• Moon
• Seasons
  • Marking the Start
  • Last Hurrahs
  • In the Language of the Church

Moon

There are thirteen full moons plus a day in a year, which means every year one month will see two full moons. The Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month.

The goddess symbol -- the full moon surrounded by two crescent moons -- is more than a logo. It shows how the moon looks in the Northern Hemisphere's sky as it waxes and wanes.

The waxing moon is observed in the evening sky. The waning moon is observed in the morning sky.

Seasons

Marking the Start

Samhain (sow-in, syllables run-together to sound like "town"), Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh (loo-nah-sah) are the four major sabbats or festivals of the craft calendar, called the Wheel of the Year. The Wheel of the Year is a farming calendar, and these festivals mark the start of the seasons.

Note: A variety of dates are given for when the celebrations actually occurred. The above are approximations.

This may seem odd, because our modern calendar marks the beginning of the seasons with the solstices and equinoxes. But, for example, April is too late to start thinking about the growing season in truth. It is February which ushers in calving and lambing and which is the time to prepare for planting, to check seed and tools, so that when the weather breaks the soil can be tilled and sown. Even today, it is the time to start seedlings for early plantings. Pruning of vines and orchard trees is also something that happened (and happens) in February.¹

Last Hurrahs

The four major sabbats are of general Celtic origin. The solar events of solstice and equinox were probably not truly celebrated at first by the Celts. Eventually however, the solstices -- Midsummer and Yule -- made their way into the calendar, quite likely from the Germanic and Norse cultures.

The solstices were indeed mid-season festivals, not the harbingers of new seasons, as the name Midsummer evidences. In a sense, they were "last hurrahs," celebrating life and lifting the spirits in hard times. It is easier to understand Yule as a time of hardship, coming as it does in the uncertain depth of winter. But summer was also a time of worry, when food stores were nearing bottom and the harvests not in, making starvation a real threat. In fact, July was called the hungry gap.²

In the Language of the Church

With regard to the church, the four major festivals of the craft calendar have been correlated with All Saints / All Souls, Candlemas, Easter, and Lammas.

• Samhain and All Saints / All Souls are both times devoted to prayer and reflection for those who have passed on. History suggests that Samhain was a last harvest celebration and All Saints & All Souls lent it the association with the "thinning of the veil."

• On Candlemas and Imbolc, we have rituals focusing on the entry of the Divine Light into the world.

• Easter is the central feast of the church and its theme of sacrifice and resurrection is matched with that of Beltane. Easter services, as with Beltane, include the lighting of a bonfire and the blessing of the new fire -- and it was not unknown, either, for an effigy to be burned in this bonfire. Some go as far as to say that the consecration of the baptismal font, by dipping the Easter Candle in its 'chalice,' harkens to the Great Rite. As oft noted, Easter's name derives from that of the Teutonic goddess, Eostre, reflecting some of the other cultural layers of Easter and influences on Celtic culture as well.³

• Lughnasadh and Lammastide are harvest celebrations of thanksgiving. In days gone by, the first loaves of bread were brought to church and blessed at Lammas.

In the church, there were also seasonal observances called the Ember Days,⁴ which were set aside for fasting and spiritual renewal near the solstices and equinoxes. It is worth noting that the church was apparently the first, as a single religious tradition, to celebrate all eight of the days observed by many modern pagans as the Wheel of the Year -- that is the four major sabbats, the two solstices, and the two equinoxes.⁵

Footnotes

1. The Year 1000; Lacey, Robert and Danziger, Danny; Little, Brown and Company, Boston/New York/London; 1999
2. Ibid.
3. New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, "Easter"; Holweck, Frederick G. (author of article); Robert Appleton Company; 1909/2003 (Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909, Remy Lafort, Censor; Imprimatur, John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York)
   
4. For further reading, see: Explanation of Ember Days, online article by James Kiefer
   
5. A Miscellany of Festivals : Christian Equivalents for the "Sabbats", online article by Ambrose Hawk; A Mystical Grove (website)
   

The Wheel of the Year
Wind

Craft

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