Wheel of the Year

Eight-spoked liturgical calendar followed by Wiccans and some other Neopagan groups. Starting at Samhain (Halloween; October 31st), the order of the rites runs as follows:

Samhain (October 31st)

Pronounced “SOW-in” (or sometimes “SOV-en”), and forming the New Year’s Day of the cycle, this day is sometimes considered an intercalary day, “between the years”. It’s considered the time when the “veils between the worlds” are thinnest, when supernatural creatures can roam most freely in our world and the shades of the departed dead are easiest to contact. It is, quite simply, the time of death and darkness.

Yule (Winter Solstice, December 20th-23rd)

The shortest day and the longest night, when the Sun is reborn. This is the time when light triumphs, most paradoxically, in the midst of darkness.

Imbolc, Oimelc, or Candlemas (February 2nd)

Sacred to Brighid, the Celtic Goddess of fire, poetry, smithcraft and healing. This day is more important to actual agrarian cultures than to modern, urban society, but is still considered a time of creativity, when the grasp of winter starts to noticeably slip and daylight increases.

Ostara (Vernal Equinox, March 20th-23rd)

A celebration of spring, fecundity, and the first shoots of green.

Beltane (May 1st)

A celebration of sensuality, sexuality, and the union between the Lord and the Lady. This is the time of the year when Paganism most clearly shows its belief that pleasure is sacred.

Litha or Midsummer (Summer Solstice, June 20th-23rd)

The longest day of the year, and a time for joyous festivity.

Lughnasadh or Lammas (August 1st)

Pronounced “LOO-na-sod” or “loo-NAS-sa”, this is a feast sacred to the Celtic God Lugh of the Long Arm, a solar hero and patron of many arts. It’s a time for feasting and games of skill, and also an early harvest festival.

Mabon or Harvest Home (Autumnal Equinox, September 20th-23rd)

A harvest festival and a time to reflect on the beginning of the light’s fading into winter and death.

The four days that fall at or near the beginnings of their months (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh) are sometimes referred to as “the cross-quarter days”, since they sit “across” the “quarters” formed by the solstices and equinoxes. Curiously, the solstices and equinoxes themselves are never referred to as “the quarter days”; instead, everyone seems to opt for the much longer and clunkier “the solstices and equinoxes”.

This liturgical calendar is something of a hybrid, combining as it does Celtic elements (the cross-quarter days) and the solstices and equinoxes, which were important to the Norse and other cultures, but not to the Celts. Partly because of this syncretic nature, it displays some redundancy. This is especially noticeable in the spring and summer months, where it seems that holidays are almost being repeated. This is because the meaning of Ostara for the Norse was fairly similar to that of Imbolc for the Celts; folding the two into a single calendar results in some unavoidable duplication.

These solar holidays are sometimes called “sabbats”, in contrast to lunar “esbats” (generally held every full Moon).