The Sabbats
Every six weeks Wiccans celebrate a festival, or Sabbat ( 8 altogether). These sabbats correspond to the sun as well as the changing seasons. The solstices are celebrated (Dec. 21st and June 21st) as well as the equinoxes (Sept. 21st and March 21st) . There are also 4 other festivals, sometimes called fire festivals. They are 3 months apart and are on May 1st, Aug. 2nd, Oct. 31st and Feb. 2nd. Here is an overview of when the sabbats are celebrate and what they are called

Yule (Winter Solstice) - December 21st
Imbolc - February 2nd
Ostara (Spring Equinox) - March 21st
Beltane - May 1st
Litha (Summer Solstice) June 21st
Lughnasadh - August 2nd
Mabon - (Autumn Equinox) September 21st
Samhain - October 31st

The sabbats are special because they are a time when we celebrate the changing seasons and can honor the God and Goddess. The changing seasons were very important to the ancient people so they often celebrated them. In most cultures there was a winter festival. During the long cold months, the people wanted an excuse to celebrate. They were locked in their houses so they looked forward to a time when they could get together with friends and family to celebrate. Then in the spring, they celebrated fertility returning back to the earth. They could once again plant their crops and raise live stock. They celebrated at this time and asked for abundance in the coming months. Then in fall they celebrated a harvest festival. This was the time when their crops were harvested and they celebrated everything they had. The food grown that summer would sustain them all winter until next summer. Then right before winter, they would celebrate the slaughter of the livestock. Those that were took weak and would not produce more offspring, or would not survive the winter would be killed and eaten that winter.
So as you can see, their festivals and changing seasons directly effected their daily lives. Today we don’t have to grow our own food, or raise our own livestock, or practically starve over the winter, but the seasons still effect us. Some pagans choose to live closely to the earth. They recycle, grow their own fruits and vegetable, raise chickens, cows, make their own clothes, etc. Others do not. But the one thing they all do is celebrate the sabbats. We celebrate the outside forces each brings as well as the inside. For example, since Beltane is a fertility festival, you could celebrate the fertility of the land (warm weather coming, plants and trees blooming, etc) as well as the fertility in your life, like new ventures, new projects, new opportunities, etc. At lughnasadh or Mabon, the harvest festivals, you could celebrate the harvest of the earth - the vegetables and fruit that ripen and/or everything that has come to fruit in your life - a new job you got, new friendships that started, goals that were accomplished, etc. We work on ourselves mentally at this time as well.

Another thing we can do is relate each Sabbat to a myth of a god or goddess. Traditionally, The God was born at Yule. At Imbolc the Goddess is a young maiden. At Ostara the God and Goddess fall in love. At Beltane they make love and she gets pregnant. At midsummer they marry and enjoy each other and live peacefully tending the earth. At Lughnasadh the God sacrifices himself for the land, so that it may yield fruit and the people may live. At Mabon the Goddess ripens the fruit, and the around Samhain the Goddess descends into the underworld (in some traditions she does, in others she doesn’t) Then at Yule, she gives birth to the God once again. From Yule to the Summer solstice the God is the Oak king, and from the Summer Solstice to Yule he is the Holly King - in other words he is the dark half of the year at one time and the light half at the other. Or, you could look at it that the God is the Green Man (god of vegetation and fertility) during the summer month, and the Horned God during the winter months.Use whichever way you like best. Some traditions will use individual Gods and Goddesses at each Sabbat as well. For example, some Wiccans may honor the Irish Goddess Brighid at Imbolc, the Green Man at Beltane, The Welsh God Mabon at Mabon ( the autumn equinox) and the Goddess Hecate at Samhain. This is done because their myths relate to the season they are celebrating.

The sabbats are fun to celebrate and can be a meaningful part of ones life. In Green Wicca, the sabbats are very important because they relate to the earth, the seasons and nature. Try to decorate the altar in natural objects when celebrating them and see the symbolism in each. This is a time to work on ourselves and see the beauty that the earth has to offer. Check out the individual Sabbat pages for more info on each.