The Sabbats

Here is some info on the Sabbats as celebrated in Wicca. Please note that the equinox and solstice dates are approximate, because they are not always on the same day of our current calendar :)

This is of course only a very short overview. If you have questions go ahead and ask.

Samhain is often celebrated with a dumb dinner, a meal for which is set one additional place, to honour and commemorate those who went before. This can be in honor of all your ancestors, or it can be to remember a specific one. If a loved one died in the months since last Samhain there is often a pass-over of some kind for this person. Many do scrying in circle on Samhain, in a cauldron, a mirror or whatever works best. We use a blackened cauldron, plus do some divination with tarot.

The traditional colors for Samhain are the same you see everywhere this time of year - orange and black. The Witch, so often featured for Halloween, is actually the personification of the Crone aspect of the Goddess, because she is the one whose part of the year this is. She is the one we honor now. But we also honor the Lord who gave his life in order to be reborn again on Yule. Other decoration consists of pretty much everything you know from Halloween - pumpkins, candles, cats, harvest symbols.
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The way we celebrate it: this year the whole family will go caroling, together with other Pagans. Afterwards, we will gather around the Yule tree, in the dark, and from here go around the house, lighting candles, chanting "The Sun is Reborn" or something to that effect. We'll sing some more, and then each of the kids is allowed to open one present. Present? Yes, after all - we're celebrating a birthday here :) Sounds familiar, doesn't it? One of the candles we light is a big pillar in the cauldron. This candle will be burning all night (safely tucked away in the shower, where the cats can't get to it), to help "coax the Sun back". Some people stay up all night to greet the returning sun the next morning. I try to get up early and greet Him then. When we had a fireplace or woodstove we would burn last year's Yule log and kindle a fire with that. The next morning is, as I said before, greeting the Sun, rejoicing in the birth of the Lord and yes, more presents .

Traditional colors and decorations: red, green, black and white. Holly and ivy, evergreens around the house, in wreaths as symbols for the Wheel of the Year, candles as symbols of the returning sun. The tree, adorned with ornaments appropriate to the season and its symbols, like snowmen, stars, suns, seasonal fruit. Nuts and other food that keeps over the winter. One thing we do every year is stringing popcorn, cranberries and vanilla pieces, and wind the resulting string in a spiral around our tree. We also keep one piece of last year's Yule tree (the stem of which was used as a Maypole for Beltane), drill three holes in it, put candles in the holes and decorate it. This is the centerpiece on our altar for the Yule season. This way we create a cycle ourselves.
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), but the days have grown much longer now, the Sun is gathering strength. Maybe the first snowbells have shown their blossoms. The sheep are starting to lamb, the first milk is available. Sap is starting to run, syrup is being gathered. This is the time when the young Goddess takes over from the Crone, when the Maiden gets ready for her wedding at Beltane. In honour of Bridghid, among others Goddess of poetry, there will be more Bardic circles held than usual. It is also traditionally a time for initiations and elevations Some renew their vows to the Old Ones on this day.

One of the fun things to do on Imbolg (cautiously of course), is having the youngest girl of the family dress up as the Maiden, in white, and make her a candlewreath to be worn on the head. There are safe ways to do that, though I have to admit to not being comfortable with that. We let Katharina light eight white candles on a wreath on the table instead. Another thing we do is making a corn dolly (I weave a sheet from corn sheaves, roll it up, and bind pieces with twine for legs, head and arms), dress it up in white (I use a shawl) and put her in a bride's bed, made out of whatever strikes your fancy. Traditional colour is white, for new beginnings. This is the season of the Maiden.
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OSTARA
March 20th/21st The beginning of spring, named after Ostara (or Eostre), a Germanic spring Goddess. A time of fertility. Flowers start to appear, grass is growing again, leaves are appearing. Animals are having their offspring. We celebrate the return of life, a return of warmth. The days are now in balance, and balance we seek in ourselves. The winter days are over, and we prepare for longer hours outside. Those planting their own garden, or working on a farm or plantation, are starting to get ready. Seed catalogues appear in almost every mailbox.

