The Eight Sabbats

The 8 Sabbats we Celebrate and the Wheel of the Year goes as follows:

Yule or Winter Solstice-Dec. 20-23-The rebirth of the God.

Imbolg, Imbolc, or Candlemas-Feb.2-A day to Honor the Goddess who is slowly turning the Wheel to Spring.

Ostara, Eostre, or Spring Equinox(There are other names I can't think of right now)-March 20-23-Celebrating the first signs of Spring. A time to bless the seeds that will be planted when the ground thaws.

Beltain, Beltane, or May Eve-April 30-A fertility festival and celebrates life. The Goddess and God come together as one and She becomes impregnated. This is one of the most controversial Pagan holidays due to a part of the ritual called the Great Rite. In ancient times, people of the village would go out into their crops and make love in the fields to encourage crop growth. The Great Rite is done by the God and Goddess to ensure life will go on and the God is reborn at Yule after passing on into the Summerland at Samhain. There are some covens that perform the Great Rite at Beltane but this is just not an excuse to have sex with each other. Most of the covens that do an actual Great Rite has a High Priest and Priestes that are an already established couple, married are otherwise. Then there are covens, who do a symbolic Great Rite. Instead of having sex, they take a chalice and athame, saya blessing, and lower the athame (a symbol of the God) into the chalice (a symbol of the Goddess).

Litha, Midsummer, or Summer Solstice-June 20-23-Marks the longest day of the year. This is the point we enter the waning of the coming year. The Goddess is heavy with pregnancy and so is the Earth with its bounty for the harvest season.

Lughnassad, Lughnasadh, or Lammas-August 1-The first of the 3 harvest Sabbats. This celebrates the time that the first grains are to be harvested and to give thanks to the land for it's bounty.

Mabon or Fall Equinox-Sept. 20-23-This is a day of balance between light and dark. It is also the second of the Fall harvest celebrations. I have also read that this is the Pagan Thanksgiving although some Pagans do celebrate Thanksgiving again or wait until the other celebrations in November.

Samhain (pronounced Sow-in, SAh-vin, or Sahm-hayn), All Hallow's eve, or as everyone knows it Halloween-Oct. 31-It is the Third and final harvest time, a time to remember the people who have died this past year and honor the ones who have gone before. This is also another very controversial Sabbat of ours. One reason is the Christians insistance that it is an evil celebration. There is nothing evil about honoring our dead ancestors and communicating with them. The idea that evil spirits walk the Earth is a very popular misconception! In fact this is the night our God dies. He dies to protect us from the spirits
that are not welcome on this plane. He stands at the veil and holds them back. This is also the first day of Winter and is also said to be the Pagan New Year.