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Samhain(pronounced Sowen) October 31st, New Year's Eve in the Celtic and contemporary Wiccan calendar. It is the night when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, when the spirits of our ancestors are honored as they visit with us. It is also the night when the Goddess enters the Underworld, and we enter the dreamtime. Appropriated by the Christian calendar as All Saints Day, November 1, and All Souls Day on November 2, the day honoring the dead. Popularly celebrated as Halloween.
YuleDecember 21, Yule is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. It is celebrated as the Festival of Light, when the Great Goddess conceives, or in some traditions gives birth to, her son, the Sun God. It is the sabbat for rejoicing in the discovery of light, and new life, within the womb of darkness, as each day now grows brighter. Appropriated in the sixth century C.E. by the Christian calendar when the official birthday of Christ was moved to Debember 25.
ImbolcFebruary 2, Imbolc means "in the Belly" in Gaelic and is the holiday that celebrates the first evidence of the return of life. It is also the holy day of the Celtic Goddess Brigid, goddess of fire, healing, smithcraft, and muse to the poets. The community gathers to honor her and the stirring life with candlelight and firelight, and with the light of our laughter, poetry, music, art and storytelling. Appropriated by the Christian Calendar as St. Brigid's Day, or Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, the day on which the Church candles are blessed for the year.
OestaraMarch 21, Spring or Vernal Equinox, the holy day when light and dark are in balance. It is the day when life is born from the Great Mother, reappearing on earth in all its joy. It is said to be the day of the Goddess's return from her sojoun in the Underworld, and the rebirth of the God. Oestara is the Germanic goddess of the fertile earth, and her symbols are the ubiquitous eggs, rabbits, and flowers that survive to remind us of the Goddess's blessings. Appropriated by the Catholic Church as Annunciation Day, or Lady Day, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to ask her to bear the Christ child. Also used by the Church as the date by which Christ's resurrection was determined, i.e.. the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, called Easter from the Goddess Oestara.
BeltaineMay 1, Beltaine is also known as May Eve when celebrated the evening before, and May Day when celebrated on the first. It is the holiday in which the young Goddess and God first encounter and fall in love with each other. It is a celebration of the ecstasy of love as it fills the earth with blossoming life. Women wear crowns of flowers, and traditional dances around the Maypole celebrate the earth's fertility. This was also the mid-point of the Roman festival honoring Flora, the Goddess of flowers. In England, women bathe in the first dew of Mayday to meet their true loves, and others use its healing powers. Beltaine is celebrated by many Catholic churches as "The May Crowning" when, as in pagan traditions, statues of Mary are crowned with wreaths of flowers. She is referred to as the Queen of the Angels, of the Queen of the May. Prior to its appropriation by the Catholic Church, the latter title referred to the Goddess, her priestess, or a young woman chosen from the community to embody the Goddess.
LithaJune 21, Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year though from this day forth the sun's presence will wane. The fertile conjunction of the sun and earth are celebrated as the divine union of Goddess and God. People rejoice in the richness of their lives, giving thanks for the fruitful blessings of the Great Mother Earth, without whom there would be not life. Appropriated by the Christian calendar as Midsummer's Day, Feast of St. John the Baptist.
LughnassadAugust 1, Lughnassad is the first harvest celebration in which thanks are given for the fruit of the earth. It is also a wake for the Celtic God of the Sun, Lugh, who is said to enter the Underworld on this day (as the light of the sun wanes) . It was celebrated with games and races, dancing, and ritual fires. The Saxons called this harvest festival hlafmaesse or Lammas, Feast of Bread. The Romans celebrated the birth of the Goddess Diana, and the Greeks honoured Artemis, both of whom were Goddesses of the Animals, Forest and the Moon. Also called Lammas by the Church of England, which appropriated the sabbat as St. Peter's Day, when the church hands out loaves of blessed bread. Also, August 13 was celebrated by the ancient Romans and pagan Italians as the birthday of the Goddess Diana, appropriated by the Christian calendar as the day of Mary's Assumption into Heaven.
MabonSeptember 21, Autumn Equinox, is when light and dark are again in perfect balance, though now the movement is toward darkness. On this holy day, the mystery of eternal life is contemplated as the sun goes into the seed that will sustain life through out the dark months of winter ahead. The Goddess is thanked for her generosity with the completion of the harvest; the God is thanked for his gift of energy as it is embodied in the waning sun; and we reflect upon those goals we have brought to fruition and upon the aspects of our life we must release in order to grow. This holiday was appropriated by the Christian calendar as Michaelmas, for St. Michael, the Archangel of Fire, celebrated a week after Mabon, on September 29.
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