Holidays

A full moon, a time celebrated with an Esbat in Wicca

Esbats

Each full, quarter, and new moon, is marked with a ritual called an Esbat. These are not on set dates or done at set times. These are usually times when wiccans rejoice and recharge.

Sabbats

Wiccans also follow the Wheel of the Year and celebrate its eight festivals known as Sabbats. Four of these, the cross-quarter days, are Greater Sabbats, coinciding with Celtic fire festivals. The other four are known as Lesser Sabbats, and comprise of the solstices and the equinoxes. The names of these holidays are often taken from Germanic pagan and Celtic polytheistic holidays. However, the festivals are not reconstructive in nature nor do they often resemble their historical counterparts, instead exhibiting a form of universalism. Ritual observations may display cultural influence from the holidays from which they take their name as well as influence from other unrelated cultures. The eight sabbats, beginning with Samhain, which has long been thought of as Celtic new year.