Merry Meet and Brightest Blessings
The Sabbats are the
Wicca main holidays.. you will notice that they mostly coincide with normal
"Christian" holidays.... please remember that wicca/pagan or what
ever you wish to call it is much much older than Christianity is. Most of these
holidays are celebrated under christian names in order to make them more
appealing to the rest of the world... all we do as wicca is honor those that
have gone before and our Gods and Goddess's by honoring their major holidays.
These holidays coincide with the major cycles of the year.
The Sabbats
By
celebrating the natural cycle of the year through ritual, we can attune
ourselves to nature and the Divine
that
is inherent in all things. According to Dr. Margaret Murray's "The
Witch-Cult in Western Europe", the
word
Sabbat probably originates from s'esbattre, meaning 'to frolic'.
Samhain: Shadowfest (Strega), Martinmas (Celtic/Scottish)
October 31 Samhain,
Popularly known as Halloween, is the Witches' New Year.
Click here for more on Samhain
It is said to be the time
when the veil between the worlds is very thin, when souls that are leaving this
physical plane can pass out
and souls that are reincarnating can pass in.
Darkness increases and the
Goddess reigns as theCrone, part of the three-in-one that also
includes the Maiden and Mother.
The God, the Dark Lord,
passes into the underworld to become the seed of his own rebirth (which will
occur again at Yule). Many
Pagans prepare a Feast for the Dead on Samhain night, where they leave
offeringsof food and drink for the spirits. Divination is heightened this
night.
Jack-o-lanterns, gourds,
cider, fall foliage can be usedas altar decorations.
Yule: the Winter Solstice, Yuletide (Teutonic), Alban Arthan
(Caledonii)
Around Dec. 21
Yule
coincides closely with the Christian Christmas celebration. That's because the
early Church sought to win the allegiance of the populace by placing its festivals
at or around the time of existing Pagan festivals.
The Roman celebration of the
birth of the sun God Mithras, for example, was also observed on Dec. 25.
This Sabbat represents the
rebirth of light. Here, on the longest night of the year, the Goddess gives
birth to the Sun Child and hope for new light is reborn. Yule is a time of
awakening to new goals and leaving
old regrets behind.
The Christian tradition of a
Christmas tree has its origins in the Pagan Yule celebration. Pagan families
would bring a live tree into
the home so the wood spirits would have a place to keep warm during the
cold winter months. Bells
were hung in the limbs so you could tell when a spirit was present. Food and treats were hung on the branches for
the spirits to eat and a five-pointed star, the pentagram,
symbol of the five elements,
was placed atop the tree. The colors of the season, red and green, also are of
Pagan origin, as is the custom of exchanging gifts. A solar festival, Yule is
celebrated by fire and the use of a Yule log. A piece of the log is saved and
kept throughout the year to protect the home. That piece is used to light the
next year's log.
Candlemas: Imbolic (Celtic), Imbollgc Brigantia (Caledonii),
Lupercus (Strega)
February 2
Candlemas involves
celebrations of banishing the winter and welcoming the spring.
At the time of Candlemas, the
newborn Sun God is seen as a small child nursing from his Mother.
At this phase of the cycle,
winter is swept away and new beginnings are nurtured. Some Wiccan groups favor
this time of year for initiations into the Craft. It is traditional at
Candlemas to light every lamp in the
house for a few minutes in
honor of the Sun's rebirth.
Ostara: Vernal (Spring) Equinox, Alban Eiler (Caledonii)
Around March 21
Click here for more on Ostera
The Spring Equinox is the
point of equilibrium – the balance is suspended just before spring bursts forth
from winter. The God and Goddess are young children at play and holiday
festivals use brightly colored eggs to represent the child within. The Easter
Bunny also is of Pagan origin, as are baskets of flowers.
Traditionally, Ostara is a
time for collecting wildflowers, walking in nature's beauty and cultivating
herb gardens. This is the time to free yourself from anything in the past that
is holding you back.
Beltane: Mayday, Bealtinne (Caledonii), Festival of Tana (Strega),
Walburga (Teutonic)
April 30 (Mayday is
celebrated on the first of May)
Click here for more on Beltane
Beltane is the time of the
sacred marriage which honors the fertility of the Earth; it represents the
divine union of the Lord and Lady. Celebrations
include weaving a web of life around the
Maypole and leaping the
Beltane fire for luck. Wiccan handfastings are common at this festival.
This is a time of
self-discovery, love, union and developing your potential for personal growth.
Midsummer: Summer Solstice, Alban Hefin (Caledonii)
Around June 21
The Summer Solstice, the
longest day, is a time of triumph for the light. This holiday represents the
Sun
King in all his glory. In
many Wiccan celebrations, this is when the Oak King, who represents the waxing
year, is triumphed over by the Holly King, who represents the waning year. The
two are one: the Oak King is the growing youth while the Holly King is the
mature man.
Healings and love magick are
especially suitable at this time. Midsummer Night's Eve is supposed to be a
good time to commune with field and forest sprites and faeries.
Lammas: Lughnassadh (Celtic), Cornucopia (Strega), Thingtide
(Teutonic)
August 2 (Lughnassadh, the
Celtic festival in honor of the Sun God, is held on the 7th)
This is the celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. The Sun King, now Dark Lord, gives his energy to the crops to
ensure life while the Mother prepares to give way to her aspect as the Crone.
Now is the time to teach what
you have learned, to share the fruits of your achievements with the world.
Wheat weaving, such as the
making of corn dollies, is traditional. Bread is baked and the altar is
decorated with fruits and vegetables of the harvest.
Autumn Equinox: Mabon (Celtic), Winter Finding (Teutonic), Alban
Elfed (Caledonii)
Around Sept. 21
At the Autumn Equinox, the days and nights are equal. It is a time
of balance, but light gives way to increased darkness. It is the second harvest, and the Goddess mourns her fallen
consort, but the emphasis is on the message of rebirth that can be found in the
harvest seeds. It is a good time to walk the forests, gathering dried plants
for use as altar decorations or herbal magick. Cornbread and cider are good
additions to festivities and fall leaves make good altar decorations.
As you can tell from the above
holidays, the Christian ones and the Pagan ones are extremely similar and based
on much of the same things...... The celebration of Easter was made a huge
thing in Britain in order to try and tempt the people there who still worshiped
in the old ways to abandone the Beltane feast at which according to legends and
lore "Men and women would join together in an intimate way to celebrate
the renewal of the earth, they would dance naked around the fire and then
copulate in the darkness". Easter (which coincides with this pagan
holiday) was turned into a clean wholesome celebration of rebirth and renewal
of life and made into a major public holiday instead of the way that the Church
used to celebrate it with solem dignity and quiet introspection. Much of these holidays are like that. Take
Christmas... the day that Christ was supposed to have been born..... in actual
fact he was not born on the 25th of December and this has been shown by the
Church themselves not others outside of it..... the date was chosen for many
reasons including the fact that it is close to the pagan holiday.
Hope you enjoy these.
Merry
Parting and Blessed Be
Lady Guenhwyvar