Yule - December 21-23
Imbolc - January 31
Oestara - March 21-23
Beltane - April 30
Litha - June 21-23
Lammas/Lugnassad - August 1
Mabon - September 21-23
Samhain - October 31
Southern Hemisphere:
Yule - June 21-23
Imbolc - August 1
Oestara - September 21-23
Beltane - October 31
Litha - December 21-23
Lammas/Lughnassad - February 1
Mabon - March 21-23
Samhain - April 30
The eight festivals of the Wheel of the Year mark the liturgical calendar of the Wiccan religion. As with so many practices within Wicca, these celebrations contain within them several different layers of meaning.
On the surface the Wheel of the Year represents the turning of the seasons. Beginning at mid-winter we watch the days grow longer, the first garden calendars arrive in the main. By Imbolc the sun is warming and the days are markedly longer. Sometimes we can hear the calling flights of wild geese high above, and the first buds are seen on the trees. Oestara marks the middle of spring. We begin planting our gardens every mindful that the last frost has not passed us by as yet. Beltane brings warmth, flowers, the full blooming of the earth. We pass Litha or Mid-Summer when the sun reaches its zenith and the days begin to shorten. Then come the busy harvest festivals of Lammas when the grain is golden in the fields and Mabon when the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp and cold. And finally we reach Samhain when the last of the crops are in from the fiends and the chill of winter is almost upon us.
At a deeper level the Wheel of the Year also marks the seasons of our lives and deaths. We are born and we grow and learn. We work hard to make a life for ourselves and eventually we grow old and we die, only to be born again with the turning of the Wheel. In this we are one with all of the natural world, and realizing that connection is an important part of what it means to be Wiccan.
Deeper still the Wheel talks to us of initiation. We come to the path full of life and light, growing an maturing as we continue with our studies. We learn the easy steps of tasks, of mythology, or external trappings. But we also begin to plumb the inner reaches as we learn the Mysteries that only the Gods can teach. Until, at last, we come to that greatest Mystery of all, the Mystery of Death and Rebirth. For the initiatory process is a form of death, and the initiation itself is a rebirth. Linking this initiatory path to the Wheel of the Year was one of the reasons why it was traditional for a student to study for one full turn of the Wheel before being considered for initiation.
But something else lies hidden here. For the Wheel is not truly a circle. It is in truth a spiral, where each turning does not bring us back to the same point from which we started but moves us just a bit further up our climb to reunite with the Divine.
And at the deepest level yet the Wheel is the great dance of the God and the Goddess, that dance which ever creates, nurtures, destroys, and creates again.
That great dance begins at Yule when the Lady gives birth to the miraculous Sun Child, the promise that life will continue and that the world will not go down into the darkness and cold. At Imbolc the Goddess appears as the Maiden with the child God by her side. They grow and change with the awakening earth until at Oestara she is now the Maiden and he is the Youth who pursues her. They wed at Beltane and from that union comes the fertility of the earth itself. Under the hot sun of Mid-Summer she is the radiant Queen and Mother and he reaches the peak of his power. Lammas celebrates the willing sacrifice as the God understands that it is through his death that life continues. By Mabon the light and darkness balance. The Lord and Lady face the idea of death, just as we mortals must face it. And by Samhain the Lord is dead and the Goddess, now the Crone, wanders a darkened world by herself until the winter Solstice comes again.
By celebrating the Wheel of the Year we help to continue that dance of the Lord and the Lady that make possible life here on this earth. We connect ourselves firmly both with the Divine and with the earth itself, knowing that we are a part of both and that both are an integral part of who we are as well.
Very nice post, but I would like to point out this is one of many interpretations of the wheel. Some choose to reinterpret the wheel to fit their path, this would include special days for them and symbols for their area [Imbolc is the first signs of spring in the U.K., but in Canada we're still dealing with snowstorms. Some regions can't even start planting until late May] another difference is the Horned Gods death. Some say he dies at Litha and the days grow shorter because of it, others at Lughnasadh so we can harvest the grain, and some still claim it's Mabon when the days are noticeably colder.
And even still, some follow the tale of the Oak King and Holly King [two rivals keeping balance for eternity] the Oak King brings the warms and the Holly King brigs the cold. At Yule the Holly King is defeated by the Oak King bringing the sun, only for the Oak King to be defeated by the Holly King at Litha to bring the cold.
Plus, I feel you should spend a year observing the change around you and within you. See how you feel around each time of the year [do you want to do day trips in the summer and hide inside in the winter? Or do you prefer the opposite?] some who do shadow work like to work with the natural flow of energy [reflecting on the self in the darker half and putting self improvements at the forefront in the lighter half] there's this great series by Llewellyn publishings of 8 books going in depth on each of the holidays I reccomend checking out to learn about the old and new ways of practicing the holiday, as well as various spells, rituals, and divination techniques associated with the holiday.
I would go with 'observe your suroundings' when's the growing seasons? When is it considered 'winter'? If everything is 're exact same with no highs or lows I would reflect on what you feel works best for you. Personally if I could choose I would celebrate Yule when it isn't Christmas because the hullabaloo surrounding Christmas really sours the Yuletide for me.
