The Wheel of The Year: A Beginner's Guide to Celebrating the Traditional Pagan Festivals of the Seasons

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It explores some of the most important Pagan festivals, including Samhain, Yule, Beltane and Lammas, looking at their origins and how they are celebrated today. Beltane comes from the phrase “Bel-tan,” which translates to “good fire.” This is because the return of the sun and summer embody the element of fire. Ancient celebrations would see torches of fire being lit and carried through the land, along with people making music, sharing stories in a circle, and feasting. The History of Litha, the Pagan Summer Solstice Celebration. (2020). Retrieved 6 August 2020, from https://www.learnreligions.com/history-of-summer-solstice-holiday-litha-2562244 The slideshow begins with handy slides explaining ‘What is Paganism?’ and ‘What is a Solstice?’ and there are lots of keywords used in context which children can note down and later use in independent writing tasks.

If for pagans the spring equinox represents a sexual union, the autumn equinox is a mystical one. Reincarnation and the spiral of life are strong themes too: seed and grain, life and death, womb and tomb. Through understanding these mysteries of nature, the God reaches a state of mystical enlightenment and enters the underworld. Here the God dwells with the Goddess, now the ‘hag’, the queen of the underworld. Samhain Observing the cycle of the seasons has been important to many people, both ancient and modern. Modern pagan festivals that rely on the Wheel are based to varying degrees on folk traditions, regardless of actual historical pagan practices. [2] Some Wiccans use the term sabbat ( / ˈ s æ b ə t/) to refer to each festival. [3] Origins [ edit ] Bonewits, Isaac (2006). Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism. New York, New York: Kensington Publishing Group. pp.179, 183–4, 128–140. ISBN 0-8065-2710-2. The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events ( solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. British neopagans crafted the Wheel of the Year in the mid-20th century, combining the four solar events (" quarter days") marked by many European peoples, with the four seasonal festivals ("cross-quarter days") celebrated by Insular Celtic peoples. [1] Different paths of modern Paganism may vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, based on such distinctions as the lunar phase and geographic hemisphere. The reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky symbolizes the rebirth of the solar god and presages the return of fertile seasons. [ citation needed] From Germanic to Roman tradition, this is the most important time of celebration. [16] [17]

Mabon is also the second harvest of the wheel of the year. Another celebration for all we have reaped. But this time, it’s a chance to celebrate the gratitude and abundance with others; family, friends, and our wider communities. Notably, though, people in the Southern Hemisphere might choose to celebrate the Summer Solstice on this day instead. After all, that half of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun, making Yule the longest day of the year there. So it makes sense to flip the whole Wheel if you live south of the Equator. But over the past few years, I have noticed how out of alignment I feel with holidays like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. They feel like props, made to distract and disconnect me from the real celebration and gifts of those times, which can all be found within ourselves, and in nature. Johnson, Anthony (2008). Solving Stonehenge: The New Key to an Ancient Enigma. Thames & Hudson. pp.252–253. ISBN 978-0-500-05155-9.

The phrase 'Wheel of the Year' was in use by the mid-1960s to describe this yearly cycle of eight holidays. [8] Prominent Wiccan Aidan Kelly gave names to the Wiccan summer solstice (Litha) and equinox holidays (Ostara and Mabon) in 1974, which were then promoted by Timothy Zell through his Green Egg magazine. [9] Popularization of these names happened gradually; in her 1978 book Witchcraft For Tomorrow, influential Wiccan author Doreen Valiente did not use Kelly's holiday names, instead simply identifying the solstices and equinoxes ("Lesser Sabbats") by their seasons. [10] Valiente identified the four "Greater Sabbats", or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe'en, though she also identified their Gaelic counterparts Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasa, and Samhain. [11] Litha, celebrated on the summer solstice, falls between June 20th and 23rd in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the longest day of the year when the sun reaches its peak strength and the day is at its fullest. Litha is a time of light, warmth, and the celebration of life's abundance.Falling between October 31st and November 1st in the Northern Hemisphere, Samhain is a time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. It's a time to honor deceased ancestors, reflect on the cycle of life and death, and embrace the mysteries of the afterlife. Asatru Holidays | The Troth | Inclusive Asatru and Heathenry". thetroth.org . Retrieved 30 January 2023. The wheel of the year is based on nature and the sun’s transition through the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn & winter.

Since the Sabbats are meant to align us with the Earth’s natural cycles, they usually focus on agricultural symbolism. But even if you don’t live near nature, the Wheel can help you center your existence. After all, all work eventually bears fruit.

Lughnasadh is the third Celtic fire festival we celebrate — but the first harvest festival on the Wheel. The alternate name of the Sabbat, Lammas, translates to Loaf Mass. If nothing else, that gives us an inkling of how pagan celebrations of the harvest seeped into Christian practices. Mabon, celebrated on the autumn equinox, falls between September 20th and 23rd in the Northern Hemisphere. Named after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, this holiday marks the second harvest of the year, when day and night are in perfect balance before the descent into winter's darkness. The summer solstice, or Litha, is one of the four ‘lesser sabbats’ and the high point of the solar year. The God has reached the zenith of his power (the summer solstice being the longest day of the year) and the dawn of the 21st June (or thereabouts) is his crowning glory.