Wicca Series (Part 3): Wheel of the year - Wiccan Holidays (first half)

[Zendrya]

So Wiccan holidays are very much based on the seasons of the year. In this post I will do a basic summary of the holidays. If you would be interested in learning more indepth information about the specific holidays leave a comment and I'll consider making individual posts about the holidays. An important thing to know is that the goddess is imagined in 3 phases: the maiden, the mother, and the crone.

So the first holiday of the year is Yule. It is the holiday that Christian's changed to Christmas. The idea behind Yule is that the goddess as the crone gives birth to the god. It is a time of celebration. It takes place on the Winter Solstice which is December 21st typically. It marks the darkest day of the year and every day after that it will get brighter. A lot of the celebrations are similar to that of Christmas. Mistletoe, parties, Christmas trees, etc. One thing that is different is the burning of the Yule log.

The second holiday of the year is Imbolc which is February 2nd, Groundhog day. This is about the goddess as the crone changing to the maiden. We are now celebrating the first signs of spring. It is customary to go for a walk to see the first signs of spring (the first sprouting of leaves, depending on where you live maybe some flowers). Another tradition is to light every lamp in the house, even if only for a few minutes. Another option is to light a candle. This is to celebrate the rebirth of the god.

The third holiday of the year is Ostara. This is the holiday Christians took and called it Easter. It is on the spring equinox which is around March 21st. It is a holiday of balance as the light and dark are equal on this day. It is also a holiday of fertility because now the flowers are starting to bloom. Taking a walk as always is tradition and painting eggs is always fun to do.

The fourth holiday of the year is Beltane which is May 1st. It is also known as may day. The God is officially matured. At this time we are celebrating the union of the god and goddess and between man and woman. Now is a popular time for handfasting (wiccan marriages). At this time we celebrate fertility because now is the time animals are mating and for new beginnings. We also celebrate our sexuality at this time. We celebrate by braiding our hair, dancing around the may pole, and having bonfires. And like all our holidays we take a walk to see how nature is changing throughout the year.

I am realizing this post is getting long so I will do this as part 1 and I will do a holidays part 2 with the last 4 holidays later.

[Tabbie]

I never thought of Imbolc and Groundhog Day being the same thing but that makes so much sense! (In the UK Groundhog Day isn't a thing that's observed so all I really knew about it was from the film haha)

[Zendrya]

In Canada groundhog day is a big deal :p In Nova Scotia which is where I grew up we have a wildlife park and on Feb.2nd a whole wack of people go to the park and wait for their groundhog to come up and tell us when spring is coming. It gets put on the radio and everything.

[Tabbie]

Aww, it's such a cute tradition!
I wish we could adopt it but we're rather impeded by our lack of groundhogs lol xD

[Anonymous]

Fantastic trilogy about Wicca, I heard about those holidays, and now I learned even more detailed informations about them, excellent Take 👍

[Zendrya]

I'm glad you're enjoying it. The next one will likely be up tomorrow :)

[Opinion Owner]

Great, I can hardly wait :)

[Zendrya]

Just thought I'd let you know the second half is up, it hasn't been featured as of yet but you can find it if you look at my list of mytakes at the bottom of the page. :)

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks, I'll check it out :)

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks for the MHO

[bang678]

I love that many wiccan beliefs center around self growth and appreciating nature. That we come from the earth and will return to the earth. However im not too keen on gods/goddesses.

[Zendrya]

As someone who came from Christianity and was turned off by a male deity is took me to get comfortable with them again. But not all Wiccans acknowledge gods and goddesses :)

[FýrdracaDócincel]

"The fourth holiday of the year is Beltane which is May 1st. {...} Now is a popular time for handfasting (wiccan marriages). {...} We also celebrate our sexuality at this time. We celebrate by braiding our hair, dancing around the may pole, and having bonfires. And like all our holidays we take a walk to see how nature is changing throughout the year."

Forgot to mention the orgies.
You didn't honestly think you'd be able to leave that out, did you? :)

[Zendrya]

I said we celebrate our sexuality, everyone does that differently. :)

[Z-Spark]

you have some serious issues if you actually believe in this, and you actually are explaining it like christians stole your religion or whatever you call it and made it theirs , you are delusional on so many levels, damn i never thought someone could take living in fantasy that far.

[Zendrya]

but like historically it is true... The Christians wanted to convert pagans to christianity so they took our religions, changed the names, and the reason behind it but kept many of the traditions and kept the dates close together so Pagans would be more inclined to convert... like you can find that in a textbook... that's common knowledge. Are you telling me you don't see the similarities between pagan and christian religions? And pagans existed before Jesus was born which means it existed before Christians existed.

[Zendrya]

I meant to say holidays not religions, oops.

[Z-Spark]

the time of its existense means nothing a lot of people worshiped wooden/stone statues thousands of years before jesus christ was born, and 99% of them stopped doing, , you think you live in an a MMORPG or a story straight out of an anime, shit its not even consistent cause you say that everyone of you believe in something else and has a different god and different way of doing and celebrating thing, that has to be the worst joke ever, someone is lying to you and you're buying into it.

[Z-Spark]

things*

[Zendrya]

or maybe you are just ignorant... are you Christian?

[Z-Spark]

no iam not ignorant and yes iam a christian and if you're implying that christians have oppressed you for years i beg to differ since obviously no one is stopping you from doing what you want despite living a in a christian country.

