Lest We Forget: On the Sabbats and Celebrations

And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.” ― Galadriel

Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien

I was reading on social media the other day a rant about the Sabbats by a very upset pagan. In essence, the post was about this person's home state trying to change the observance of Halloween from October 31 to the last Saturday in October. This person was upset for a couple of reasons. First, they believe that October 31 is Samhain. Second, they believe that the state was trying to legislate away their 'most sacred of holidays.'

Regarding actual dates versus observed dates, we do this with more than one bank holiday already in the United States. Columbus Day springs to mind. The actual date for Columbus Day is October 12, however, it is observed on the second Monday of October. This is what that particular state wants to do, set an observed date versus observing the tradition on the actual date in regards to Halloween to make sure that everyone can enjoy the festivities.

That said, Halloween and Samhain are not the same dates. While Halloween certainly has many of the same observances, Samhain marks the end of summer. Much like the summer solstice, Samhain is not on the same date every year. October 31 became the observed date for this celebration in addition to the secular holiday of Halloween. (Since there are plenty of sources and documentaries on Halloween and its origins, I will not go into specifics in this writing.)

The Sabbats are our solar holidays, used to mark the passage of time in the life of the Sun God. These dates are astrological. If you know anything about the heavens, then you know that everything is fluid, bendable, and everchanging. We have come to accept the observed dates as our sabbats and, it appears, that the knowledge of when those actual dates are, is beginning to fall out of common knowledge. Before we dig into what the actual dates are, let's look at how we came upon having the observed dates that we do have.

The practice of conversion can be seen throughout all of Europe once touched by the Roman Empire, even before its conversion to Christianity. It can still be seen most obviously in the assimilation of Classical mythology where the Greek and Roman mythological deities became almost interchangeable in their tales, despite their glaring differences.

As with so much within our practices, our observed dates go back to the spread of the Catholic Church. It is well known that as the Church spread through Europe that churches were built on pagan holy sites to assimilate the masses. In that era, church leaders and their missionaries were the educated ones, for the most part. It did not take a lot of observing to know when the big feast days were among the peasants and where they would congregate to celebrate. Again, in an effort convert the heathens, the Church took up the holidays of the locals.

Can you imagine, as an uneducated local person, these strangers coming in, building a building over your most sacred sites and then using your own observances to convert you? This is, basically, what happened and how these observances were preserved. Even now, except for only a few dates, our own pagan calendar mirrors the Catholic one very closely. Many of our observances are also mirrored. Notice the dates below:

• Candlemas February 2
• Easter Sunday Late March/April
• Feast of Saint Joseph, May 1
• Corpus Christi June 20
• Lammas August 1
• Michaelmas September 29
• All Saint's Day November 1
• Christmas December 25

These dates were picked to be the observed dates. Again, if we notice the mirror between their festivities and ours, you will notice that some of our observances are mirrored in practice. At Candlemas, the Church blesses all of their candles for the year. At Imbolc, the days are noticeably longer from the solstice, and we welcome back the growing sun by with a fire celebration usually centered around candles.

Lammas is, literally, Loaf Mass. The first grains are harvested and baked into bread. Lughnasadh is based on the funeral feast Lugh of the Long Arm had in honor of his foster mother Tailtiu. This feast was thrown in Tailtu's honor after she died clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. I believe we all probably know that Christmas and Yule also quite closely mirror each other in tradition, even though Jesus was likely born in the spring.

Our own holidays fall based on the sun and zodiac because these were planting and harvest holidays for an agrarian society.

• Imbolc- Sun goes 15° Aquarius
• Ostara- Sun enters Aries
• Beltane- Sun goes 15° Taurus
• Litha- Sun enters Cancer
• Lughnasadh- Sun goes 15° Leo
• Mabon- Sun enters Libra
• Samhain- Sun goes 15° Scorpio
• Yule- Sun enters Capricorn

These dates are in no way static. It is one reason why there are standing stones all over Europe. Think about the most famous of the European henges, Stonehenge. It is well known that it marks the winter solstice. In Ireland, the Baltray standing stones mark the same date, and in Scotland, the Maeshowe stones do, as well. Therefore, we know that our ancestors had the means to mark the solstices and equinoxes. It stands to reason that they very likely marked the cross-quarter days as well, even if we can not read them in the henges today. In that way, our ancestors knew when to start planning their big feasts and rituals.

While we all practice in the manner that we see fit these days, it never hurts to make sure that one knows the origins of the days celebrated. Knowing the traditions gives us the information we need to celebrate accurately but to also celebrate as we so choose. In the era of fake news, it is up to us to keep the records as accurately and thoroughly as possible, even if our observances do not reflect the entirety of that knowledge.

Blessings,
River