What Is A Real Witch's Sabbat?
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:09 am
Author: Annika
Posted to Witchvox (site now closed): August 30th. 2009
What is a real Witch's Sabbat? The word Sabbat comes directly from Judeao-Christian tradition, the Sabbath day being the day of rest (Saturday) . The Witch's Sabbat was supposed to be a Black Mass, a mockery of the real Sabbath, in which Satan was worshipped. Obviously this was a myth spun by Christians because Witches were not Satanists, they were simply pagan. (That's assuming any of the accused Witches were actually pagan and not just unlucky Christians) . The mythology of a Witch's Sabbat came from the fear and rejection of old pagan holidays.
What were the old pagan holidays of Northern Europe? The first festival of the English Year was called Mother's Night, in which the ancestral matrons were honored. Mother's Night was during the period known as Yule. The exact dates of the holidays are hard to determine, but Yule fell around the Winter Solstice (longest night of the year) .
After Yule there was a lunar festival falling around Jan/Feb during which cakes were laid in the earth. In the moon of Feb/March the end of the Winter was celebrated and the goddess Hretha honored. Winter was thought of as lasting half the year, and Summer the other half, as only two seasons were recognized.
When Summer finally arrived in March/April there was a festival called Eostre. The next moon celebrated the milking season for animals. Around the Summer Solstice, Litha was celebrated. Following Litha, Jul/Aug there was a celebration of plants, herbs, and crops.
Next, the moon around Aug/Sept time was called Holy or Halig and was a celebration of the harvest. The full moon of Sep/Oct was determined to be the beginning of Winter again. In Oct/Nov there was a great Blot, which is a ritual feast in which blood was used to bless. After this Yule began again.
Witches were reported to gather for the pagan festivals and to fly across the sky with their gods. This flight is the spirit journey, into the hollow hills, or subconscious. As far as I know the Celtic countries did not have Witch-hunts. The word Witch wasn't even a part of their language. So why would Witches adopt their festivals?
This is all coming from a traditionalist. Now if you want to celebrate the Celtic year then that is fine by me. All I ask is that you understand what you are doing and not just blindly following a pop-Wiccan author who tells you to mix Celtic and Germanic holidays.
English Lunar Festivals:
Æfterra Yule (Dec-Jan)
Solmonath (Jan-Feb)
Hrethmonath (Feb-Mar)
Eostremonath (Mar-Apr)
Thrimilci (Apr-May)
Ærra Litha (May-Jun)
Æfterra Litha (Jun-Jul)
Weodmonath (Jul-Aug)
Haligmonath (Aug-Sep)
Winterfylleth (Sep-Oct)
Blotmonath (Oct-Nov)
Ærra Yule (Nov-Dec)
Irish Lunar Festivals:
Samhain (Oct-Nov)
Dumhainn (Nov-Dec)
Riur (Dec-Jan)
Naghaid (Jan-Feb)
Uarain (Feb-Mar)
Cuithe (Mar-Apr)
Geamhain (Apr-May)
Siufainn (May-Jun)
Eacha (Jun-Jul)
Eilmi (Jul-Aug)
Aodhrain (Aug-Sep)
Cadal (Sep-Oct)
A lot of people (Wiccan/pagan) like to adopt Celtic (Irish) holidays. I can't see why anyone would want to celebrate a year of mixed festivals. For example Samhain (Celtic) followed by Yule (Germanic) - why would you mix two different traditions like this? There doesn't seem to be a good reason to confuse things like this.
When Gerald Gardner was running his coven in the 1950s, his first choice was to celebrate what he called the Greater Sabbats of Halloween, Candlemas, May Eve, and Lammas. Why did he choose these four dates?
It is probably down to the work of Margaret Murray who proposed that these dates were particularly popular for Witches to meet up and celebrate the changing of the seasons.
In Medieval Britain these dates were known as "cross-quarter days". In Scotland it was on these Christian holidays that the rents were paid. The Term and Quarter Days (Scotland) Act 1990 redefined the "Scottish term days", in official use, as the 28th of February, May, August and November respectively.
In British and Irish tradition, the quarter days were the four dates in each year on which servants were hired, and rents and rates were due. "These have been the days when accounts had to be settled, days when magistrates paid their visits to outlying parts in order to determine outstanding cases and suits. There is a principle of justice enshrined in this institution: debts and unresolved conflicts must not be allowed to linger on. However complex the case, however difficult to settle the debt, a reckoning has to be made and publicly recorded; for it is one of the oldest legal principles of this country that justice delayed is injustice.
Among the provisions that the barons wrested from the extortionate and unjust King John in Magna Carta (1215 CE) , a safeguard for gentry like themselves and hungry peasants alike, was the promise that 'To none will we sell, or deny, or delay right or justice'. Days of assize ensure openness, assurance and timeliness of justice, justice not sold, not denied, not delayed." says David Clines.
The English Quarter Days were:
Lady Day (25 March)
Midsummer Day (24 June)
Michaelmas (29 September)
Christmas (25 December)
Lady Day was also the first day of the year in the British Empire until 1752. It is this Medieval Tax Year that has been adopted by the Wiccan religion. At first, Gardner and company called the holidays by their medieval names, but in time they decided to allocate these dates more "pagan" sounding names. This is why we have come to the strange combination of Irish and German names we have today, crossing two very distinct and separate traditions that would work perfectly well by themselves.
Wicca wanted to have an air of pre-Christian practice, but why? Wicca is a product of the Christian aftermath. It is a religion founded in the thinking of Renaissance Europe, not pre-Christian Europe.
