SABBATS AND ESBATS

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SABBATS AND ESBATS - Wiccan Holidays and Holy Days By Charles Arnold

The sabbats and the esbats, the times set aside by Witches for their celebrations have a long and involved history. The sabbats, times set aside for large gatherings of any number of covens and friends of covenors go back in some cases for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years. Others, those established after the introduction of astronomy are much newer but still date back to at least the first millennium BCE.

These are power times on the earth, celebrated by members of dozens of religions, in scores of countries and under as many names but still there is a chord. Beltaine, May 1; Samhain, October 31; Yule, December 21; Eostre, April 21; these dates are reflected over and over again, in Christianity, in Hinduism, and in nearly every other faith on the planet.

And, as Wicca is a lunar oriented religion, its days, like those of the Jews, begin at sundown and continue until the following sundown. Samhain, or Halloween as it is more commonly known, extends from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1 but, as you will learn, the most important part of the celebration occurs during the hours of darkness. And it is also due to this lunar orientation that Witches celebrate a second type of gathering, the Esbat or Full Moon Rite.

Unlike sabbats, which are a combination of religious and community celebration, the esbats are times for worship and magick. Those held on the full moon (the most common type) are to worship the Goddess and the God of the Witches with the moon representing the Goddess. These are also time for magick, especially workings that focus on growth, fullness and birth. Sabbats may also be held on the new or dark moon and the work done here would focus on secrecy, divination and new beginnings.

It is felt that a more complete understanding of the underlying currents of Wicca would go far in dispelling the numerous negative folk-myths and religious attacks made upon Witches. If it is understood that the sabbats are celebrations of life, held at nearly equal spacing around "the wheel of the year," perhaps their gatherings would seem less mysterious and threatening. And if members of other faiths recognized that Witches gather on the full moon to celebrate birth and life and worship their Goddess as represented by the full moon, perhaps many of the threats and attacks would stop.

There are few points of difference between eclectic Witchcraft and other branches of Wicca that are so rarely discussed but cause greater long-term disharmony than the celebration of the Sabbats. The folklorist and traditionalists, knowing the power of times, even while the dates of the sabbats may be inconvenient, celebrated their rites on the exact date. Most eclectic groups, on the other hand, express the sentiment that the exact time of the celebration is of little or no significance. Many groups hold their celebrations on the nearest Friday night or Sunday afternoon, preferring these times to traditional dates that may be inconvenient, difficult to arrange, or in conflict with some other event. After all, most civil holidays across North America have had their traditional dates changed to a Friday or a Monday in order to provide all of us with long weekends. Is this difference really all that important or is it just another aspect of "tradition" being used to stifle individual interpretation of the Craft?

The answer is, of course, that the timing of Sabbat celebrations are of serious import for times, like objects can, and do accrue power. Psychometry, as it is used in the occult, is the acquired skill of being able to "read" an object. This consists of examining an object, sensing the various energies that have clung to it, and reading these energies as events. Anyone who has ever been to Avebury, Long Barrow, Tara Hill, Glastonbury or any of the other ancient sacred sites of the precursors of Western European Wicca, have probably experienced psychometry on a grand scale. Time, or specific times in the form of dates, can and do accrue energy in exactly the same manner.

Each of the sabbats has acquired and had attached to it, great amounts of specific energies, energies associated with that which the sabbat is designed to reflect. Imbolc is a time of quiet reflection and celebration, the winter has done its worse and we have survived. The seed is quietly germinating under the frozen surface of the field. The animals of the barn and the field are bearing their young. There is cause to know that the plan of life is proceeding as it should and it is time to celebrate that fact, with our families, our friends and our coven. At Beltane, with the flowers in bloom, the fruit trees in full blossom, many of the animals beginning a new breeding season, we are called to a completely different sabbat. The rush of energy is to a celebration of life, of male and female and the joining of the two. It's time to take the ribbons streaming from the glistening, phallic Maypole and dance the dance of life.

Samhain is what we term a Great Sabbat, a festival of the first level of importance and, in fact is the celebration of two inter-related times. The first is the end of the old year, celebrated at sunset, October 31. This is a celebration both of and to death as but a doorway to life ever returning. The second celebration is at sunrise, November 1 and pertains to the impregnation of the Goddess by the Dark Lord with the Child of Promise to be born at Yule. Between these two times is the Night That Does Not Exist, a time between times when we celebrate the Feast of the Dead. It is at this time that the curtain between our world and the realms of the Mighty Ones, between the living and the Summerland, is rent so that the souls of those who have gone before can find their way, aided by the Dark Hunt if necessary, to the West and the Cauldron of Rebirth which is the Goddess. For these reasons the pathworking most often associated with this sabbat is the scourge. It's also the most powerful time for divination.

Samhain is also known as Calan Gaeaf, or by the Christian title of All Hallows Eve or Halloween. Traditions associated with Samhain include the traditional Jack-o-Lantern, the colors orange and black, and the setting aside of a serving of the feast for the dead. Foods most often included in a Samhain feast include pork, apples, acorn bread and a variety of dishes of vegetables common at this time of year, and often highly spiced in a variety of ways.

