The Wheel of the Year
The gods of the old religion become the devils of the new religion. But, new religions, in an effort to gain membership and foster smooth social transitions, appropriate the old festivals with new names.
The year is divided into four quadrants.
Ascending: The time between March 21 and September 21 is the feminine half of the wheel. This is the light half of the year.
Descending: The time between September 21 and March 21 is the masculine half of the wheel. This is the dark half of the year.
You may know March 21st as the Spring Equinox. This means that the light and dark half of the day is equal. From this point, the days will get lighter and lighter.
September 21st marks when light will begin to diminish.
June 21st is the longest day of the year, and is celebrated by Wiccans as "Midsummer."
The shortest day of the year is December 21. This is the holiday known as "Yule." The Christmas holiday is sprout from Yule, notice the yule log. Christmas also celebrates the Holly and the Ivy, both pagan references. In Ancient Rome, this time of year was celebrated as "Saturnalius," a male deity.
The Wheel's High Holidays, Sabbats, and low holidays
December 21 Yule This is the shortest day of the year.
February 2 Imbolc This is when the lambs first give milk. It is also known as "Groundhog Day."
March 22 Ostara Spring begins. This is where Easter comes from, and fertility symbols such as Easter Eggs and Bunny Rabbits
May 1 Beltane
June 21 Midsummer
August 2 Lughsahna This is the first of the three Harvest Festivals
September 21 Mabon This is the second of the Harvest Festivals
October 31 Samhain This is the most important holiday of the year. It is also known as "Halloween" and all of the Halloween symbols come from Samhain
I really love learning about these holidays! My birthday is Oct 31st, my mom calls me her Samhain baby and Ive always thought it was the coolest thing!-Morgan Schultz
ReplyDeleteThis was really cool to learn about because I did not know about the meaning of a lot of these holidays. -Jeanette Quinn
ReplyDeleteWow, I never realized how many "Christian" holidays are stemmed from other paegan and wiccan holidays. -- Kelsey Casper
ReplyDeleteThis is actually all new knowledge to me! I wasn’t even aware that the year was divided into the four quadrants. Sadly I don’t know anyone with birthdays on these specific dates because I would tell them!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool to learn about the holidays this way! I have never seen this wheel before but find it fascinating. I had no idea there were 4 quadrants in a year. It is so crazy to know that December 21st is the shortest day of the year, I will have to mark that date down to remember how I felt that day!
ReplyDelete-Alexis Carr
This is super interesting to learn about, I have never heard about the wheel of the year. It is also intriguing that Halloween is considered the most important holiday according to the wheel. I am always interested in learning more about Halloween, I find it a very cool holiday and I love learning more about its origin and background!
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting to learn about the concept of the wheel and how it correlates with the different holidays throughout the year! I also find it interesting that Halloween is the most important day of the year. I absolutely love celebrating Halloween, it is one of my favorite holidays! -Amanda Rainey
ReplyDeleteI was unaware that there are four quadrants throughout the year and I find this so cool!
ReplyDelete"The gods of the old religion become the devils of the new religion"! Wow, that sentence is powerful and eye-opening! I'm not religious or affiliated with any religion, but this sentence really made me reflect on the teachings and beliefs associated with modern religion! Even with the wheel of the year, it makes you take a step back and see just how many modern holidays (religious and nonreligious alike) stem from past holidays and celebrations. It's interesting that Samhain is considered to be the most important holiday of the year! I was born a few days after Samhain and I have always considered the holiday to be the most important of the year. To me, Samhain is more important than other holidays like Christmas and Easter!
ReplyDeleteImbolc seems really interesting because it shows how important small things like when the lambs first start to give milk were to previous civilizations. Also did Groundhog Day evolve from Imbolc or is it just a coincidence that they're celebrated on the same day. It's just confusing how we've made the transition from lamb to groundhog, haha!
ReplyDelete