The Wheel of the Year is the name used by witches to describe the cycles of the seasons. There are eight major holidays in the Witch’s Calendar, otherwise known as sabbats, which are based on solar events and mark the Turning of the Wheel. The dates shown in this article reflect the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere and in some traditions, celebrations commence at sundown on the previous evening. Sabbats are the main seasonal celebrations of Wiccan tradition. There are eight in total, of which four are Lesser Sabbats and four, Greater.

The Lesser Sabbats are firmly based on the key moments in the Sun’s cycle and comprise the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The solstices mark the longest and shortest days and are essentially celebrations of the God and the waxes and wanes of his strength through the year. Wiccans who use the concept of the Oak and Holly King see that at Midsummer, the Oak King is slain by the Holly King, who then rises triumphant, the opposite occurring at Midwinter. These two festivals are primarily Fire festivals, owing to the Sun being at the centre of rituals which are performed at these times of year. In Midsummer, the Goddess is represented by the balancing Element of Water and in Midwinter, by the Great Mother who gives birth to the God.

The solstices are the times of the year when the Sun reaches its most southerly or northerly point, either at the Tropic of Capricorn or the Tropic of Cancer. These extremes of movement create the longest and shortest days, but most importantly, create the seasons; one hemisphere of the Earth receives a bit more solar energy each day whilst the other receives a little less. Therefore, when it is Summer in the North, it is Winter and the South and vice versa. Witches are ever mindful of the changing tides of the year and that the fulcrum points should be celebrated.

Lesser Sabbats

Midsummer Solstice or Litha

The Midsummer Solstice is a truly magickal and ominous turning point in nature. To our ancestors, being much more tied to the land than we, this time of the year was vital. The trees were now fully green, having developed over the past two moons, flowers in bloom, herbs could be harvested and food was much more abundant and easier to obtain. It was warmer, sunnier and more carefree and light in general, hence June was a good time for weddings. June’s Full Moon was also considered the best time to harvest honey; hence lovers who spent time together after their first joining, did so in the period of the ‘Honeymoon’. However, in the midst of all the ecstasy about longer and lighter days, a worrying change was about to take place… the days would begin to get shorter, and our forefathers and mothers would have gradually noticed a significant shift, bringing a slow descent into darkness.

Perhaps the most famous Summer Solstice celebration is the one at Stonhenge, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, England. This construction is thought to predate the Druids by thousands of years, and nobody really knows exactly what it was created for but the Sun’s rays line up close to the Heel Stone and enter directly into the centre of the monument on that day, so it is fairly certain that it was created for Midsummer Solstice. Numbers of between fifteen and twenty thousand gather at this event, which is especially popular with Druids and Wiccans.

Midwinter Solstice or Yule

Midwinter Solstice marks the time of year when the day is at its shortest and the Sun, weak and low in the sky. This has been understood by many cultures to symbolise a time of rebirth, as the Sun, from this moment, can only rise and grow in strength. Wiccans draw on a variety of pagan festivities and practices from this time of year, which have survived throughout history. The first, and most ancient seems to be a belief in the interplay between the masculine Sun and the feminine Earth.

Particularly in England, France and Germany, the burning of a special Yule Log was a popular part of festivities when the Sun was at its lowest. Naturally, Winter Solstice was more domestic celebration than Midsummer‘s, probably because of the cold, winter months. A log, usually oak, would be burned for a little each day from Yule Eve until Twelfth Night and in Britain, large candles were also lit. In unison with that from the Yule Log, the light produced would symbolise Sunlight being brought into the depths of winter. Often, the log would be kept until the following year, for its magickal properties in the belief that it had the power to protect the house from fires or lightning, as well as cure cattle of sickness. It was also believed to negate evil witchcraft and sorcery and its ashes were thought to ensure the fertility of the land, echoing the ancient idea of the Sun as impregnator of the Earth.

Spring Equinox - Eostre or Ostara

Trees are beginning to bud, flowers beginning to bloom and the crops pushing their heads up through the earth. The Sun rises ever higher into the powerful Aries sign and the Goddess Earth starts to clothe herself in a variety of shades of green. Eostre, an Anglo Saxon Goddess who is strongly associated with fertility, hares and spring vegetation is used as the central figure in the Spring Equinox ceremonies of some Wiccans. Spring Equinox marks the mid-point of the Waxing Year, the nights and days are balanced once again; the time when Kore, (Persephone) was believed to have returned from the Underworld where she had ruled throughout the Winter. The spark of light, born at Winter Solstice has reached maturity, and from here onwards, the days progressively grow longer than the nights. Western culture proclaims this the first day of Spring.

Decorated eggs, being symbols of fertility are symbolic of Ostara and the custom of eating Hot Cross Buns also has pagan origins. The Saxons ate buns that were marked with a cross in honour of Eostre. The Easter Bunny is another symbol which has obvious links to fertility, rebirth, and the abundance of life which is evident in Spring.

