Wicca Workshop
BASIC WICCA INTRODUCTION->Part 8 Holidays and Observations
Question: Do you garden? If you do, what is in your garden, how does it feel, how does it smell?
Unfortunately, I can't have a garden where I am, but I did have one at one time, and I remember weeding it, and planting, the feel of the weed roots that just did not want to give up. I remember planting seedlings and watching them grow and bear flowers and fruit. It is something I can't wait to do again. =)
Part 4 Holidays and Lore
Wiccans celebrate on eight main holidays (or Sabbats) that correspond to the solar cycles and (usually) on the full moon. The eight holidays are:
Common Name Pronunciation Approximate Date
Samhain (sow-en) October 31
Yule (youl) December 21
Imbolc (im-bulk) February 2 (or 1st)
Ostara (us-tara) March 21
Beltane (bell-tain) April 30 (or May 1st)
Midsummer (mid-sum-mer) June 21
Lammas (LA-mmas) August 2
Mabon (may-boon) September 21
Traditionally, on a listing of the holidays, Samhain is given first because it marks the old Celtic New Year.
There are many different ideas about each of the holidays and I will try to present as many as I can here. I have included any myths and traditions I could find associated with the holiday and I have also included songs for each. (Can't help it, I love songs.) Most of them are either old folk songs, or new songs crafted for and by pagans. The format I'm using for presenting these is: Album/Cd title, Author/Artist, Songs appropriate. Again, I have only included music that I have heard, or read the lyrics to.
There is a dual symbology in the holidays, one for solar and one for lunar. This is entirely symbolic.
Solar Cycle:
Yule: The God is born at Yule of the Goddess
Imbolc: The Goddess rests at Imbolc and readies herself for spring. The God is a young boy.
Ostara: The Goddess awakens from her rest as spring occurs, the God grows stronger.
Beltane: The God and Goddess marry at Beltane and the Goddess becomes pregnant with the God.
Midsummer: The God and Goddess are in their prime. The Earth is strong and healthy.
Lammas: The God begins to wane as the harvest starts.
Mabon: The God wanes more as the bulk of the harvest is completed.
Samhain: The God 'dies' at Samhain, and the Goddess mourns His loss, though she is pregnant with him again. (To be reborn at Yule)
Wicca A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham (Chapter 8) has more info on this.
Lunar Cycle:
The mythology of the moon follows the cycles of women's mysteries. When the moon is waxing (getting bigger) then the moon is in her "Maiden" (or virgin) phase. When the moon is full, it's the "Mother" phase, and when the moon is waning (getting smaller) then it's the "Crone" phase. The new moon is the time of death and rebirth, symbolically.
Samhain
Other Names
Samhain is also called Shadowfest, Old Hallowmas, All Hallow's Eve, Calangaeaf, Festival of the Dead and the Third festival of the harvest. All Souls' or All Hallows' Day (November 1) was the Christian version of Samhain, the Celtic feast of the
dead, named for the Aryan Lord of Death, Samana, "the Leveller," or the Grim Reaper, leader of ancestral ghosts.
Myths and Traditions
Samhain is the night when the Old King dies, and the Crone Goddess mourns him greatly during the next six weeks. The sun is at its lowest point on the horizon as measured by the ancient standing stones of Britain and Ireland, the reason the Celts chose this Sabbat rather than Yule as their new year. To the ancient Celts, this holiday divided the year into two seasons, winter and summer. Samhain is the day on which the Celtic New Year and winter begin together, so it is a time for both beginnings and endings. It is the last of the three harvest festivals, the harvest of meat.
It is also the day we honor our dead. Now, while the veil between the worlds is thinnest, those who have died in the past year and those who are to be reincarnated pass through. The doors of the sidhe-mounds are open, and neither human nor faery need any magickal passwords to come and go. Our ancestors, the blessed dead, are more accessible, more approachable during
the time of the dying of the land. Samhain is a day to commune with the dead and a celebration of the eternal cycle of reincarnation.
Songs
Wheel of the Year/Once Around the Wheel - Ian Corrigan "Hoof and Horn
Yule
Other Names
Yule is also known as Winter Solstice. It occurs around December 21st each year, but the actual day can vary plus or minus a few days. Usually calendars annotate the actual date of the solstices and equinoxes.
Myths and Traditions
It has long been a myth of many cultures that the sun is reborn around this time of the year, and so it makes sense that the Church chose this time of year for it's holy birth as well.
It is traditional to decorate a Yule tree and burn a "Yule Log" in the fireplace. The Yule log is the tradition of the Midwinter bonfire miniaturized.
