A non-Pagan friend of mine recently asked me why I seem to have a festival every few weeks and so I thought I'd break it down for them - and now for anyone else who is interested in my ramblings.
As I have stated previously although I am Hellenic Pagan I was raised Wiccan, I was raised with the Wheel of the Year. We have 8 festivals, 4 esbats and 4 sabbats, which a lot of the time are widely recognised amongst other religions if only by another name.
The Wheel of the Year begins on October 31st, on Samhain (or Hallowe'en). This is our New Year and the veil between the worlds of life and death is thinnest. For those of us who are clairaudient or clairvoyant this is a trying time of year. It can be draining to say the least and I don't think I slept a goods night sleep between October 10th and November 3rd. However, this is my favourite festival. It's a time when we remember our ancestors and look forward to what lies in store. Pagans acknowledge death as a part of life, which I will talk about in a later post.
Then comes Yule, the Winter solstice, on December 21st. This is one carried over from Scandinavia, and we celebrate rebirth and new life. We like to drum up the sun at our local stone circle and many of the staples of the holiday season come from this festival (see my next post).
February 2nd brings Imbolc, the festival of lights. We sing away the dark nights and celebrate the awakening of the land and growing strength of the sun.
The Spring Equinox, none as Ostara (sound familiar?) happens on March 21st. This is the festival of bloom and we start to look towards life rather than death. It's a time for merriment and abundance as the Earth awakens.
Beltane is the fertility festival and is celebrated on May 1st, or May-Day. We dance around a maypole and light roaring fires to celebrate the fertility of the land and our Goddess. This is said to be the time of the year when women are most fertile and therefore a lot of babies are conceived here. It is also the most popular date for Handfastings (see my later post). Contrary to popular belief not many of us dance around the fire naked.
Litha, the Summer solstice is June 21st. The Lord of Light is at his peak and it is a time for celebrating the growing harvest and celebrating.
Midsummer, or Lughnasadh/Lammas, is the first harvest and is celebrated on August 1st. We reap what we have sown and celebrate the abundance of the land. We give back to nature for what it has given us. We feast on this one.
The Autumn Equinox is the last stop on the Wheel of the Year. Also known as Mabon, darkness begins to creep back to the land. The final harvests have been reaped and we celebrate with feasts galore. We honour those of old age and look to the growing darkness.
And then the wheel turns anew and we start all over again.
If you have any special celebrations for any of these festivals I'd love to hear them.
Blessed be,
Young Witch
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