Yule is a lesser sabbat, one of four of the third order of importance, and not necessarily even celebrated by many folklore-type covens though in other traditions such as the Norse, it is extremely important. Yule begins at sundown of the longest night of the year and continues to either the following sunset. Other names for Yule include An Fheill-Shlinnein, Alban Arthan and Giula or Geola. Yule celebrates birth as a life event reflecting as it does the birth of the Sun, the Child of Promise, mothered by the Goddess and fathered by the Dark Lord, conceived far under the earth at Samhain and thus, reflecting the events happening with seeds sown in the late autumn. Most Christmas rituals similar to Yule rituals having been originally adopted from them. These include the Yule log, the Yule wreath, the hanging of various evergreen boughs and sprigs of Mistletoe, and the Yule tree.

Feast dishes most often seen include a variety of fowl, game, and hard vegetables and roots, as well as dishes made of nuts and dried fruits. Stored cakes such as fruitcakes are also common. Owing to its golden color, reflective of the newborn Sun, mead is the common drink. A traditional Yule tree is trimmed with natural items including acorns and other nuts, berries, etc. and, after Yule, is placed out of doors so that the various birds and animals can share in the celebration. Colors commonly used for decoration and clothing include red for the newborn sun, green for the fertility it brings, and white for the snow that hides the mystery.

Imbolg is a Major Sabbat, a celebration of the second level of importance. It's usually celebrated from sunset, February 1 to the following sunset. Other names for Imbolg or Imbolc include Candlemas, Oimelc, Brigid (after the Irish goddess of fire and poetry), and Lupercalia (its Roman designation). Imbolg is reflective of childhood as an associated stage of life and is the Mid-Winter festival of celebration of life and of hope. Foods usually found at this feast are regularly made of preserved grain, dried vegetables and dried or preserved fish or meat.

Eostre is the second of the lesser sabbats even though it is regarded as the first of the two main fertility festivals. It's celebrated from sunset of the day before or day of the Vernal equinox (depending of which is actually closer to the time of the equinox) to sunset of the following day. Colors for Eostre are, as may well be expected, yellow and purple, the colors of the first flowers of spring. It is also known as Lady Day, Co-Thad-Thrath, Alban Eilir, and Ostara. As can easily be seen by these names, this Sabbat celebrates puberty and the onset of fertility. Other aspects of the Sabbat which reflect this are the many associated symbols such as eggs and rabbits.

Eostre was the Roman goddess of spring and her mystery was shown in the egg and her sacred animal was the rabbit, known for its reproductive habits. From the same root word as her name come such other common words as Estrus. Her Northern European counterpart was Ostara. Feast foods include eggs and rabbits as well as early greens such as fiddleheads, dandelion greens and asparagus and flower related foods and are all usually light in aspect with care given to appearance and preparation. Lamb is also served by a number of covens at this time. Early wine is also commonly served.

Beltane is, of course, the other Great Sabbat, celebrated from sunset, April 30 to sunset, May 1. As it is a celebration of fertility the point in the life path which it reflects is first sexual union and its pathworking has traditionally been sexual union. There are a wide variety of other names for Beltane, many of them being the same title with a wide variety of alternate spellings. Other names also include May Eve, Walpurgisnicht, Cyntefyn, Roodmass and Cetshamain. The central aspects of the Beltane celebration include the May Pole Dance, the picking of the Queen of the May and her consort and the celebrations of life and purification through either jumping the bonfire or passing between two fires. Feasting here too centers on early leaf vegetables, eggs, rabbits, and preserved foods, all prepared with a little extra spice and sweetening reflecting the feelings that all share around this time of year. The traditional drink for Beltane is, of course, May Wine which is a combination of certain traditional herbs in a white wine, prepared the year before on this date.

Leitha is the third lesser sabbats, added to the earlier, more powerful celebrations once astronomy began to be studied and the solstices and equinoxes established in Western Europe. It's regularly celebrated from the sunset beginning the shortest night of the year to either the following sunrise or sunset. The sabbat is reflective of adult maturity and strength. Other names used for this same time include Grian-Stad, Alban Hefin and Midsummer. Celebrations at Leitha tend to focus of feats of strength and agility.

Lammas is the second major fire or purification festival as well as the second Major Sabbat of the year. It's celebrated from sunset, July 31 to sunset, August 1. Lammas is associated with Middle Age and the triumphing of wisdom and sacrifice over strength and ego. Traditionally, it has been a male and/or warrior oriented sabbat with special honors held out for veterans of battles, etc. who defended their homelands. Other names used for this celebration are Lughnasadh and August Eve. Lammas has been associated in Craft lore with a major magickal working culminating on this date in 1940, aimed at preventing a German invasion of Britain. While factual references are few and far between as well as questionable to one degree or another, Katherine Kurtz's, Lammas Night is a fictional work based on lore.

Mabon is the final lesser sabbat, a celebration of the success of the first harvest and a prayer for the harvest yet to come; it's the traditional Harvest Home celebration. The date of celebration, like all other third level sabbats is fluid, depending of the changing of the seasons, celebrated on the night before or night of the Autumn equinox till the following sunrise or sunset. Other names for the sabbat include Harvestide, Alban Elfed and, of course, Harvest Home. Mabon, named for the Welsh "Child of Promise" celebrates the offerings of aging and old age.