Yule marks the re-birth of the Sun God who died at Samhain. It also marks the vanquishing of the Holly King, God of the waning year, by the Oak King, God of the waxing year. Old mumming plays, which still exist in some places as part of the Yuletide festivities, are linked with the rebirth of the Sun. Saint George in shining armor, comes to do battle with the dark faced 'Turkish Knight'. Saint George is the Sun, slaying the powers of darkness. However, the victor immediately proclaims that he has slain his brother. Dark and Light, winter and summer are complementary to each other. So on comes the mysterious 'Doctor' with his magical bottle who revives the slain man. There is much rejoicing and all ends well. Another version of the Oak/Holly King theme, is the ritual hunting and killing of a Wren. The Wren, little King of the Waning Year, is killed by the Robin Redbreast, King of the Waxing Year. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in an Ivy bush (or as in some parts of Ireland - a holly bush).
At Yule, the Goddess shows her Life-in-Death aspect. At this season, she is the leprous-white lady, Queen of the cold darkness, yet, this is her moment of giving birth to the child of Promise, the Son-Lover who will refertilize her and bring back light and warmth to her kingdom.
Songs
"Songs for the Old Religion" by Gwydion Pennderwyn -- "The Wintry Queen"
There are also various "Re-paganized" Christmas songs that can be found on the Internet that are very good.
Imbolc
Other Names
Imbolc is also known as Candlemas, Imbolg, Oimelc, Lupercus, Candelaria and Disting. This holiday is celebrated on February 14 in the Teutonic Tradition of Wicca.
Myths and Traditions
Imbolc was usually celebrated by lighting sacred fires (Brigit was the Goddess of Fire, the Fire of Healing and Birth). Bonfires and candles too were lit. The Roman Catholic Church turned this celebration into Candlemas, the day when the candles that were to be used in the church in the coming year were blessed.
February 1st or 2nd. Originated in Ireland as a holy day for Brigid, the Great Mother Goddess, who was in the form of a bride for the returned Sun God after giving birth of the God, the Goddess awakens from her recovery by the lengthening days of light. The Earth begins to feel this warmth, marking a return to the months of spring. Imbolg is also a festival of Fires, to symbolize the coming return of life and the replenished powers of the Sun. In Some Wicca covens, it is also a traditional time for initiations.
It is traditional to light lamps or candles to "guide the Goddess out of the darkness of winter."
Songs
"Songs for the Old Religion" by Gwydion Pennderwyn -- "On Lady Day" and "The Wintry Queen".
Ostara
Other Names
Ostara is also known as the Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox, Alban Eiler and Rite of Oestre. Again, the actual date can vary, but it's usually around the 21st of March.
Myths and Traditions
This is a time of renewal and rebirth. The earth is awakening. Celebrate by preparing for the coming summer (in whatever way you can.)
Eostara was a goddess with whom a rabbit was besotted, so he left eggs, dyed in the colors of spring, to please her. They pleased her so well that she charged him with the duty of pleasing all those who venerated her with these gifts of dyed 'Eostara eggs'.
It is named for Eostre' a spring goddess who has one of those nifty stories where she is a constellation that looks like a rabbit, but in the spring she descends to earth as a great bird and lays eggs as gifts of the returning spring.
Goddess Ostara, maiden aspect of earth. She is the potential, the fertility, and the budding life of earth. She is the roundness and wholeness of creation. In the egg, all aspects of Ostara can be found.
Songs
Beltane
Other Names
Beltane is also known as May Day, Rood Day, Rudemas, Festival of Tana, and Walpurgisnacht (meaning "Walpurga's Night").
Myths and Traditions
Traditionally on May Day, the villagers would dance around the Maypole in the village. When they dance they weave the ribbons together.
Creiddylad was connected with this festival and often called the May Queen. The Maypole (originally a phallic symbol) and its dance are remnants of these old festivals. Although for Pagans of old, this was a 'floating' holiday, it is May 1 that Neo-Pagans consider the great holiday of flowers, Maypoles, and greenwood frivolity.
Other May Day customs include: processions of chimney-sweeps and milk maids, archery tournaments, Morris dances, sword dances, feasting, music, drinking, and maidens bathing their faces in the dew of May morning to retain their youthful beauty.
One of the most beautiful customs associated with this festival was "bringing in the May." The young people of the villages and towns would go out into the fields and forests at Midnight on April 30th and gather flowers with which to bedeck themselves, their families, and their homes. They would process back into the villages, stopping at each home to leave flowers, and to receive the best of food and drink that the home had to offer. This custom is somewhat similar to "trick or treat" at Samhain and was very significant to the ancients. These revelers would bless the fields and flocks of those who were generous and wish ill harvests on those who withheld their bounty.
Songs
"Songs of the Wheel" by Ian Corrigan -- "Hal An Tow",
Midsummer
Other Names
Midsummer is also known as Summer Solstice, Lithe, and Alban Hefin. It marks the longest day of the year.
