The name “Eastre” or “Eostre” comes from the proto indo-european root “aus/eas” meaning “to shine” and “the east” (since the sun shines from the east). Our word “east” clearly derives from this root. Likewise, the word Austria comes from the same indo-european root since it is the kingdom of the east or the “austra”. The Catholic Church does not formally call the feast “Easter” but rather “Pascha”– a word derived from the Aramaic word for “Passover”. Only English and Germanic lands use the term related to “Easter”. THE HISTORY OF WORD USAGE AND ITS MEANINGS IN THE CONTEXT Budapest, Zsuzsanna E. (1980). The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. Wingbow Press. ISBN 0-914728-67-9. Beltane's significance lies in its focus on life's abundance and the renewal of the land. Pagans celebrate the Earth's fertility, the blooming of flowers, the return of butterflies and the ripening of crops, embracing the season of growth and vitality. Polytheism: Many pagan traditions are polytheistic, meaning they believe in multiple deities or gods and goddesses, each associated with different aspects of life, nature, or human experience.

If for pagans the spring equinox represents a sexual union, the autumn equinox is a mystical one. Reincarnation and the spiral of life are strong themes too: seed and grain, life and death, womb and tomb. Through understanding these mysteries of nature, the God reaches a state of mystical enlightenment and enters the underworld. Here the God dwells with the Goddess, now the ‘hag’, the queen of the underworld. Samhain Like the winter solstice, the spring equinox tends to shift from year to year. For the past several years, it has consistently fallen on March 20th, though it can be as early as the 19th or as late as the 21st. Yule | Definition of Yule by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Yule. (2020). Retrieved 5 August 2020, from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/yule What's the point of those rituals? In short, connection with the seasonal year. I noted at the start of this article that connection to the original festivals of Britain is sometimes tenuous: some basic research will, for example, show you that May Day used to be a point of the year in which the dead were said to return, as well as All Souls, and the August festival of Lammas or Lughnasadh was celebrated in Ireland, but not necessarily in many places across the British Isles. So our "wheel" is a relatively recent construction, made out of various components drawn from folklore and the imaginations of more recent practitioners: the autumn equinox was renamed Mabon by the writer Aidan Kelly in the 1970s, for reasons that remain obscure, since it has absolutely nothing to do with the Welsh superhero of the same name (who is, if anything, associated with the new year in January). And Adrian Bott has done some good work on deconstructing the name of Ostara, on the other side of the year. McColman, Carl (2003). Complete Idiot's Guide to Celtic Wisdom. Alpha Press. pp.12, 51. ISBN 0-02-864417-4.lammas | Origin and meaning of lammas by Online Etymology Dictionary. (2020). Retrieved 6 August 2020, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/lammas How to pronounce Imbolc or Imbolg: You pronounce this holiday like IM-BOHLK or IM-BOHLG (/ˈɪmbɑlk/,/ɪˈmɑlɡ/). May Day is also celebrated by decorated and dancing around the maypole (representing the male aspect). And, it’s believed that, like at Samhain, the veil between the living and the spirit world is thinner. For Wiccans, this Sabbat is also a holiday of love and romance and when the God and Goddess come together.

Mabon, celebrated on the autumn equinox, falls between September 20th and 23rd in the Northern Hemisphere. Named after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, this holiday marks the second harvest of the year, when day and night are in perfect balance before the descent into winter's darkness. Etymologically, there is a relationship between Eostre and other goddesses like Usas, Eos, and Aurora. Gardnerian Book of Shadows: The Sabbat Rituals: August Eve". www.sacred-texts.com . Retrieved 20 September 2017. In Wicca, we make it a point to honor both feminine and masculine energies, lunar and solar cycles. When we’re practicing our craft according to the lunar cycles, we honor the Moon Goddess with esbats. However, we also have eight solar festivals throughout the year, which are represented by the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. The etymological pedigree of the word, however, remains uncertain, though numerous speculative attempts have been made to find Indo-European cognates outside the Germanic group, too.

Timeline

The summer solstice, or Litha, is one of the four ‘lesser sabbats’ and the high point of the solar year. The God has reached the zenith of his power (the summer solstice being the longest day of the year) and the dawn of the 21st June (or thereabouts) is his crowning glory. Now that we know the history and the significance of the Wheel of the Year, it’s time to watch it turn. Before we explain each of the Sabbats, remember that this calendar is cyclical for a reason. There are no beginnings or endings in nature, so the Wheel never stops turning. Even so, we have to start our list somewhere — so we might as well choose the festival that marks the end of the old and beginning of the new calendar year. Yule aka the Winter Solstice – December 21st-22nd Festivals [ edit ] The eight-armed sun cross is often used to represent the modern pagan Wheel of the Year. The annual cycle of insolation for the northern hemisphere (Sun energy, shown in blue) with key points for seasons (middle), quarter days (top) and cross-quarter days (bottom) along with months (lower) and Zodiac houses (upper). The cycle of temperature (shown in pink) is delayed by seasonal lag. Mabon or the fall equinox is the second harvest festival. Traditionally, it’s when fruits and vegetables are harvested, when autumn begins, and when Wiccans believe the Goddess moves from Mother to Crone. It’s a time to give thanks for all that has been provided.

This taking on of power by the God as the Sun King and the end of his youthful days running in the greenwood represents the strength and power of the sun over the summer months, though pagans also remember that the God’s path is downhill now (the shortening of days until Yule). It explores some of the most important Pagan festivals, including Samhain, Yule, Beltane and Lammas, looking at their origins and how they are celebrated today.Still, in many cases, these sources are all we have as evidence for traditional faiths and ancient traditions. The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events ( solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. British neopagans crafted the Wheel of the Year in the mid-20th century, combining the four solar events (" quarter days") marked by many European peoples, with the four seasonal festivals ("cross-quarter days") celebrated by Insular Celtic peoples. [1] Different paths of modern Paganism may vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, based on such distinctions as the lunar phase and geographic hemisphere. a b Starhawk (1979, 1989) The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York, Harper and Row ISBN 0-06-250814-8 pp.191-2 (revised edition) Since we usually celebrate Lughnasadh on August 1st, it tends to be the hottest day of the year. Still, we can anticipate the coming chill as the Sun God begins his decline. At the same time, the Earth has given us a plentiful bounty we get to enjoy. The Wheel of the Year in the Northern Hemisphere. Some Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere advance these dates six months to coincide with their own seasons.