Cycling Through the Neopagan Year Quiz

As the seasons change, so do the segments of the year in the Neopagan calendar. The significance of Summer Solstice, the day of the year where the sun lasts the longest in the sky, is quite high for people who follow this calendar as it coincides with the events of Midsummer, a festival (or sabbat) that holds meaning for many followings.

Summer Solstice is celebrated throughout Europe and is especially known for being a major event in Scandinavia. Similar folklore can be found in England, where Stonehenge has been the site of Neopagan celebration on the solstice date. There, the sunrise aligns with the ruins.

The Gregorian month of June is devoted to Litha in the Neopagan calendar and many of its typical traditions are shared with Midsummer festivals around the world. Deriving from an Old English word for 'gentle', Litha is typically seen as a calmer period in the calendar brought on by long days, favourable weather conditions, and bountiful harvest. On these days, the period is celebrated with bonfires and feasts in nature.

It's said that those who harvest medicinal herbs during this time will find them more potent, perhaps due to the power of the sun at its most prevalent.

Celebrated in certain circles in the UK, Lughnasa (or Lughnasadh) corresponds to both the Christian holiday of Lammas (known for its baked goods and harvest breads) and late summer-early fall during the general harvest season. Named after the Old Irish God of the Harvest, Lugh, it's said that early observers of this holiday used the occasion for feasting and athletic events, often expecting good weather to coincide with the season.

Many involved in the ritual would also make pilgrimage to higher hills and peaks in Ireland on these occasions, using Reek Sunday as an opportunity to climb Croagh Patrick. It's a tradition that's persisted for more than a thousand years.

Another Neopagan feast day, Mabon falls on the September equinox and slots in between other major events, usually in September, and while Lugnasa is celebrated with grain, Mabon is celebrated with apples. The name Mabon is actually a modern one, having been established in reference to the Welsh deity Mabon ap Modron.

The day lines up with other religious and cultural festivals as well. In Judaism, it'll fall around the same time as Sukkot and Rosh Hashanah. In Germany, Bavarians used this harvest to signify the start of what would become Oktoberfest.

A precursor to the modern Halloween, Samhain typically fell on November 1st, a day earmarked by Christianity as All Saints' Day. There's a lot of similarity between the two as both honour and respect the dead; it's why Halloween leans into the darker and the macabre.

With Samhain, however, the origins were much less nefarious. November 1st was the ideal time to transfer herd livestock from summer pastures to winter ones. The time coincided with the evenly-spaced festivals and sabbats of the wheel and became known for its proclivity towards divination, especially at ritual bonfires and feasts, during which followers would dress up in garb to impersonate spirits. Sound familiar?

Christianity adopted this particular sabbat as Christmas, but in the Neopagan calendar, this was the Yuletide season, a time celebrated especially by followers in Scandinavian regions. For Wiccans, this date also marked the birth and rebirth of the Horned God, the male form of divinity. On this darkest season, his birth at the coldest, darkest period would signal progressively lighter and warmer days to follow.

The name of 'Yule' is said to derive from a norse variation of Odin, specifically 'Jólnir', and it's a word that, not unsurprisingly, also relates to feasting.

The diametric opposite to the Summer Solstice at the top of the wheel, the Winter Solstice is generally marked at December 21 (though it was obviously observed flexibly before the modern calendar). In any case, it signified the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere and was, like Yule time, seen as a time of rebirth.

While the Midwinter period would end with the celebration of modern Candlemas in the Christian faith, this significant time period dates back further with the Roman empire pushing back Paganists and celebrating instead with Brumalia and Saturnalia, both of which were times of sacrifice, public banquets, and merriment.

Old English worshippers used Stonehenge, like with Summer Solstice, as a site to celebrate and observe this time period earlier than the Romans. They, too, valued the feasting, naturally.

Landing at what would, today, be the start of February, Imbolc is a Pagan festival that has also taken root in Christianity, evolving to become St. Brigid's Day, celebrated on February 1st (though it's an August 1st holiday in the Southern Hemisphere, with no affiliation to the Irish patron saint).

Though this particular sabbat has less clarity surrounding it, Celtic scholars link the name 'imbolc' to an Irish phrase for 'in the belly'. This isn't a phrase that would be universally applicable to the Neopagans, but in the days of Old Ireland, February would have been the ideal time of year for lambing, signifying another critical period for the agricultural calendar.

Because of its link to St. Brigid, Wiccans may treat this as a female-centric holiday, especially with its links to mothering.

Held on the Spring Equinox, you might be able to discern that the name of Ostara is an early derivation of the word 'Easter', which falls around the same time of year and is celebrated as a Christian holiday. It's another important time as, in many cultures, it signals to continual progression towards the lightest time of year and, most importantly, rebirth.

In nature, it's the time period at which plants begin to bud again and seeds are planted for crops and gardens.

One of the most celebrated events on the wheel, Beltane is held at the start of May in more regions than most, whether in its Gaelic original form or as May Day in the Christian realm (when people dance around the maypole) or as Walpurgis Night throughout parts of Europe. In Celtic lore, however, it was seen as the day of the first feast of summer a celebratory time in which followers celebrated the good season to come.

Historically, Beltane was a time where Pagans performed protective rituals with the aim of ensuring not only good harvest, but stronger livestock years. Naturally, these would involve bonfires, flowers, and dancing. But what good party doesn't?