Symbols and colours: one of the oldest Ostara symbol was an egg (for fertility), dyed red (the power of life). The colours today are all pastel colours, plus white. Symbols are eggs, the hare, chicks, pussy willows and spring flowers.
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BELTANE
May 1st - Mayday! This is my favourite of the Sabbats. Beltane is full of life. Spring is changing to summer, everything is blooming, everything is renewed and fertile. The Lord and the Lady are to be wed that night, and the whole world celebrates with Them. This is the time when the cattle is brought out into the pasture. In olden times the cattle was first driven between two bonfires to be purified and to drive away any weakness or illness left over from a long winter in the barn. For some traditions this is the time when the old fire is extinguished and the new one lit. As a form of sympathetic magick, to show the crop how to do it so to speak, it was traditional that couples would make love in the fields.

What we do for Beltane: having a feast! Lots to eat and drink, games, merry-making (yes, that kind too, but after the kids are in bed ). We have a maypole in the backyard (made from the stem of last Yule's tree) adorned with a flower wreaths in red, white and blue. Streamers are attached to the pole (a male fertility symbol) which the kids will take up and, dancing, weave around the pole (to form a birth channel). White for new beginning, and red for the life force are the traditional colours for Beltane.

Beltane is also the second most powerful time of the year as far as contact with the Otherworld is concerned.
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LITHA
June 22/23 Midsummer The Oak and the Holly King are fighting once more, but this time the Holly King takes over for the next six months. Although the hottest days of the year are still ahead of us, the days are now getting shorter again, and nature prepares itself for the harvest season. The Lord and the Lady are at the height of their power.

This is also the time of the year during which you might be able to see fairies, or the Little People. Steve and I were honored two years ago by being allowed to watch them dance under the trees and shrubbery between our property and the neighbours'. Neither of us has seen them before or after. It was an awesome sight!

Traditional colors are everything reminding you of the Sun: yellows, gold, bright red and orange. My own altar has bright yellow candles on it during this time of the year, which will slowly be replaced by darker yellow, orange and finally reds, as the power of the Lord diminishes and the year draws to a close. Decorations are mostly flowers and branches, the latter preferably those that fell off a tree by themselves.
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LAMMAS
August 1/2 Also known as Lughnasadh, or Loafmass. The first harvest festival, a time of promise for future bounty. The Goddess is round with pregnancy at this point of the year. The Lord's strength is diminishing. He is preparing for his death. A time to ask for future harvest, but also to enjoy the heat of the summer. The first grains are harvested, like oats and barley. They are ground to make the first fresh flour of the year, and baked into new bread, which will be then eaten during the Lammas celebration. If you've planted a herb garden, this is when most of the herbs are ready to be brought inside, and hung up to be dried for later use. This is a good time to take stock of your medicinal and magickal cabinet, and refill what needs to be refilled. This is also a good time to make your own essential oils and incense, if you're into that :)

Traditional colors are still yellows and bronze. I myself start to mix the first darker yellows in. For decorations I have fruit on the altar, and other summer symbols around the house. Cornflowers are something I especially like for this time of year.
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MABON
September 21, Fall or Autumnal Equinox The second harvest festival. Almost everything has been brought in from the fields and gardens. There are mostly empty stalks left outside. The cornucopia is bursting full with fruit, vegetables, and grain. This is again a time of balance. During Mabon I usually start contemplating what my personal harvest for the last year was, what I achieved, where I went wrong, what I could do better when I plant next year's seeds (be that for "real" planting, or for planning of another kind, like family, job, etc.). I think about what I need to balance in my life, what I need to do less of, what more. The Lady is still pregnant, the Lord is dying. It is a time to be joyful and count one's blessings, but at the same time be a little melancholic, because yet another year is drawing to a close.

Traditional colors are dark yellows and orange, and I myself have an affinity to dark blues this time of year. Cornucopias, everything made out of corn, nuts, apples and other late fruit are used to decorate. One of the symbols I use every year on my altar is a pomegranate, the symbol of life, but also of death, personified in Persephone, who goes underground on Mabon each year.
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Copyright © 1996 Sylvia Lau-McDonald