Autumn Equinox - Mabon

As the Spring Equinox celebrations are all about life bursting forth, so the Autumn Festival is about life poised to go into repose. The days and nights are of equal length once again, straw is stowed away in the barn for the Winter, corn stubbles have been burnt, apples picked and grapes and blackberries being brought in. It is tme to give thanks for the year’s produce as the Sun enters the sign of Libra. From now, the Sun’s strength would decrease and die, to be reborn again at the Midwinter Solstice. Persephone, daughter of Demeter descends into the Underworld and the Horned God begins to lose his strength and virility. Now, preparation begins for the Winter months ahead. In a few short weeks, the Sun’s strength will diminish and the days become noticeably shorter.

The Greater Sabbats

Imbolc or Imbolg - February 1st or 2nd

Imbolc, also known under the Christian name of Candlemas, is one of the prettiest festivals of the year. The Goddess begins to poke her green shoots up from beneath the Earth and the Sun has a delicate, fresh light. Goddess and God, both in their infancy, bring many new things to the land. Imbolc, or Imbolg derives from a phrase meaning “In the Belly’ and was a time centred on the first signs of Spring and the lambing season. Originally one of the four great Celtic fire festivals, Christians named this day St. Brigid’s day, which was celebrated on February 1st. Corn dollies were made and lain in baskets containing a wooden club and fertility, purification and renewal were the traditions at this time. Brigid’s Cross was woven from rushes, or sometimes straw. The modern Imbolc festival has distinct Christian overtones, provided by the pretty celebration of Candlemas, when a multitude of candles derived in the Wiccan celebration.

Beltane or May Day - April 30th and May 1st

Traditionally, the end of April, beginning of May, was the time to drive cattle to their Summer pastures. The whole community united in working the land to ensure the fattening of the herd, together with a good harvest later in the year. A variety of popular customs were performed in the woods; ancient vestiges of tree worship, as popular belief was that the tree spirit would keep the villagers, their crops and animals safe from harm. Young people, particularly in the north of England would go into the woods blowing horns at midnight on May Eve and come back laden with branches and flowers which they hung over doorways and windows of their houses at dawn. Masculine and feminine are closely intertwined at this time of year, as it is recognised as being a season of mating. One old custom was to bring back a tree trunk and erect it in the hear of the village. This was a phallic symbol around which young, single men and women would dance, holding ribbons and weaving the ribbons around the tree trunk. The May Pole, as it is called, is still a familiar sight in the villages during May Day festivities. Beltane Bonfires were lit in honour of the Celtic God of Light, Bel, burning the nine sacred woods. As the fire flames lowered, the girls jumped across it to procure good husbands; pregnant women stepped through it to ensure an easy birth, and children were also carried across the smouldering ashes. When the fire died down, the embers were thrown amongst sprouting crops to protect them, whilst each household carried some back to kindle a new fire in their hearth. Beltane was a time of fertility and unbridled merrymaking, when young and old alike would spend the night making love in the Greenwood, returning to the village the next morning, bearing huge budding boughs of Hawthorn , otherwise known as the May Tree.

Lugnasadh - July 31st

The Anglo-Saxon form of Lughomass; mass in honour of the God Lugh, was loaf mass, with reference to the corn-harvest and the killing of the Corn-king, so Lugh, it appears, dies as a sacrificial vegetation deity, so that we may live. Some Wiccans bake a symbolic loaf of bread in the shape of a man and ‘sacrifice’ it by eating it during the Lughnasadh festivities. Another corn figure often sacrificed by Wiccans in their Lughnasadh celebrations is John Barleycorn, a personification of the spirit of the corn.

Besides the element of sacrifice, Lughnasadh often has a strong theme of mating. In early medieval times Lughnasadh marriages were undertaken in honour of Lugh and his wife; nuptials that lasted for just a year and a day which could be annulled in the place where they had begun.

The Celts did not celebrate the Sun at its highest point as their calendar was based on the Moon and the Lughnasadh festivities would take place at the Full Moon that fell midway between the solstice and the equinox, as to the Celts, the influence of the Moon on the crops was as important as the Sun.

Samhain - October 31st to November 1st

Ancient Celts’ Samhain festivities marked the Celtic New Year and were, by tradition, celebrated during the Full Moon period nearest the midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Midwinter Solstice. This time was considered a period of new beginnings as the Celts supposedly believed that the year was divided into a light half, commencing Beltane, and a dark half, and that the year began in this darkness. The last of the harvests were in, stored and the herds brought down from their summer pastures, closer to the settlements, many being slaughtered and salted as food for the Winter months.

Samhain hails the Wiccan Day of the Dead celebrations and Christian All Souls’ Day. Wiccans celebrate those who have passed to the other side and during this festival, it is common for witches to light a candle or a fire for those who have departed. They may display photos and personal artefacts of the deceased and even leave out a drink and favourite cake or biscuit for them to enjoy. Not only human spirits were thought to be roaming the land on Samhain night. Faeries, witches, hob-goblins, cats and dark horses were unleashed, to sweep across the countryside, creating mischief and merriment, and adding to the emotions of remembrance for the dead. With the veil between the two worlds so thin, the time was ideal for divination. The Celts used this time of year to take stock of the old and project forward to the new. Even today, it is undeniable that there is something in the air during these days; a feeling that the future is tangible.

Celtic families, or groups of families, would build a great bonfire, waited for it to go out, then each of the members would cast a marked white stone into the ashes, prayers would be said round the fire, and they all retired to bed. In the morning, should a stone be missing, it was supposed that the person to whom the stone had belonged would die.