Sabbats: pagan holidays

The Wheel of the Year

The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern Pagans, consisting of the year’s chief solar events and the midpoints between them. The highlights are the eight seasonal Sabbats, and the thirteen Esbats which we celebrate each Full Moon.

The Sabbats are divided into two groups:

The Greater Sabbats of Imbolg, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain  are seen as the most important  festivals and are also known as the Cross Quarter Days. This term refers to the fact that they lie between the equinoxes and the solstices. The Greater Sabbats are also known as the “cross-quarter” days as they mark the point between the solstice and the equinox. This seasonal cycle is one of the key ways in which we see the processes of birth, growth, death, and rebirth play themselves out, and the myth of the Wheel of the Year was created to illustrate this cycle.

The Lesser Sabbats; Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon, fall on the equinoxes and solstices, the dates of which vary slightly from year to year, and they mark the changes of the four seasons. Whilst the Lesser Sabbats can be seen to be mainly about the cycle of the Sun, these celebrations are more about the cycle of life on the seasons. Although it should be stated that Earth and Sun, Goddess and God, are intertwined throughout all the eight Sabbats.

There are many variations of the myth throughout the different Pagan Traditions but the underlying theme is the same, and the rituals of the Sabbats are derived from this myth. A simplified version is given below:

In this myth the Triple Goddess goes through the changing aspects of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The God brings forth the force of projective energy, the Spark of Life, and also the withdrawing and destructive energy of Death. The Goddess absorbs, reflects and transforms these energies. The Goddess and God are viewed as immortal and imperishable; they are the Duality of the Divine. Their different aspects are a symbolic shifting of cycles, ones we discover within ourselves, our World and throughout our own lives. This is the process that produces balance; within and without, above and below.

In spite of modern lifestyles and insulation from the natural world, we are still dependent upon the forces of nature, and contemporary Witches observe the Sabbats to establish and maintain a balance with nature. Sabbats are also a time for the Witch to look within, to reassess the life-path taken so far, and to reaffirm the directions she or he wishes to take in the future.