So why pretend it is something it's not?
Posted to Witchvox (site now closed): August 30th. 2009
What is a real Witch's Sabbat? The word Sabbat comes directly from Judeao-Christian tradition, the Sabbath day being the day of rest (Saturday) . The Witch's Sabbat was supposed to be a Black Mass, a mockery of the real Sabbath, in which Satan was worshipped. Obviously this was a myth spun by Christians because Witches were not Satanists, they were simply pagan. (That's assuming any of the accused Witches were actually pagan and not just unlucky Christians) . The mythology of a Witch's Sabbat came from the fear and rejection of old pagan holidays.
What were the old pagan holidays of Northern Europe? The first festival of the English Year was called Mother's Night, in which the ancestral matrons were honored. Mother's Night was during the period known as Yule. The exact dates of the holidays are hard to determine, but Yule fell around the Winter Solstice (longest night of the year) .
After Yule there was a lunar festival falling around Jan/Feb during which cakes were laid in the earth. In the moon of Feb/March the end of the Winter was celebrated and the goddess Hretha honored. Winter was thought of as lasting half the year, and Summer the other half, as only two seasons were recognized.
When Summer finally arrived in March/April there was a festival called Eostre. The next moon celebrated the milking season for animals. Around the Summer Solstice, Litha was celebrated. Following Litha, Jul/Aug there was a celebration of plants, herbs, and crops.
Next, the moon around Aug/Sept time was called Holy or Halig and was a celebration of the harvest. The full moon of Sep/Oct was determined to be the beginning of Winter again. In Oct/Nov there was a great Blot, which is a ritual feast in which blood was used to bless. After this Yule began again.
Witches were reported to gather for the pagan festivals and to fly across the sky with their gods. This flight is the spirit journey, into the hollow hills, or subconscious. As far as I know the Celtic countries did not have Witch-hunts. The word Witch wasn't even a part of their language. So why would Witches adopt their festivals?
This is all coming from a traditionalist. Now if you want to celebrate the Celtic year then that is fine by me. All I ask is that you understand what you are doing and not just blindly following a pop-Wiccan author who tells you to mix Celtic and Germanic holidays.
English Lunar Festivals:
Æfterra Yule (Dec-Jan)
Solmonath (Jan-Feb)
Hrethmonath (Feb-Mar)
Eostremonath (Mar-Apr)
Thrimilci (Apr-May)
Ærra Litha (May-Jun)
Æfterra Litha (Jun-Jul)
Weodmonath (Jul-Aug)
Haligmonath (Aug-Sep)
Winterfylleth (Sep-Oct)
Blotmonath (Oct-Nov)
Ærra Yule (Nov-Dec)
Irish Lunar Festivals:
Samhain (Oct-Nov)
Dumhainn (Nov-Dec)
Riur (Dec-Jan)
Naghaid (Jan-Feb)
Uarain (Feb-Mar)
Cuithe (Mar-Apr)
Geamhain (Apr-May)
Siufainn (May-Jun)
Eacha (Jun-Jul)
Eilmi (Jul-Aug)
Aodhrain (Aug-Sep)
Cadal (Sep-Oct)
A lot of people (Wiccan/pagan) like to adopt Celtic (Irish) holidays. I can't see why anyone would want to celebrate a year of mixed festivals. For example Samhain (Celtic) followed by Yule (Germanic) - why would you mix two different traditions like this? There doesn't seem to be a good reason to confuse things like this.
When Gerald Gardner was running his coven in the 1950s, his first choice was to celebrate what he called the Greater Sabbats of Halloween, Candlemas, May Eve, and Lammas. Why did he choose these four dates?
It is probably down to the work of Margaret Murray who proposed that these dates were particularly popular for Witches to meet up and celebrate the changing of the seasons.
In Medieval Britain these dates were known as "cross-quarter days". In Scotland it was on these Christian holidays that the rents were paid. The Term and Quarter Days (Scotland) Act 1990 redefined the "Scottish term days", in official use, as the 28th of February, May, August and November respectively.
In British and Irish tradition, the quarter days were the four dates in each year on which servants were hired, and rents and rates were due. "These have been the days when accounts had to be settled, days when magistrates paid their visits to outlying parts in order to determine outstanding cases and suits. There is a principle of justice enshrined in this institution: debts and unresolved conflicts must not be allowed to linger on. However complex the case, however difficult to settle the debt, a reckoning has to be made and publicly recorded; for it is one of the oldest legal principles of this country that justice delayed is injustice.
Among the provisions that the barons wrested from the extortionate and unjust King John in Magna Carta (1215 CE) , a safeguard for gentry like themselves and hungry peasants alike, was the promise that 'To none will we sell, or deny, or delay right or justice'. Days of assize ensure openness, assurance and timeliness of justice, justice not sold, not denied, not delayed." says David Clines.
The English Quarter Days were:
Lady Day (25 March)
Midsummer Day (24 June)
Michaelmas (29 September)
Christmas (25 December)
Lady Day was also the first day of the year in the British Empire until 1752. It is this Medieval Tax Year that has been adopted by the Wiccan religion. At first, Gardner and company called the holidays by their medieval names, but in time they decided to allocate these dates more "pagan" sounding names. This is why we have come to the strange combination of Irish and German names we have today, crossing two very distinct and separate traditions that would work perfectly well by themselves.
Wicca wanted to have an air of pre-Christian practice, but why? Wicca is a product of the Christian aftermath. It is a religion founded in the thinking of Renaissance Europe, not pre-Christian Europe.
So why pretend it is something it's not?