Pagan Religious Days (sabbats)

[Isiodre]

October 31st: Samhain (Saw-ain/Sow-een)

Pagan New Year in Neo-Paganism, the realms of the living and the dead are at the thinest and contact is made easier to those that passed. It is a time to honour the passed ancestors. This is the time where we look back at the previous year and look forward into the new year.

December 21st/22nd/23rd: Yule

The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, we see the coming of longer days and the rebirth of the Sun God and the return of Spring/

February 2nd: Imbolg (Im-bolc/Imm-olc)

For wiccans this is the traditional time for new initiations. It is a cross quarter day, meaning that it falls half way between Yule (Winter Solstice) and Ostara (Spring Solstice)

March 21st/22nd/23rd: Ostara

Spring Solstice, days are getting longer and sunlight is around for 12 hrs a day or so.

(Rest will be added tomorrow after i've had some sleep)

[Artemisia]

During Ostara/Spring or Vernal Equinox....day and night are equal...balanced perfectly and an astronomical festival of light and abundance!

One of my favorite Sabbats...I hope everyone has a Blessed one!

xo's BB ~Artemisia

[revlafay]

During Ostara/Spring or Vernal Equinox....day and night are equal...balanced perfectly and an astronomical festival of light and abundance!

One of my favorite Sabbats...I hope everyone has a Blessed one!

xo's BB ~Artemisia

yes i love this time in our wheel.

Ostara is one of the Fire Festivals

observed by our ancestors, who lit

bonfires and torches as a focal point

of the celebrations. Fire is

especially symbolic of the rising

Sun, and of old, it was customary to

light bonfires on top of nearby hills

in his honour.

[revlafay]

In the mythology of the Witchs

Sabbats, Ostara celebrates the return of the Goddess from

the Underworld. Warmed by the strengthening light of

the Sun, she awakes bursting forth from her sleep and

blankets the earth with fertility. As the Sun God stretches

and grows to maturity, he and the Goddess walk the fields

and forests and, delighted with the abundance of life and

nature, inspire all living things to grow and reproduce.

Fertility

The main focus at Ostara was to honour the Gods and

Goddesses whose blessings were invoked to promote

fertility during the planting season. One of the fertility

animals associated with the Goddess at Ostara is the

Snake, which emerges from its winter hibernation to bask

in the spring sunshine. Due to the constant shedding of its

skin, the snake was seen as a symbol of new life. In many

of the worlds creation myths, the Goddess in the form of

a snake laid the Egg of Original Beings, better known as

the World Egg or the Cosmic Egg of Creation, which

was split open by the heat of the

Sun God. The inside yolk of the

egg represents the Sun God,

while the outside shell is seen as

the womb of the Goddess. The

whole, therefore, is uniquely

symbolic of creation, birth and

new beginnings.

Edited March 10, 2010 by revlafay