Wheel of the Year

In some types of Neopaganism, particularly those influenced by Wicca, the Wheel of the Year is celebrated as the natural cycle of the seasons, commemorated by the eight Sabbats.

Related Topics:
Neopaganism - Wicca - Season - Sabbats

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Because one tenet of Neopaganism is that all of nature is cyclical, the passing of time is also seen as a cycle, a wheel which turns and turns.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The course of birth, life, decline, and death that we see in our human lives is echoed in the seasons.

Related Topics:
Birth - Life - Decline - Death

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The eight Sabbats are religious holidays that celebrate the passing of the year.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Each Sabbat also symbolizes a time in the life of the Wiccan God, who is born from the Wiccan Goddess, grows to full manhood, mates with her, and reigns as king during the summer.

Related Topics:
Wicca - God - Goddess

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He then declines and dies, rising anew the next year.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sabbats, with the traditional dates of their celebrations, are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Midwinter/Yule, on the winter solstice
• Imbolc, on February 2 and the preceding eve
• Ostara, on the spring equinox
• Beltane/Beltaine/May Day on May 1 and the preceding eve
• Midsummer/Litha, on the summer solstice
• Lughnasadh/Lammas, on August 1 and the preceding eve
• Mabon, on the autumnal equinox
• Samhain, on November 1 and the preceding eve October 31

This calendar follows the seasons of the northern hemisphere, where the celebrations that form the basis of the modern Sabbats originated. Neopagans in the southern hemisphere usually celebrate the Sabbats on the opposite dates of the year (6 months apart from the northern dates), in order to follow the cycle of seasons where they live; i.e. an Australian Neopagan would celebrate Samhain on May 1, when a Canadian Neopagan would be celebrating Beltane.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England, the solstices and equinoxes are referred to as quarter days and the other four (sometimes called the fire festivals) as cross-quarter days. In Scotland, the fire festivals were (until a change of law in 1991) referred to as Quarter days, also as Rent days. This has led to some confusion of terminology, as different groups call different sets of festivals the 'Quarter days'.

Related Topics:
England - Scotland

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some Neopagans are adopting dates for the (Cross-)Quarter Sabbats between the Equinoxes and Solstices based on a count of days rather than the Calends of the months, working on the assumption that they derive from the Roman based Gregorian Calendar. This tends to gives dates a few day from the traditional calendar based dates, e.g. about a week into November for Samhain/Beltaine most years. There is some Archeological evidence for such day counting in Neolithic European cultures, including astronomical alignments in tombs to Sunrise about a week into Novemeber (Samhain) BBC TV Meet the Ancestors - The Orkney Tomb.

Related Topics:
Calends - Gregorian Calendar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Others, who are aware of the origin of the fire festivals in the Celtic calendar, dispute this practice as anachronistic and based on faulty logic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another variant of the Wheel sets the four Sun Sabbats (Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon) to the solstice/equinox dates, while the other four (called Moon Sabbats) are set depending on the phase of the moon, with Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas at full moon and Samhain at the new moon dates.

Related Topics:
Yule - Ostara - Litha - Mabon - Phase of the moon - Imbolc - Beltane - Lammas - Samhain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 
Wheel of the Year: Antiquity of the Wheel ►