blôta î môti vetri til ârs, enn at
miðjum vetri blôta til grôðrar, it þriðja
at sumri, þat var sigrblôt
"On winter day there should be
blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good crop;
and the third sacrifice should be on summer day, for victory in battle."
(Ynglinga Saga Chapter 8)
This
is further confirmed by the meeting dates of the Anglo-Saxon witans
which met most often on St. Martin’s Day (November 10th),
Christmas, and Easter or Whitsunday (Liberman, The National Assembly in the Anglo-Saxon Period). The Anglo-Saxon kings further wore their crowns on these dates (Chaney, Cult of Anglo-Saxon Kingship,
p. 65). In modern parlence, these dates are called Winterfylleth or
Winter Nights, Yule, and Eostre. We know from Bede there may have been
lesser holy tides. Bede mentions Solmonað, roughly our
February as a time when the Anglo-Saxons offered cakes to their Gods.
He also mentions Hreðmonað, when the
Goddess Hreðe was honored. He does not name Liða, but
as it fall on Midsummer opposite Yule, there must have been some
celebration then. Bede then mentions Háligmonaþ,
roughly our September which means in modern English "holy month."
FInally, he mentions Blótmonað, roughly our November,
which means "sacrifice month," and may have been when the excess cattle
were slaughtered for the winter. Added to these are modern celebrations
such as Harvest and Penda Day (the day the last great Anglo-Saxon
Heathen king died in battle).