A calendar of eight festivals falling on the solstices, the equinoxes and four other intermediate dates is observed by many branches of neopaganism. The solstices and equinoxes are widely known as Quarter days; the four dates falling between them are the Cross-quarter days or "fire festivals".
In Wicca the eight festivals are called Sabbats and are
distinct from Esbats, which are Wiccan festivals falling at full or new moon.
Some modern Druids follow a similar eightfold wheel, but do not refer to the
individual festivals as Sabbats. While retaining the Irish names for the fire
festivals, they use names derived from the writings of Iolo Morganwg for the
solstices and equinoxes. Keltrian druidry uses the same festival names as are
common in North American Wicca.
The festivals, with the usual dates of their celebrations,
are:
Midwinter/Yule/Alban Arthan, on the winter solstice
Imbolc/Oimelc/Brigid's Day, on February 2 and the preceding
eve
Ostara/Lady Day/Alban Eilir, on the spring equinox
Beltane/Beltaine/May Day on May 1 and the preceding eve
Midsummer/Litha/Alban Hefin, on the summer solstice
Lughnasadh/Lammas, on August 1 and the preceding eve
Mabon/Harvest Home/Alban Elfed, on the autumnal equinox
Samhain, on November 1 and the preceding eve October 31
While most of these names derive from historical festivals,
the names Litha and Mabon, which have become popular in North America were
invented by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s.
This calendar originates in the northern hemisphere, and the
symbolism of its festivals follows these seasons. In the southern hemisphere it
is common to shift the dates of the festivals by six months to preserve the
seasonal symbolism (so that for instance an Australian celebrates Samhain on 1
May, while a Canadian is celebrating Beltane).
Origins of the Wheel
The cross-quarter festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh
and Samhain were historically observed in medieval Ireland and to a lesser
extent medieval Wales; they possibly derive from the first century Gaulish
Coligny Calendar[citation needed] which, being a lunisolar calendar, does not
correspond to fixed days in the solar calendar; alternatively they may derive
from the Roman Kalends, the first of a month.[citation needed]
The four quarter days of the Christian calendar were also
observed in medieval and modern Europe and England, on dates close to the
solstices and equinoxes, and these are still marked by a variety of folk
customs in parts of Europe and the British Isles; for example, traditions
involving the Devil collecting nuts at or near the Autumn Equinox are
widespread in England; in France it is traditional to leap a bonfire at the
feast of St John (24 June).
However there is no place in Europe where all eight
festivals have been observed as a set, and the complete eightfold Wheel of the
Year is unknown prior to modern Wicca. Its invention is attributed to Gerald
Gardner, founder of Wicca, working together with Ross Nichols, founder of the
Druidic Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.[citation needed]
"No known pre-Christian people celebrated all the eight
festivals of the calendar adopted by Wicca. Around the four genuine Gaelic
quarter days are now ranged the Midwinter and September feasts of the
Anglo-Saxons, the Midsummer celebrations so prominent in folklore and (for
symmetry) the vernal equinox, which does not seem to have been commemorated by
any ancient northern Europeans."[1]
In ancient Iran, Assyria, and Rome, however, the new year
began on the vernal equinox. In the case of the Romans, this was 1 March, which
became dislodged over time from the astrological Aries/vernal equinox due to
Roman calendar drift.
In contrast to the names used in England, in Scotland the
fire festivals were (until a change of law in 1991) referred to as Quarter
days, also as Term days or Rent days. This has led to some confusion of
terminology, as different groups call different sets of festivals the 'Quarter
days'.
Modern Interpretations of the Wheel
Some neopagans have adopted dates for the cross-quarter
festivals based on a count of days rather than the Calends of the months,
working on the assumption that the dates given above derive from the Roman
based Gregorian Calendar. They recognize that the fire festivals are near the
midpoints between the solstices and equinoxes, and use the midpoint dates
instead of the traditional dates. These modern calculations tend to give dates
a few days after the traditional calendar based dates - Feb. 4 or 5 for Imbolc,
May 6 or 7 for Beltane, Aug. 5 or 6 for Lughnasadh, and Nov. 5 or 6 for
Samhain. There is some archeological evidence for such day counting in
Neolithic European cultures, including astronomical alignments in tombs to
sunrise about a week into November (Samhain).[2]
Other variants of the Wheel sets the four Sun Sabbats (Yule,
Ostara, Litha and Mabon) to the solstice/equinox dates, while the other four
(called Moon Sabbats) are set depending on the phase of the moon. Some
traditions celebrate each of the Cross-quarter days on the closest Full Moon to
the modern Gregorian Calendar date associated with each festival. Other
traditions celebrate on a chosen mid-season Full Moon (typically the 2nd Full
Moon after the preceding Equinox / Solstice, placing the observance 29-59 days
into the season with an average of 44 days). Others observe each festival in
association with a related mid-season phase of the moon, with Imbolc being
associate in various traditions with the New, Crescent, or First Quarter Moon;
Beltane with the First Quarter, Gibbous, or Full Moon; Lammas with the Full,
Disseminating or Last Quarter Moon; and Samhain with the Last Quarter,
Balsamic, or New Moon (See phase of the moon). There are many traditions and
opinions, with no definitive interpretation.
Mythological Narratives
Several narratives describe the cycle of the Wheel of the
Year. For Neo-Pagans, the most common is the Horned God/Goddes duality. In this
narrative, the God is born from the Goddess at Imbolc, courts her maiden aspect
at Beltaine, dies at Lammas, passess into the underworld at Samhain, then is
born from her mother/crone aspect again at Imbolc. The Goddess, in turn, ages
and rejuvinates endlessly with the seasons, being courted by and giving birth
to the Horned God.
Another, more solar, narrative is of the Holly King and the
Oak King. These two figures battle with each other endlessly. At Midsummer the
Oak King is at his height, but the weakened Holly King also begins to regain
his strength at that moment. At the Autumnal Equinox, the tables finally turn
in the Holly King's favor, and he vanquishes the Oak King at Yule. At this
moment, the Oak King begins to regain his footing, and finally manages to turn
the tables at the Vernal Equinox
In ancient Greece, the narrative of the wheel is told in the
cycle of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. The year is divided by the pomegranate
seeds eaten by Persephone in the underworld, delineating the fertile and infertile
cycle of the year.
Astrological signs in the wheel of the year
The eightfold wheel of the year punctuates the path of the
sun through the twelve-fold Tropical zodiac. In the northern hemisphere, the
sun enters Capricorn at Midwinter, Aries at Spring Equinox, Cancer at Midsummer
and Libra at Autumn Equinox. The festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and
Samhain fall when the sun is approximately halfway through the signs of
Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio, respectively.