On the Eighth Day of Winter Solstice …
… witch named brandee gave to me
The Eight Sabbats
Also known as the Wheel of the Year, the Eight Sabbats are the yearly seasonal festivals celebrated by pagans. These specific celebrations mark the death and rebirth cycle of the sun specifically. Not all pagans celebrate each of these festivals and no one culture is responsible for the Wheel of the Year. Instead, the combination of holidays was created by Wiccans, who are responsible for many of the traditions accepted as part of modern witchcraft.
These specific Solstice and Equinox festivals were largely celebrated by European pagans, while the other four mark the Fire Festivals as part of Celtic traditions. The names for the Fire Festivals (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh) come from Gaelic. Other than Yule, the rest of the names where the other three were named by Aidan Kelly in 1974. He explains, “We have Gaelic names for the four Celtic holidays. It offended my aesthetic sensibilities that there seemed to be no Pagan names for the summer solstice or the fall equinox equivalent to Yule or Beltane—so I decided to supply them.” In the same article, he gives an account of why he chose the names. Some disagree with the conclusions he came to, of course, but with the addition, we have the “Pagan-Craft” calendar we’ve come to know as the Wheel of the Year.
It’s important to note that seasonal celebrations, especially Solstices are found throughout the world, and modern witchcraft is usually an amalgamation of global practices. These are the Sabbats common in Wiccan tradition, which may or may not line up with your ancestry. Like many magical practices, I will always suggest getting to know what practices were native to your lineage as well as learning about other cultures. Make sure to do your research and be aware of closed practices, not every culture prefers to share. I think it’s fun and rewarding to continually expand my practice as I learn more, you’ll have to make your own judgments.
Use this as a starting point. Ask yourself: What traditions did my ancestors celebrate? Can I connect more to my spirit team through any of these celebrations? Am I missing an opportunity to pay reverence to nature or the seasons? Follow this line of questioning and you’ll likely find yourself somewhere inside the Eight Sabbats.
