The Wheel of the Year

Ok, so it's not a very interesting subject but it is an important one to Pagans of all kinds.

Pagans have a belief that life is cyclical.  This belief came about as a result of very unscientific observations that our ancestors did.  Throughout the course of a year they saw all of nature around them cycle through this mystery of birth, death and re-birth.  Because our ancestors were agrarian (farmers/hunter/gatherers) in their life, they learned to recognize and follow these cyclical changes because for them, it meant being able to survive.

The Wheel of the Year also includes astrologically significant events as well.  Solstices and Equinoxes marked very specific times of the year that triggered specific events for our ancestors.  Some of them might have been a "call to action" of sorts as well.  For example, we know that the Spring Equinox signals to all our animal friends that, from a reproductive standpoint, it is time to "get busy" making more of themselves.  (Hence the reason that one of the symbols of this equinox is the hare or rabbit.  Both are recognized in many cultures as symbols of fertility.)  The humans start preparing the ground to receive that years food supply.  We want to turn the ground to ensure that it will provide enough nutrients to the food that we plant.

Solstices come in between the equinoxes.  From an astrological perspective, these are solar festivals.  We know that at the Summer solstice, the days start to shorten and it becomes a reminder to us that the first harvest will be quick to arrive.  At the Winter solstice, we are at the height of darkness in the world.   It is during this time that we have reached the maximum amount of darkness in a day and after the Winter solstice we can see our days lengthening.   It is a signal to our bodies that it's time for them to wake up and its possible that the occasional animal will come out of its slumber soon looking for a mid-winter snack.

In between these equinoxes and solstices, our Pagan ancestors inserted mid-way points.  When we knew that they had been reached, we knew that we were on the downside to the next equinox or solstice.

In between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox we have a holiday called Imbolc.  Imbolc is a holiday that is celebrated by the Celts and other cultures may not have used this particular name or even celebrated this mid point at all.  I mbolg means "in the belly" which has to do with the fact that around the beginning of February animals would enter their first reproductive cycle of the year which usually resulted in ewes getting pregnant.

In between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice we have a holiday referred to as Beltane.  This day occurs around the first of May and is sometimes called May Day.  It marked the midpoint between spring and summer.  All the animals were taken to their summer pastures for fattening up and were traditionally driven between 2 large bonfires to purify them from illness and evil.  Households, who usually kept embers burning all the time to make relighting fires easier, doused their old embers and re-lit their new household fires from these large bonfires.  Beltane was also a time of sexual desires and many would take to the countryside to engage in sexual relations.  If the woman became pregnant as a result, they would enter into the traditional "year and a day" handfasting, usually held during the Summer Solstice.

In between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox we have Lammas or Lughnasadh.  This was the first harvest of the year.  Our ancestors would take some of this new harvest and bake it into a loaf.  The loaf of bread would be broken in to 4 pieces, with a piece being placed in the 4 corners of a house or barn for good luck.  If this was a good first harvest, it was a safe bet that there would be sufficient grain for the upcoming winter months.

Lastly, in between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice we have Samhein.  Cattle were brought down from the summer pastures and slaughtered in preparation for the long winter.  Field harvests were complete and the earth itself was telling people that they would soon be entering a time of rest.  Traditionally this was the time that the door to the Otherworld was open and that one could communicate with the departed.  Altars were made to honor them and food and gifts were given to the ancestors to honor them.

So there you have it, a Wheel of the Year.  Keep in mind that other cultures would use their own names for these times or would not have used them at all, choosing only to go by the equinoxes and solstices.  This one that I have outlined here was commonly used by the Celts in Europe.

The Wheel of the Year serves as a reminder to us of our roots.  It tells us where we have come from and provides a rich history of what we had to do to survive the year round.  It was a rough, hardscrabble life and these milestones meant that you survived another cycle.