Anjou Kiernan - The Ultimate Guide to the Witchs Wheel of the Year

Twelve thousand years ago, at the end of the last great ice age, a warming climate allowed nomadic hunter-gatherers to settle on the land they once hunted. No longer tied to the wandering herds of wild game, these Neolithic pagans cleared forests and erected settlements, gradually becoming dependent on crop cultivation and animal domestication.

Knowledge of solar shifts and weather patterns became indispensable to these farmers as efficient use of growing seasons began to dictate survival. It is thought that ancient peoples erected megaliths, such as Stonehenge and Newgrange, not only as powerful sites to hold rituals but as calendars to mark important solar events, such as solstices and equinoxes. During these solar shifts, Neolithic peoples performed elaborate rites that venerated the deities they believed responsible for each season. In the Germanic and Celtic societies that followed, these celebrations evolved into a calendar of holidayseach with distinct traditions that honored the seasonal shifts.

Although the fixed eight-fold calendar of Pagan festivals is a modern construct, the names and traditions hark back to those of ancient Pagan times. The holidays we celebrate today are largely based on Germanic and Celtic traditions but also draw influence from the Roman invasions of Northern Europe, Eastern ideologies, and the Christianization of Pagan Europe.

While it is thought that Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon traditions influenced the solstice and equinox festivals on the Wheel, the cross-quarter celebrations have largely evolved from the practices of an ancient order of Celtic priests known as the Druids. The Druids were responsible for maintaining religious order, appeasing the Celtic gods and goddessesusually by way of human or animal sacrificeand divining prophecies. The Gaelic calendar was split into four quarters (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh), with the Celtic new year beginning on Samhain and the second half of the year beginning on Beltane. Because of this division, the Druids considered Samhain and Beltane powerful, liminal times to connect with the spirit realms. Each holiday traditionally began at sundown on the evening before the celebration.