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 The cycle of the eight Wiccan holy days is known as the Wheel of the Year. Each Sabbat celebrates the turning of the seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) and the "half way point" between each. Some sort of lore and myth about the Goddess and God and their life cycle with the seasons is celebrated as well. I'm going to go through all eight of them, and since I personally celebrate the New Years on Yule, we will begin there. However, before I get into explanation of the holy days themselves, I think it is very important to first have an understanding of what is actually going on in all of this and why they are even important in the first place. So first I am going to go over that. There are four Lesser Sabbats and four Greater Sabbats. The titles �greater� and �lesser� in no way imply greater or lesser importance. Now, this can all easily become quite confusing, so I�m going to take it step by step so you gain a full understanding of what exactly is going on here. And one small but very important note: for anyone reading this who lives in the Southern hemisphere, this all pertains to the Northern hemisphere, were I live, so all the dates and seasons are exactly opposite for you. The Greater Sabbats are the cross quarters between the Lesser Sabbats. Let�s start here. The Lesser Sabbats are the solstices and the equinoxes, both of which occur twice a year. There are two ways of understanding each of them. I�m going to explain using the easier of the two. The word solstice literally means �standing still sun.� The two solstices are Winter and Summer. They mark the beginning of these seasons. We all know the Earth rotates on it�s axis at a tilt, right? Right. Well, because of this tilt, on the solstices, the hemisphere is either leaning farthest away (Winter solstice) or nearest (Summer solstice) to the Sun. The Winter solstice takes place when the Sun is directly over the tropic of Capricorn. It is the shortest day and longest night of the year. After this, the days will begin to grow longer and the nights shorter. The Summer solstice is when the Sun is directly over the tropic of Cancer. It is just the opposite of the Winter solstice: the day is the longest and the night is the shortest and the days will begin to grow shorter and the nights longer. Did you catch all of that? If not, feel free to reread it. Then prepare yourself for the next part. Time for the equinoxes, of which there are also two, as mentioned before. Okay, so an equinox takes place when the Sun is exactly above the Equator. Day and night are equally long all over the globe on these two days a year. There are twelve hours in the day for everyone all around the world because the Sun rises exactly in the East and sets exactly in the West. We have the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox, which both also mark the beginning of our two other seasons, Spring and Autumn. So the two solstices and two equinoxes each year mark the turning of the seasons due to the placement of the Sun and Earth�s annual rotation around it on it�s axis. These four dates mark the four Lesser Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year. The four Greater Sabbats are not so hard to understand. In fact, they require very little understanding at all. They are simply the middle dates between each equinox and solstice. �On with it!� you�re saying. Okay, okay! So on we go, round the Wheel of the Year. Let it roll . . . |
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