[Zendrya]

That isn't what I was going to say. What I was going to say is apparently you enjoy a religion that has a specific set of beliefs, where everyone practices their religion the same way, and there are a specific set of rules everyone must follow to be a Christian. As a former Christian I am aware of some of these rules such as love thy neighbour, and to not be judgmental because the only one who can judge us is God. So practice what you preach and follow the rules and beliefs of your religion and I will stick to the freedom of mine.

[Z-Spark]

it feels like a game more than a religion hard to just read what you write and just say cool i like it... no this is not really something that makes sense no matter how much you think about it, also i never said i was perfect iam just criticizing what you wrote and saying it sound way too weird to actually be true.

[Zendrya]

No one asked you to agree with it... the only thing your god asks you to do is to not be an asshole when your opinion differs and you my friend failed that. Have a lovely day though.

[Z-Spark]

at least i actually know the point and is to be a good person can't say the same about you cause obviously you have no friggin idea what you even have to believe in

[Zendrya]

But that's the point... I don't have to believe in anything... I can believe in what I want and that's the point of Wicca... I can't help you if you can't even try to understand that concept... That's a you problem that you need to work on.

[Z-Spark]

and thats why you can never be taken seriosuly

[Zendrya]

I can say the same about you and your religion. You blindly follow a religion and ask no questions...

[MarkRet]

It's true. I'm a Christian, but I also realize that nobody knows exactly what day Jesus was born, and some pope in the early centuries decided to make it December 25 just so it would overshadow a pagan holiday. I'm not proud of things like that, but it's what the early Christians did in those days.

[Zendrya]

@MarkRet exactly. I'm not bitter about it, just stating the history.

[Hal2002]

@MarkRet That is one of the biggest lies that is accepted as truth, they know the month if not the exact day Jesus was born and they also know the real Jewish name of Jesus.

[StarLord1]

I really don't see how the church adopted Christmas when it's truly a pagan holiday.

Jeremiah 10:3-4

"For the customs of the people are vain;
for with the axe one cuts a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman.
They deck it with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers
so that it may not move."

10:8

"But they are altogether unthinking and foolish;
the tree is a doctrine of vanities."

[ATuairiscean]

This is interesting to me because the irish word for November is "Samhain" and the irish word for May is "Bealtaine" - I though there might be some links between wicca and the ancient celtic druids but I didn't think it would be that strong.

[Zendrya]

Well Druidism is a form a Paganism as is Wicca... kind of like how you have Christianity and under that umbrella is baptist, catholic, united etc. (although the difference between the different strains of paganism is a little more than that of Christianity.) Also from my understanding most Wiccan's follow celtic and norse pantheons. So there is likely some link.

[Warmapplecrumble]

That's interesting, I thought Easter was related to the goddess Ishtar :-) do you know anything about that?

And I'm looking forward for the second part :-)

[Zendrya]

The name for this holiday comes from much older times whose customs we’re now not all that familiar with. Many old religions had a Spring Goddess, a special deity who breathed life back into the world, both by banishing Old Man Winter and by encouraging growing things to grow and living things to mate. She went by many names. The Scandinavians called her Ostra, the Anglo-Saxons Eostre, and those who lived in the region that is now Germany knew her as Eastre. (Contrary to some modern claims, the term “Easter” was not derived from the name of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex.)

this is what snopes says about it

[Warmapplecrumble]

Thanks that's interesting information

[Zendrya]

Just thought I'd let you know the second half is up, it hasn't been featured as of yet but you can find it if you look at my list of mytakes at the bottom of the page. :)

[Warmapplecrumble]

Thanks :) I'll read it

[itwasmelaniasfault]

Do Wiccans and pegans celebrate the same holiday?

Are there a lot of Wiccans in your community?

Do Wiccans cast spells? If so why?

I'm very curious

[Zendrya]

yes, Wiccan's are a type of Pagan. I don't think so but a lot of Wiccan's aren't open with their religion for fear of ridicule. There are likely more general pagans rather than ones that specifically identify as Wiccan. When I refer to my religion in public life I usually just say pagan as I know my religion is misunderstood and taboo. The majority of Wiccans do, not all... The biggest reason is because it is fun... we believe in magick so why not partake in it? You do not have to be Wiccan to practice Witchcraft though... you can be any religion and practice witchcraft... it's just as a whole Wiccan's tend to be considerably more open to the idea of magick than the average person.

[Zendrya]

but ya feel free to ask any questions and if I don't have an answer I will find the answer :)

[Prashant18]

Intresting and fascinating i didn't knew about wicca much thanks for sharing

[SuccessfulHornDog]

Why would anyone follow something even less effective than Judaism, Christianity, Islam or Hinduism?

[Zendrya]

What makes a religion "effective"

[StarLord1]

What do you mean "effective"?

[PoeticMemory]

Amazing take! So interesting!

[Zendrya]

thank you!

[Zendrya]

Just thought I'd let you know the second half is up, it hasn't been featured as of yet but you can find it if you look at my list of mytakes at the bottom of the page. :)

[PoeticMemory]

I'll check it out asap!! Thanks for the heads up!

[CaptainSmartass]

Very informative and interesting. Although I did think handfasting sounds like a dodgy fapping reference...

Simples...

[Nice222]

Great series thank you.

[Zendrya]

No problem!

[disgustingweebtrash]

Insightful, I don't know much about Wicca

[admles]

Love it ^_^

[Zendrya]

Just thought I'd let you know the second half is up, it hasn't been featured as of yet but you can find it if you look at my list of mytakes at the bottom of the page. :)

[Anonymous]

nice myTake, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Very informative

[CT_CD]

Nice myTake

[Lumberman53]

Fascinating stuff

[Anonymous]

Interesting...

[Anonymous]

interesting