Samhain
Samhain is celebrated on October 31st. Other names for this Sabbat include Halloween, Shadowfest (Strega), Martinmas or Old Hallowmas (Scottish/Celtic). This is also called the Witches' New Year, even though the seasons of the year are thought of as the Wheel of the Year, this is typically thought of as the begginning of the year. This is the night where the veil which separates the land of the living from the land of the dead is at its thinnnest, and deceased ancestors and other spirits are easiest to contact. Rituals to honor the dead are performed on this night, and divination is at its high point. Scrying into fire, glass, or a dark bowl is a popular method of contacting the dead on this night, and guided meditation for the purpose of past-life regression is successful on this night as well. Spirits will help you in divination, and you may also wish to contact the recently departed to strengthen your karmic ties with them if you wish to help ensure that you will be together again. It is an Irish-Wiccan (or Wittan) custom to place black candles in the windows for protection against evil spirits and to leave plates of food out for the spirits who will come and visit you on this night. Some people even set a special plate at their dinner table for their loved ones who have passed on before. The Crone is called upon during this night, the dying God is mourned, and we reaffirm our beliefs in the oneness of all spirits and in the knowledge that our own physical deaths are not a finality.
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Yule
Yule (which comes from a Nordic word meaning "wheel") is the Winter Solstice, also known as Yuletide (Teutonic) and usually occurs on December 21st. This is the shortest day of the year and, obviously, the longest night. The waxing sun finally overcomes the waning sun and from this day on, the days will once again grow longer as we head toward spring and the rebirth of fertility once again. The God represents the sun which "returns" after this night to bring warmth and fertility to the land. Yule trees are cut and decorated with images of what we wish to receive during the next year, such as love charms to draw love, nuts for fertility, fruits for a successful harvest, or coins to ensure wealth and prosperity. A Yule log is burned and a portion of it saved to be used for protection of the home during the next year and in the lighting of the next year's Yule log. Some Wiccans drill three holes in the Yule log and fill them with either three white candles, or one white, one red, and one black candle to symbolize the Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother, and Crone). The Yule logs are then decorated with holly and evergreens to symbolize the intertwining of the God and the Goddess who have been reunited on this day. Bayberry candles are burned to ensure wealth and happiness in the coming year. The Holly King (representing the death aspect of the God) is overcome by the Oak King (representing the re-birth of the God) and the Goddess gives birth to her Son, sometimes known as the "Divine Child".
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Imbolc
Imbolc or Imbolg (Celtic), Candlemas, Lupercus (Strega), Candelaria (Mexican Craft) is celebrated on February 2nd, and marks the banishing of the Winter Season and the welcoming of Spring. It is celebrated as a fertility festival and celebrates the things which are to come. In Ireland, Imbolc started out as a special day to honor the Great Mother Goddess Brigid. Corn is used is many of the rituals which are celebrated and grain dollies are made from stalks of wheat, corn or barley which has been kept from the last harvest. It is a Festival of Lights, and candles are lit in profusion as a form of sympathetic magick to draw warmth from the sun and to represent the increasing warmth. In America, Groundhog's Day is celebrated on February 2nd. Groundhog's Day is basically a weather divination ritual. Depending on whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow, we learn whether we will have an early Spring or whether Winter will last six more weeks until the Spring Equinox. On this night, it is also said that the spirits of the dead walk among the living. In Ireland, these spirits are said to be seen at a crossroads.
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Ostara
Ostara, or the Spring (Vernal) Equinox occurs in mid-march (usually between March 20 - 22nd) when the night and day are of equal length. It is a celebration of balance and a festival of fertility. This second Sabbat is the trinity of spring celebrations is also a time of blessing seeds for future planting. In Wales, Ostara was known as Lady Day and signified the official return of the Goddess from her long winter hibernation. Many of the myths associated with Ostara concern trips by dieties into the mysterious underworld, and their struggle and eventual return to the land of the living. Ostara comes from a Latin name for the Spring Goddess Eostre, for whom Easter was named. In fact, the story of the Easter Bunny which delights children so much in America comes from the legend of a humble little rabbit's dealings with the Goddess Eostre. As the legend goes, a lowly little rabbit wanted so much to please his Goddess that he laid sacred eggs in her honor and decorated them in beautiful rainbow colors. When the rabbit presented Eostre with his gift, she was so pleased that she desired for all humans to share in her joy and asked the little rabbit to go throughout the world distributing the little gifts. During Ostara, eggs are decorated and used as altar decorations to honor the Goddess and the God, as well as carried as magickal talismans for fertility. As sacred objects of life and fertility, eggs are also given as cherished gifts. The Great Rite, symbolic of the sexual union between Goddess and God and of the physical and spiritual union between all men and women, began to be enacted on the day of Ostara. The positive effects of this rite, a form of sympathetic magick, helped to bring fertility to the people, the land, and their animals.
