Samhain

Samhain considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four ‘greater Sabbats’. It is generally observed on October 31st in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility.

The Wiccan Samhain doesn’t attempt to reconstruct a historical Celtic festival, but draws inspiration from both extinct and surviving Halloween folk traditions.

 

Yule

In most Wiccan traditions, Yule is celebrated as the rebirth of the Great God, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by group or individual practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home, while others hold coven celebrations.

 

Imbolc

Wiccans celebrate Candlemas or Imbolc as one of four “fire festivals” of the Wheel of the Year. Among Dianic Wiccans, Imbolc is the traditional time for initiations.

Among Reclaiming-style Wiccans, Imbolc is considered a traditional time for rededication and pledges for the coming year.

 

Ostara

The vernal equinox, sometimes called Ostara, is celebrated in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Candlemas and followed by Beltane.

The name Ostara is from ôstarâ, the Old High German for “Easter”. It has been connected to the putative Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie.

In terms of Wiccan ditheism, this festival is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death. Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.

 

Beltane

Beltane is one of the four “fire festivals” or “greater sabbats”. Although the holiday may use features of the Gaelic Bealtaine, such as the bonfire, it bears more relation to the Germanic May Day festival, both in its significance (focusing on fertility) and its rituals (such as maypole dancing). Some Wiccans celebrate ‘High Beltaine’ by enacting a ritual union of the May Lord and Lady.

 

Litha

Midsummer is one of the four solar holidays, and is considered the turning point at which summer reaches its height and the sun shines longest. Among the Wiccan sabbats, Midsummer is preceded by Beltane, and followed by Lammas or Lughnasadh.

Some traditions call the festival “Litha”, a name occurring in Bede’s “Reckoning of Time” (De Temporum Ratione, 7th century), which preserves a list of the (then-obsolete) Anglo-Saxon names for the twelve months. Ærra Liða (‘first’ or ‘preceding’ Liða) roughly corresponds to June in our calendar, and Æfterra Liða (‘following’ Liða) to July. Bede writes that “Litha means ‘gentle’ or ‘navigable’, because in both these months the calm breezes are gentle and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea.”

 

Lammas

Lammas or Lughnasadh is the first of the three autumn harvest festivals, the other two being the Autumn equinox (or Mabon) and Samhain. Some Wiccans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the god in bread, and then symbolically sacrificing and eating it. These celebrations are not based on Celtic culture, despite common use of a Celtic name Lughnasadh. This name seems to have been a late adoption among Wiccans, since in early versions of Wiccan literature the festival is merely referred to as “August Eve”.

The name Lammas is taken from the Anglo-Saxon and Christian holiday which occurs at about the same time. As the name (from the Anglo – Saxon hlafmæsse “loaf-mass”, “loaves festival”) implies, it is an agrarian-based festival and feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolizes the first fruits of the harvest. Wiccan and other eclectic Neopagan rituals may incorporate elements from either festival.

 

Mabon

The holiday of Autumn Equinox, Harvest Home, Mabon, the Feast of the Ingathering, Meán Fómhair or Alban Elfed (in Neo-Druidic traditions), is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and God during the winter months. The name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology. In the northern hemisphere this equinox occurs anywhere from September 21 to 24. In the southern hemisphere, the autumn equinox occurs anywhere from september 19 to 22. Among the sabbats, it is the second of the three harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas/Lughnasadh and followed by Samhain.

 

Esbats

An esbat is a ritual observance of the full moon within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of Neopaganism. Some groups extend these celebrations to include the dark Moon, or even the first and last quarters. Traditionally, the eight festivals of the Wheel of the Year are times of celebration, while “magical work” is done at the esbats.

The term esbat in this sense is due to Margaret Murray. Murray (1921) claimed that “The Esbat differed from the Sabbath by being primarily for business. … very often the Esbat was for sheer enjoyment only”. Murray used 16th to 17th century French sources on supposed Witches’ Sabbaths in the context of the European witch trials to “reconstruct” a Witch Cult in Western Europe. In 16th century French, the term esbat (Modern French ébat) meant roughly “frolic, romp, disport”.

In The Witches’ Goddess, Janet and Stewart Farrar note that the Babylonians considered the new moon to be the time when the Goddess was menstruating, and it was bad luck to do work on that day.