| The Wheel of the Year is an interpretation of the | | | | Gardner, the founder of Wicca Witchcraft. They |
| Earth's seasons created by Neopagans and Wiccans. | | | | were added to allow for more times of celebration, |
| The wheel itself is formed from eight festivals more | | | | which brought Wicca more in line with Neo-Druidism, |
| or less equally spaced throughout the year. The | | | | founded by Ross Nicols, a friend of Gerald Gardner. |
| origins of the eight festivals can be traced back to | | | | The festivals on the Wheel of the Year are closely |
| pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic feasts and the | | | | linked to the seasons and lunar cycles, which explains |
| wheel combines both cultures. The eight festivals are | | | | the common celebrations across religious groups, as |
| not only celebrated by Neopagans and Witches as | | | | the seasons play an important part in most systems |
| the most commonly known have been adopted by | | | | of belief, be they bathed in ancient history or more |
| various religions throughout the world. | | | | recent. The eight festivals have set days in the |
| The eight festivals of the wheel are known as | | | | modern world but older forms of Paganism and |
| Sabbats, which is a term of Hebrew origin, and there | | | | religion follow the more exact dates which change |
| are four greater and four lesser Sabbats. The greater | | | | annually depending on the lunar cycle. This cycle can |
| Sabbats are also known as cross-quarter days or Fire | | | | alter the date by a few days which allows some |
| festivals and are of greater importance. The lesser | | | | Pagans to conveniently celebrate each on a weekend |
| Sabbats are also called quarter days and fall on the | | | | rather than a working day during the week. |
| solstices and equinoxes. The combining of the | | | | The festivals of the Wheel of the Year are not |
| Sabbats into the Wheel of the Year is a modern | | | | copied from ancient rituals by Wiccans but they do |
| concept as there is not thought to be any such | | | | draw inspiration from them. Common charms or items |
| wheel before Wicca Witchcraft created it in the | | | | are still used in modern Paganism as they have been |
| 1950's. | | | | for thousands of years. Samhain, more commonly |
| Early forms of Wicca only observed the four | | | | known to most of us as Halloween and celebrated |
| cross-quarter festivals and it was not until 1958 that | | | | on October 31st, is the start of the Neopagan year |
| the solstices and equinoxes were added by the | | | | and is, therefore, also the start of the Wheel of the |
| Bricket Wood Coven, whose High priest was Gerald | | | | Year. |