As the year passes, there are 8 powerful days that every witch should be familiar with. These are divided into the four major sabbats and the four minor sabbats (also called esbats).
As you learn more about each of these days and what they mean and the kinds of magicks usually performed, you will find these days feel familiar, maybe even some traditional things about each day will seem, oddly familiar.
Most of our current holidays and traditions were adapted from pagan traditions. (This is a topic I love to debate so I’m holding back from stepping on that soap box right this moment…) This will be mostly a gloss-over of the general energy and significance of each day.
Jumping right into it:
The four major sabbats consist of:
Samhain (pronounced Sah-when) Oct 31st
The death of The God. Witch’s New Year and feast of the dead. The time to honor those who have passed on. Time to reflect upon the last year and make plans for the new year. Banish weaknesses or other undesired qualities within ourselves.
Imbolc (pronounced ihm-bowl-k) Feb 1st
The Goddess recovers from childbirth, becomes Maiden. Beginning of Spring. Time of purification. Strip away the old in anticipation of the new.
Beltaine (pronounced bell-tay-n) May 1st
Marriage of The God and The Goddess. Beginning of Summer. Fertility Celebration. Celebration of joy and life. The Goddess enters her Mother phase.
Lughnasadh (pronounced loon-sah) Aug 1st
Beginning of Autumn. Time of the first harvest. Holiday of fruition and of preparation for the coming winter. The God ages and The Goddess enters her Crone phase. A time of thanks.
The four minor sabbats (esbats) consist of and tend to land on the solstices and equinoxes:
Yule (pronounced like you’ll) Dec 22nd
The Birth of the New God. Celebration of life emerging from darkness. Honored with the exchange of presents.
Ostara (pronounced oh-stah-rah) March 22nd
Celebration of fertility, conception, regeneration as the earth recovers from winter and begins to bloom.
Litha (pronounced lee-thah) June 22nd
Celebration of the God’s life. Holiday of transition. Time for rejoicing. Time for introspection. Make sure plans are on track and correct any negative aspect of one’s life.
Mabon (pronounced may-bon) Sept 22nd
Second harvest, Darkness overtakes light. Day of planning and reflection and contemplation of mysteries.
It’s important to note:
In the above descriptions, I make reference to The God and The Goddess. I use these as general terms for masculine or feminine divine energies. You can choose specific deities to work with on these days, just make sure that 1) you have a bond with them OR 2) the celebration and date is relevant to them.
For instance, you may not wish to invoke Persephone during Lughnasadh. Persephone is a Spring Goddess, she would be more appropriate to invoke on Ostara. Lughnasadh, is the beginning of autumn.
(If you know anything about Persephone, you’d know that Autumn is when she takes her descent, guided by Hekate, to be with her husband, Hades in the Underworld.)
Do you have to celebrate every one?
No, you don’t have to go all out and do full feasts, decorations and in depth rituals. You don’t have to work magick at all.
Life gets busy, and sometimes you can forget that there’s a sabbat coming up (unless you’re super organized and write that into your calendar or something). So no it’s not required to observe every single one with a formatted celebration or ritual or whatever. If you forget, nothing bad is going to happen to you.
Please feel free to download this 3 page PDF
Recommended Reading
Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature’s Seasons through Intuitive Magick
Also – A website I found VERY helpful: The White Goddess
Circe's Grimoire 
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