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Comparison of Sabbats to Holidays of Other Religions
by Aislin Lumina
The sabbats, the eight holidays of Wicca can be compared to the holidays of other major and minor world religions, both historic and present day. To facilitate the ease of this comparison, I will explore each sabbat separately and in turn. We will begin with Samhain, considered by most Wiccans to be the start of the New Year.
Samhain
The final of the three harvest festivals, Samhain traditionally falls on the 31st of October. The original intent of Samhain was to honor the third and final harvest of the year, the meat harvest, in preparation for the fast approaching winter. For the ancient Celts, this was the Feast for the Dead. During the Reformation, the Church tried to convert the holiday to observance, feast, and prayer for the Catholic pantheon of Saints. Originally, this holiday was named Michaelmass by the Church, in honor of St. Michael. However, the holiday was so pervasive to the pagan tribes, it was later changed to All Hallows Eve or Eve of All Saints, to precede All Saints Day on November 1st. This is still a very holy holiday today in Catholicism. The most well-known holiday in the Western world to compare with Samhain is All Soul’s Day, or All Saints Day, which along with Mexico’s Day of the Dead, or Dia de Los Muertes, falls on November 1st. (Ravenwolf, 1999). In Mexico, El Dia de Muerte is celebrated two days after Samhain on November 2nd, as a time to honor ancestors through drinking and feasting.
Yule
Yule, celebrated on the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, around the 21st or 22nd of December, is a festival of light that can be compared to similar holidays throughout the world. For pagans, Yule celebrates the birth of the Sun God from the Goddess, a promise of new life in the world. During the Christian conversion, the Christians moved the date of the birth of Jesus, the Christ child, from the summer to the 25th of December so it could be nearer to the pagan celebrated Yule. This, they believed, would make the conversion easier. Many of the pagan Yule traditions, such as evergreen trees, gift-giving, feasting, candles, and wreaths were incorporated into Christmas, virtually unchanged (Morrison 2002). The Jewish “Festival of Lights,” Hanakkah also falls around this time in December (though dates vary year to year). A relatively new holiday, the Afro-American festival of Lights Kwanzaa, is also celebrated at varying dates in December. The Native Americans of the Southwest United States call the holiday “Soyalanwul,” to give birth to the new year and new life (McCoy 1994).
Imbolc
Imbolc, most often associated with the Celtic goddess Brigid, is celebrated on February 1st or 2nd. From the word “oimelc,” or “ewe’s milk,” this holiday refers specifically to pregnancy of the sheep, but more generally to the mother earth “quickening” to life. In the cold and dead of winter, this was a holiday of hope for light to come. In ancient Rome, this time was dedicated to various mother/lover deities over the years including: Vesta, Juno Februata, Aphrodite, Artemis, Venus, and Diana (Arynn 2001). As mentioned previously, the Church was much interested in moving it’s holidays to the dates of the pagan festivals during the Reformation. And so, Candlemas became a Catholic holiday, celebrated on February 2nd, to worship the Church’s St. Brigit. The Feast of Isis occurs in Egypt from January 31st to February 3rd, and there is also a Yoruba/Santeria feast day to honor Oya on February 2nd. Chinese New Year, though varying dates year to year, also falls around Imbolc (Arynn 2001).
Ostara
Falling on the Spring Equinox, approximately March 22nd, Ostara was named for the Virgin Goddess of Spring in Ancient Germany (McCoy 2002). Because the Church could not eradicate yet another pagan holiday, they incorporated many of the pagan traditions, such as eggs and rabbits, into the Christian Easter, which falls around the same time and derives it’s name from the pagan Ostara. In Celtic Cornwall and Wales, Ostara was changed to “Lady Day,” and celebrated the return of the Goddess after her winter hibernation. The lamb, another sacred symbol of the Spring goddess at Ostara, was incorporated into the Jewish Passover, which falls around the same date (McCoy 1994).
Beltane
The old Celtic holiday of Beltane falls on May 1st, or the first full moon closest to May 1st on the Celtic calendar. This is a celebration of Spring and love, in which revelers dance around the Maypole, as a symbol of fertility and a hope for fertility of the land. Balefires are lit (or as they are called in Norway, Balder’s fires) (Mccoy 1994). The revelers would jump over the fires as yet another symbol of the fertility and regeneration that the season of Spring brings. Renamed May Day, this holiday still persists in parts of Ireland, where cattle are guided between balefires, to ensure their productivity for the coming year (Grimassi 2001). Walpurgis Night, a Germanic holiday celebrated from April 30th to May 1st, was a fire festival when witches supposedly held a huge ritual. The Christians later named the holiday after St. Walpurga in an effort to “Christianize” this obviously pagan holiday (Grimass 2001).
Midsummer/Litha
Midsummer, known as Litha to many pagans, is the holiday that falls at the Summer Solstice. Midsummer has always been a festive time, for many of the world’s civilizations. In the Christian calendar, June 24th has been named St. John’s Day. The fires that are burned during Midsummer, to them, became known as St. John’s fires, who the Christians attributed them to in reverence. St. John (John the Baptist) is prayed to on this night for having baptized Jesus and named him The Savior (Franklin 2002). Other cultures in history have long celebrated Midsummer (the longest day of the year), including Mesopotamia, Greece, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Lughnassa/Lammas
The word Lughnassa comes from the Gaelic word “nasad,” meaning “games or assembly” of Lugh. The first of the three harvest festivals, this was the festival to celebrate the first harvest of grain. During the Reformation, this summer festival greatly died out, though in some parts, the festival was renamed Lammas by the Christians, meaning “loaf-mass” (Franklin & Mason 2001). The Native Americans have long celebrated a day in early August, devoted to the Corn Grandmother. In Ancient Rome, a similar grain festival celebrated the grain goddess Ceres, and even in North Africa, the Egyptian Sun goddess Isis is still celebrated near Aug 1st (Franklin & Mason 2001).
Mabon
The second harvest festival, Mabon (the fruit and vegetable harvest) falls on the Fall equinox, or in the Celtic calendar, the closest full moon to the Fall Equinox. The Ancient Greeks celebrated Dionysus during this time, the god of vegetation. In China, they still hold a festival, called the Mid-Autumn festival, and in present day India, the Autumn Navrati (Nine Nights) is celebrated to worship the Hindu goddess Durga, who was a vegetation goddess (Madden 2002). In Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish new year, falls around this time. Foods such as apples, pomegranates, and hallah bread with raisins are served in celebrations of the fruit harvest (Madden 2002).
Bibliography
Arrynn, Amber & Azrael. Candlemas. Llewellyn Publications. 2001.
Franklin, Anna & Paul Mason. Lammas. Llewellyn Publications. 2001.
Franklin, Anna. Midsummer. Llewellyn Publivations. 2002.
Grimassi, Raven. Belane. Llewellyn Publications. 2001.
McCoy, Edain. The Sabbats. Llewellyn Publications. 1994.
McCoy, Edain. Ostara. Llewellyn Publications. 2002.
Madden, Kristin. Mabon. Llewellyn Publications. 2002.
Morrison, Dorothy. Yule. Llewellyn Publications. 2002.
Ravenwolf, Silver. Halloween. Llewellyn Publcations. 2001.
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