Sacred Sabbats
The Wheel of the Year shows us the 8 Sabbats that have been celebrated since ancient cultures including the Nordics, Celtics, Greeks, and Egyptians. Most Wiccan and Pagans celebrate these through out the year. Christianity itself has incorporated many of it’s “Traditional” holidays from similar Non-Christian celebrations on the wheel.
The Sabbats just like any holiday give us a reminder and time to pause – to be grateful and thankful for whatever the season calls for. To celebrate the great cycle of life and re-focus our intentions.
4 of the Sabbats are considered “Main” and are Agricultural in nature.
These include Samhain, Beltane, Lammas and Imbolic.
They represent the changing of the seasons. Considered “Cross-Quarter Days” or “Fire Festivals”, sometimes called “Moon Sabbats”
4 are “Minor” and Solar in nature.
These include Yule, Ostara, Lithia and Mabon.
These fall on Solstice’s or Equinoxes. Considered “Quarter Days” and Sun Sabbats
Solstice = Day (Summer) or Night (Winter) is at it’s longest.
Equinox = Equal amounts of day and night.
Below you will find each of the Sabbats with notes on each one.
October 31st. Also celebrated as “Halloween”. Samhain means “Summers End” and marks the beginning of the winter.
AKA: All Hallows Eve, Blood feast, Celtic New Year, Day of the Dead, Last Harvest, Winter’s Eve
For our ancestors Samhain marked the beginning of a New Year. The veil between worlds is at it’s thinnest.
It’s a perfect time for letting go of the old and embracing the new, celebrating the cycle of life and death.
Yule begins with the longest night and shortest day of the year when the Sun ceases its decline and for three days. After this point the days start to become longer.
AKA: The Day of Children, Midwinter, Mother’s Night, Saturnalia, and Christmas.
It represents the rebirth of the Sun God. A good time to focus on rebirth and renewal.
The name Imbolc is derived from the Gaelic word “Oimelc,” which means “ewes milk.”
AKA: Groundhog Day, Candlemas, Blessing of the Plow, Disting, Feast of the Virgin, Festival of Milk.
Celebration to mark the return of the sun and end of winter. The Sun God grows in strength.
Marks the start of Sping and represents fertility of the land.
AKA: Alban Eilir, Easter, Lady Day, and Waxing Equinox
Celebrates the beginning cycle of rebirth
The first celebration of summer and the start of the death of winter. It is a season of fertility and starts on May 1st. focuses on union, harmony, fertility, and sowing what you reaped.
AKA: May Day, Roodmas, and Walpurgis
Our ancestors would begin celebrating the evening before to welcome the abundance of the fertile earth. The women would braid their hair and circle the Maypole and jump the Beltane fire for luck.
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year with the shortest night. Summer is in full swing.
AKA: Litha, Vestalia, and Whitsuntide
The focal point is celebrating the power of the Sun God. We give thanks to His return and for making the Earth come alive again.
Marks the middle of summer and beginning of harvest. Lammas is a time of transformation, of rebirth and new beginnings.
AKA: Ceresalia, First Harvest, Lad Day, and Lughnasadh
During Lammas, we honor our ancestors and the hard work they had to do in order to survive. This is a good time to give thanks for the abundance and to be grateful for Nature’s bounty.
Mabon is the mid-harvest festival. This is the time to take a few moments to honor the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. This Sabbat’s focal point is thanksgiving and balance and harmony.
AKA: Alban Elfer, Harvest, Second, Harvest, and Wine Harvest
It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. This is a time of balance, so you should stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of your harvests, whether they be from improving yourself, working at your jobs, raising your families.
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