Witches celebrate many holidays through out the year. The witches year begins and ends with Halloween as the cycle of life, death and rebirth of nature beings again. Each has it's own set of colors, incense and foods for the celebration. Here is a list of the Sabbats (the grand holidays) and the lesser Sabbats.
February 2nd: Candlemas (Imbolc)
May 1st: Beltane (May Day)
August 1st: Lammas (Lughnasadh)
October 31st: Samhain (Halloween)
Vernal Equinox (Spring Sabbat)
Summer Solstice (Midsummer Sabbat)
Autumn Equinox
Winter Solstice (Yule Sabbat)
Candlemas is a fire festive which celebrates the Goddess of Fertility and the Great Horned God. At one time it was celebrated as the Feast of Pan.
Beltane is the time for celebrating the union of the Goddess and God, and is considered a fertility festival. (Note that in ancient times, fertility didn't mean erotic activity, but the prospering of farms and animals.) Beltane marks the "death" or the winter season and the "birth" of the spring. It is also one of the few festivals that has remained true to it's original form of the centuries.
Lammas is the first festival of the harvest. In pre-Christian Pagan cultures (as opposed to Drudic cultures), Lammas was celebrated as a festival of bread and to honor the death of the Sacred King. On Lammas, homemade breads are made and dolls made of braided straw are palced around the altar and home.
Samhain is celebrated from October 31st to November 1st and is the most important sabbat of the year. Samhain celebrates the end of the Goddess-ruled summer and marks the arrival of the God-ruled winter. (Samhain meaning "Summer's End") It is also a time for honoring those that have passed before us. It is sometimes a custom for Pagan families to set an extra place at the table on Samhain dinner in honor of those that are no longer with us. It is also one of the best night of power throughout the year and is ideal for magick and divination.
These all fall to different times of year depending on when the solar or lunar events they rule take place. The Spring Equinox is the equlivalent to the Chrsitian Easter celebration. To this day Easter is still derermined by the lunar calander,placing Easter on the first Sunday after the Vernal Spring Equinox. Easter is one of the Christian holidays that has many Pagan symbols in it (eggs, the Easter Bunny which is actually the Moon Hare...). Summer Solstice markst he longest day of the year, and to witches symbolizes a day of great power with the God and sun. It is typically a time for harvesting plants and herbs for magickal use through out the fall and winter months. Autumn Equinox is the second festival of harvest. It is the time for celebrating the completion of the harvest cycle. Winter Solstice, or Yule, is the longest night of the year and is for honoring the darkness and the Great Horner God who rules over the winter months. Again, the Christian holiday Christmas takes many of it's traditions from the Pagans (yule logs, hanging mistletoe in doorways, the Christmas tree, even Santa Claus...Kris Kringle was at one time to Pagan God of Yule).
source of information - WICCA CANDLE MAGICK by Gerina Dunwich and THE PAGAN BOOK OF DAYS by Nigel Pennick
Return to Wicca 101
