This holiday marks the time when the souls all who have died throughout the year pass over to the other side, and all the souls of those who will be born in the next year come into the world. Celebrations are aimed at honoring, mourning and letting go of those who have died within the last year. This is also a time for the remembrance of ancestors who have come before with the telling of family stories, personal histories, and coven lore. Due to its importance, Samhain is also known as the Witches New Year. It was at this time of year that the fall harvest would be counted and it was known how many could be feed during the coming winter; by this time the frost would have come which means that winter is just around the corner and also that meat could be kept longer (pre-dates the refrigerator).

This holiday is when the Goddess mourns the death of her consort, the God, and she contemplates the coming birth of her child by him. The Goddess is also honored in her Crone form. Also, this celebrates the death of the God, as he lays down his life for the community; or as the God of the Wild Hunt, symbolizes the animals hunted for food - the taking of their lives so that the community may live though the winter.

This holiday celebrates the shortest day of the year in the middle of winter; a time for leisure, story telling, and the sharing of skills and traditions. On the longest day, a Yule Log is burned, being lit before the sun goes down and tended all night until the Sun rises again. Presents are exchanged over the days starting at Yule on continuing through Twelfth Night (January 6th). The Yule log comes from the Yule tree, usually a pine tree, which are decorated each year before being burned.

Yule is the holiday which was transmuted into Christmas. Christ’s actual birth has variously been calculates to have been in the springtime, near the Spring Equinox or in March. Apparently, the exchanging of gifts and the decoration of the tree were also borrowed for the Christian holiday. Twelfth night is an official Christian holiday as well, also known as “Little Christmas,” which was started in the Middle Ages.

On this day, the Goddess gives birth to the Sun, and Wiccans celebrate his birth/rebirth. Some Wiccan groups have Mother Bertha came and pass out presents. Mother Bertha is a Crone who gives out presents and sometimes steals children who have been bad. Some traditions see this as the God day in the middle of the Goddess’ time of year.

After the long winter, now is the time to celebrate that spring is so near. Also, this is the breaking point, villages either had enough food to see them through the winter or they were just out of luck. About this time of year, it is apparent that the days are getting longer and warmer. Wiccans celebrate with a bonfire and a blessing of the tools; in some areas, it was the time when the planting and plowing tools were brought out and readied for the spring planting. It was called Brigid’s Day because Brigid is a Goddess of the forge, and she would bless the tools; blessing of the tools brings a fertility of ideas as well as fertility of the soil. Depending on location, this was the time of the birth of new lambs, thus it is also called Immilch or the time of new milk.

Now, the Goddess has recovered from the birth of her child, and her child has lived and gotten strong so he will survive. Some see this as the time of year when the Goddess is renewed as Maiden after the birth of her Child.

Depending on where a person lives, this holiday corresponds with Spring. It is a time to celebrate Spring, or the coming of Spring, as well as a time for fertility of the land and a time to get things ready for the growing season. This holiday is celebrated with painting eggs to celebrate fertility (can was say “Easter Bunny?”); it is a day of balance, when day and night are of equal lengths. (This holiday is not celebrated by all Wiccan traditions)

This is the time of year where the year changes to the God’s half of the year. The Goddess has changed from Crone to Maiden, and she is a young girl ready to grow with her son/consort as the year grows. The God is growing fast and is a vital and healthy child.

This is the second biggest holiday. It is the fertility festival. This is the time of year to plant the crops; fields are blessed to insure that the harvest will be bountiful, and in hunting societies, this marked the change from hunting to gathering as the main source of food. In celebrations, a “May Queen” and a “Green Man” are chosen from the village to be living representations of the Goddess and the God, sometimes only for a day, and sometimes longer. Depending on the customs, the May Queen and Green Man serve as spiritual advisors. This is the marriage of the Goddess and the God - the Goddess changes from Maiden to Mother, and their child will be born again at Yule time and the God will be reborn.

This is the longest day of the year; crops and gardens are planted and the “fruits of labor” are starting to appear. In farming societies, this is the time for celebration between planting and harvesting, and in hunting societies hunters make new weapons and travel to get supplies they need for successful hunts during the winter. At the height of summer, is the time for visits and relaxation. Now, the Goddess is pregnant by the God, and “her belly swells with new life.” Midsummer is considered the Goddess day during the God’s time of the year; the Goddess as Mother is in her glory.

The harvest has begun, so now is the time for big feasts; the days are getting shorter and it is apparent that winter is coming again. This is the time of year where boys are initiated in to hunting are are prepared to that part in helping the family survive. This is the death of the God, a willing sacrifice to allow the community to continue. Yet, thought the God has died, the Goddess is still pregnant and the family will survive.

Another day of balance where the day and night are equal, this day symbolizes the change of the God’s year into the Goddess’ year. This is the time for the final harvest really to begin. Also the period of highest energies in the animal kingdom, they are getting ready for the rut and for winter. In respect for the willing sacrifice of the God, hunting beings in earnest to help support the family in the upcoming winter months.

• the Goddess and God cycle (light and dark times/winter and spring versus summer and fall)
• the cycle of the Goddess as she progresses from Maiden to Mother to Crone, and through renewal/rebirth back to Maiden
• the cycle of the life of the God form birth through marriage and maturity to death and rebirth
• the cycle of the growing year
• the cycle of the hunting/gathering year