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Beltane
Beltane, or Bealtaine (Celtic), Mayday, Walburgal (Teutonic), Rudemas (Mexican Craft), Festival of Tana (Strega) occurs on May 1st, falling opposite Samhain in the wheel of the year. Beltane marks the start of summer, and is a time for feasting, merry-making, celebration, and joy. It is a time to look outward and forward to the future, and to prepare for the warm summer months ahead. It is also a time for love and union, representing the Divine Union of the Goddess and the God. The rituals may be quite erotic in nature, symbolizing the union of diety and of the newly impregnated Goddess. It is another fertility Sabbat, and the Great Rite may also be a part of the ritual. Dancing around the Maypole may be a part of the festivities. The original Maypole was a pine tree which had been previously decorated for Yule. It was then stripped of all but its uppermost branches, creating a phallic symbol. It was strung with white ribbons (symbolizing the Goddess) and red ribbons (symbolizing the God). Beltane is thought by Wiccans to be derived from a word meaning "balefire". It is traditional to take home a smoldering piece of the Beltane bonfire to bring blessings to your home during the coming summer months. It is also believed that the smoke from a Beltane bonfire is the best to use for ritual purification of tools, jewelry, etc.
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Summer Solstice
Midsummer or Lithia, Summer Solstice, Midsummer Night's Celebration occurs around June 22nd, and is the longest day of the year. Litha represents the Sun King in all his glory and power. It is a celebration of passion and of ensuring the success of the crop. The Goddess is heavy with pregnancy and so is the earth. Again, this ritual is full of the symbols of fertility. It also celebrates the Mother and Father aspects of the Goddess and God, although this particular Sabbat leans more heavily on the God aspect of diety, rather on the Goddess. The Oak King and Holly King are at it again, only this time the Oak King is slain and the Holly King now reigns, gaining in power and strength until Yule. Animal blessings are popular at Litha Celebrations, especially those designed for protection of familiars. Because this is a Sabbat which glorifies the God, it is a good time to make protective amulets. Ashes from a Midsummer Night's balefire were often scattered over fields for fertility. Midsummer Night is when the Druids gathered their sacred and magickal plants, especially mistletoe, and dried and stored them for winter.
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Lughnassadh
Lughnassadh, or Lammas, Cornucopia (Strega) ,Thingtide (Teutonic) occurs on August 2nd and is the first of three Wiccan harvest celebrations. It represents the beginning of the harvest cycle. In Western paganism, it is a grain festival which is sometimes called the Sabbat of the First Fruits. Lammas or Lughnassadh honors the Celtic God Lugh and may also have some association with the Roman Moon Goddess, Luna. Lugh was a God of harvest, fire, light and sun. He was King of the Tuatha De Danaan and the consort of Dana, the first Great Mother Goddess of Ireland. Dana, as Lugh's Queen and Mother Goddess, is also honored on this Sabbat. Lugh's sacrificial death and rebirth as a sheaf of grain at Lughnasadh is often re-enacted on Lammas, symbolizing that even a God must eventually bow down to his Goddess through whose benevolence he is reborn. Other rituals on this Sabbat contain enactments of growth, birth, honor, and thanks to the Goddess from whose womb they grew, and thanks to Lugh in his aspect as Sun God for blessing and impregnating the womb with heat and light.
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Autumal Equinox
Mabon, or Autumn Equinox or Winter Finding (Teutonic) is the second Wiccan harvest festival and occurs at or around September 21st. It is associated with the taking of corn and the completion of the harvest. Druids honored the willow tree, a tree associated with the Goddess and with death, and cut their wands from its branches just before Mabon. After this night of balance, darkness will once again overcome the light. This is considered, by many Wiccan Traditions, the official turning point to the dark of the year. This Sabbat was named for Mabon, the Welsh God who symbolized the male fertilizing principle. Rituals which enact the elderly aspects of both the Goddess and the God are performed at this Sabbat. The God is preparing for his death at Samhain and the Goddess is entering into her aspect of The Crone, though deep inside her Maiden aspect the impregnated seed of the God lives on to be born again at Yule. And so the Wheel of the year eternally turns...
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