What is the Wheel of the Year?
A description of pagan sabbats and esbats.
Discover how to harness the power contained in The Wheel of the Year -festivals, rituals, and celebrations focused on seasonal, lunar, and ancestral influences.
The Wheel of the Year is a phrase used to describe eight different festivals and 12 or 13 esbats that are celebrated by Wiccans and other Pagans, as well as the full moons. These celebrations, known as sabbats and esbats, take place during the course of one year, starting with Samhain on October 31st and ending with Mabon on September 22nd.
The Origins of the Wheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year festival days have been observed for centuries in various cultures around the world, but they were first coined in modern times by an English witch named Gerald Gardner in his book “The Meaning of Witchcraft,” published in 1959. Gardner proposed that the Wheel of the Year was based on an ancient Pagan calendar, which was later corroborated by historical evidence.
