Sabbats

Most religions mark the year in some way. In Wiccan thought, the different stages of the year are marked by what are called ‘Sabbats.’ These are the holy days of Wicca, the festivals which mark the cycle of the sun as it progresses throughout the year.

Paganism is a religion of celebration, not redemption. These celebrations take place within "the Wheel of the Year," an ancient and sacred ritual calendar marking the Earth's changing seasons and the Sun's never-ending journey across the sky, as well as the Moon's waxing and waning cycles. Each holiday, or Sabbat, brings joy and good times along with deeply felt spiritual, cultural, and ecological meaning. The Wheel represents the life cycle of continual birth, death, and renewal as expressed in the changing seasons. These changing seasons also represent a psychological "map of consciousness" facilitating human growth. They contain the framework for personal transformation, rites of passage, healing, empowerment, and manifestation.

The Wheel of the Year comprises the seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn, and winter and signify birth, growth, fading, and death. These seasons of nature reflect the inner seasons of the human landscape as well. The Wheel consists of eight Sabbats, or holy days. These eight themes represent both the inner and the outer cycles of the seasonal, the celestial, the communal, the creative, and the personal.

Samhain

NH - 31 October

SH - 1 May

 

Yule

(Winter Soltice)

NH - 21-23 December

SH - 21-23 June

 

Imbolc

NH - 2 February

SH- 2 August

 

Ostara

(Spring Equinox)

NH - 21-23 March

SH - 21-23 September

Beltame

NH - 1 May

SH - 31 October

Litha

(Summer Solstice)

NH - 21-23 June

SH - 21-23 December

Lammas

NH - 2 August

SH - 2 February

Mabon

(Fall Equinox)

NH - 21-23 September

SH - 21-23 March