The Wheel of the Year is celebrated (usually) by Pagans and looks at the annual cycle of seasonal festivals. It includes the solstices and equinoxes, as well as the midpoints between them. As the festivals are based on British Paganism from the mid-20th century, there are Celtic Fire Festivals (or “Cross-Quarter Days”) which count for 4 of the festivals altogether - if you don’t want to celebrate these, then it’s perfectly alright not to. The Wheel of the Year is cyclical and so follows the idea of life, death and rebirth. Also, just because you practice witchcraft, doesn’t mean that you have to follow the Wheel of the Year - Witchcraft is not a religion, but a practice.
However, I follow the Wheel of the Year and so that’s why I’m putting this out there!
So to start, we’ve got our Solar Festivals;
The Solar Festivals celebrate the peak of each season and are decided by where the sun is in relation to the Earth.
And then there’s our Celtic Fire Festivals;
The Celtic Fire Festivals are the “entry” to the season and are seen to have tons of seasonal energy. This energy is usually released with a bonfire being lit. They’re like the midpoints between the Solstices and the Equinoxes, and can be called “Cross-Quarter Days”.
The Wheel of the Year isn’t the “End-All” or “Complete Collection” of festivals that you can celebrate, but it gives structure to the year and so most witches adapt to it. If there’s a holiday that you have and love, add it in and have some fun!
"The end and the beginning of the Celtic Year” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from October 31st to November 1st
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from April 30th to May 1st
So, I pronounce this like “sow-en” but I am Irish so it’s that Gaeilge accent coming out of me. This is also known as “Halloween” to those that don’t follow the Wheel of the Year, or “All Hallow’s Eve”. When we look at the cyclical nature of the Wheel of the Year, it stands for that in between moment where we stare and anticipate death. During this festival, the veil between the Living and the Dead is thin, and so it’s about remembering those that have passed before us.
Typically, witches will work with the dead and try to communicate with spirits and wandering ghosts.
“Festival of rebirth, midwinter, the shortest day and longest night of the year” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from December 20th to the 23rd
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from June 20th to 23rd
Pronounced exactly how it looks, Yule is also called “Midwinter” commonly and “Alban Arthan” within modern Druid traditions. It’s the turning point of the year where we celebrate the fact that the sun is coming back and with it the life of the Earth. Basically we’re sick of winter and want summer back.
Typically, witches celebrate with warm drinks, Yule logs and evergreen trees decorated for the spirits of winter.
“The Earth’s awakening” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from January 31st to February 2nd
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from July 31st to August 2nd
This festival has a lot of names, in case you couldn’t tell. Pick whichever you prefer and vibe with it - it honestly doesn’t really matter which you choose because they all mean the same festival in essence. So Bride isn’t pronounced how you think it is, it’s “bri-ja” like the word “bridge” but stretched out. It is not pronounced like a groom and bride!
Imbolg celebrates the return of spring, and is originally a festival that celebrated the goddess Brigid, later turned into Saint Brigid through Christianisation.
Typically, witches will light torches and celebrate using fire in every form, symbolising the light that is coming with Spring.
“The first day of Spring, day and night are equal” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from March 21st to 22nd
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from September 21st to 22nd
This festival is attributed to Eostre (an Old English Goddess/ Anglo-Saxon Goddess). Basically, it’s about how excited everyone is now that spring is here. Ostara is now Easter - hares and eggs are the symbols of Eostre. The Equinox is all about fertility, new life and the idea of harmony and balance. Light and dark are equal, and the light is only growing stronger. Bluntly put, Ostara is the run-up for Beltaine (the prep work kinda?), since it’s all gaining the favour of a fertility goddess which is then put to the test at the next festival .
Typically, witches will paint eggs and basically dedicated the festival to celebrating fertility.
“ Heralding Summer, festival of fertility” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated on the 1st of May
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from October 31st to November 1st
So I’m cheating on this one..... Beltaine (”bell-ten-aah”) can be spelt Bealteinne, Bealtaine and Beltane, but I’m Irish so I use the Irish/Gaeilge spelling and pronunciation.
Beltaine is the first day of summer and was celebrated by people jumping over fires to ensure their fertility - it was symbolic and the idea that if you cleared the fire with no problems, then you’re definitely gonna be fertile and conceive super easily. The veil between the world is thin during this time, and so it’s perfect to communicate with spirits - human and not.
Typically, witches have a lot of sex and go for nature walks.
“Summer’s height, the longest day and the shortest night” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from June 20th to the 23rd
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from December 20th to 23rd
At the Summer Solstice, the sun is high and bright in the sky and is at its peak for the year. It can be called “Midsummer” as well, as after it the dark starts to creep back into our days.
Here’s a fun fact, so June is blessed with the Mead Moon or Honey Moon, and as June was considered super lucky, couples would get married during it. Newlyweds would have to drink mead all day for a month after their wedding for tradition and so this period of time was known as their “honeymoon”, and is where we get the term from!
Typically, witches will eat fresh fruits and experience the power of the sun through meditating outdoors, going for a walk, and charging spells, crystals, and herbs. Divination is practised at night during this time!
“Festivals of gratitude and marriage” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from July 31st to August 1st
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from February 1st to 2nd
So this is a bit different..... this festival has two names coming from two different origins and this can affect how you celebrate (you can also choose to just not care about that too, either-or really). Lughnasadh is an old way of spelling it, but the modern Irish way is spelt Lúnasa (”loo-na-sah”), if you prefer one way of spelling over the other then choose that one (they’re pronounced the same btw!). Lammas is the Anglo-Saxon version and translates to loaf mass, whereas Lughnasagh was dedicated to the Celtic god of fire, Lugh.
It’s the festival of the first harvest, so things like baking bread and eating fruits, handfasting and just having a great time on a hill or a mountain (this is something people did for Lugh but I’ll go over that another time).
Typically, witches will bake bread in the shape of a man and eat it, drinking wine (personally, I like rosé) and all around just doing things that relax you.
“Festival of harvest, when day and night are equal” - L. Lister
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from September 20th to 23rd
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated from March 20th to 23rd
This.... This right here..... This is my favourite festival. It’s also known as Meán Fómhair (”man” - “foh-er”/”fore” - depends on dialect) in Irish/Gaeilge and is about sharing the last of the harvest amongst others. There’s a lot of bread baking for this holiday as well and I am absolutely enthralled about that. It’s got all the vibes of spiced apples, cinnamon sticks and pastry pies rolled up into one.
Typically, witches will bake apple pie and bread, do some autumn house cleaning, and decorate using acorns and corn.
And that’s the Wheel of the Year! I’ll have a more in depth post where I go over each festival to the point of tears, but for now this is the bare bones of it all!
Thanks for coming to my Witch Talk xx