Myths and Traditions
The cycle of fertility has been expressed in many god-forms. One pair of these - which has persisted from early Pagan times to modern folklore - is that of the Oak King and the Holly King, Gods respectively of the Waxing Year and the Waning Year. The Oak King rules from Midwinter to Midsummer - the period of Fertility, Expansion and Growth; while the Holly King reigns from Midsummer to Midwinter - the period of Harvest, Withdrawal and Wisdom. They are the light and dark twins, each being the other's alternate self, thus being one. Each represents a necessary phase in the natural rhythm, therefore both are good. At the two changeover points, they symbolically meet in combat. The incoming twin - the Oak King at Midwinter, the Holly King at Midsummer - "slays" the outgoing one. But the defeated twin is not actually considered dead - he has merely withdrawn during the six months of his brother's rule.
Songs
"Songs of the Wheel" by Ian Corrigan -- "Oak and Ash and Thorn"
Lammas
Other Names
Also called August Eve, Lughnassad, Lady Day or Loaf Mass, this is the time of Lammas.
Myths and Traditions
This is when the Goddess is ripe and swelling with life. First fruits are weighing down the branches of the trees. We stand now between hope and fear, in the time of waiting. We journey together this night to this place of waiting, a place of change and transformation. Now the Mother becomes the Reaper, the Implacable One who feeds on life that new life may
grow. Light diminishes, the days shorten, summer passes as we take our first fruits to the Temple of the Goddess as offerings. We gather to turn the Wheel of the Seasons once again, knowing that to harvest we must sacrifice, that warmth and light must pass into winter.
Lammas is the First Harvest Festival and yet the full harvest is uncertain. We must wait now and have faith that the Goddess will provide for the cold months ahead. She is called Habondia, Laksmi, Demeter and Ceres at this time. Often there is a cauldron or Lammas fire where we release our fears. We bring a piece of fruit which symbolizes the most perfect fruit of our harvest. During ritual, this is made into a salad, topped with honey (the sweetness of life) and served at the communion. We receive the Stars of Hope. Often there is a Corn Bread Goddess which is ritually consumed as well.
Songs
Mabon
Mabon is also called Autumn Equinox, Alban Elfed, and the Second festival of Harvest. It's actual date can vary.
Other Names
Mabon (May-bawn) is also known as the Feast of Avalon and the festival of the Wine Harvest. To the Celts, Avalon is the mysterious place for the land of the dead. and literally means the "land of apples". Thus this is a holiday for celebrating the bounty of the harvest and the desire for the living to be reunited with their deceased loved ones.
Myths and Traditions
Mabon is celebrated at the FALL EQUINOX, when day and night are again equal. Mabon is the middle of the Harvest and of the fall season. This is the time of the Sun's denouement, its' slow slide into winter and symbolic death. It is also the time of the Earth's' ebbing life force, as the plants of summer bear their fruit and decrease. The name Mabon comes from the Celtic God Mabon, or Maponos, who died every year, to be reborn in the spring.
But the holiday is also named for the Welsh God Mabon. Mabon means the "great son". He was the son of Modred, kidnapped at the age of 3 and later rescued by King Arthur. His life represents the innocence of youth, the strength of survival and the growing wisdom of the elderly. Perhaps it is this view of the cycle of life that brings Mabon to his most popular role, the King of the Otherworld and the God of Darkness.
His myths overlap with other Gods such as the Welsh God Gwyn Ap Nuad, which means "white son of darkness". He is seen as the God of war and death, the patron God of fallen warriors. Once again this is a representation or connection to the Land of Avalon.
Songs
Full Moon/New Moon
The mythology of the moon follows the cycles of women's mysteries. When the moon is waxing (getting bigger) then the moon is in her "Maiden" (or virgin) phase. When the moon is full, it's the "Mother" phase, and when the moon is waning (getting smaller) then it's the "Crone" phase. The new moon is the time of death and rebirth, symbolically.
The Maiden aspect is sometimes called, "virgin" phase but does not refer to sex. In the past, the term "virgin" was used for the name for an unmarried woman.
So, the Goddess blossoms into womanhood slowly following the waxing of the moon, becomes a mother at the full moon (ripe with child) and wanes into a wise crone.
These three aspects of the Goddess are the main ones honored in Wicca. Some traditions also include a dual aspect of the God of Warrior, Father, and Sage, but this is not traditional. (Of course, if it works for you, then use it.)
Songs
Further info online
Isaac Bonewits Neo Pagan Druid Calendar
Celebrating the Seasons-Lore and Rituals by Selena Fox
The Witches Sabbats
Bibliography and Further Reading:
Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stewart Farrar (I have not read this one)
Once Around the Wheel by Ian Corrigan (This one is actually a recorded workshop on seasonal songs.)
Wheel of the Year by Teresa Moorey and Jane Brideson
Wicca 2000: Invocations, Prayers, and Rituals for the Magickal Millennium by Patricia Telesco
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