Sabbats, calender worship, festivals, holidays. When I first began posting on the cauldron I commented (rather blindly) about the pagan holidays that mark my calender and was met by many 'if indeed you believe/follow/include those holdiays' from others.
At the time I didn't admit it, but I was rather shocked. Who doesn't celebrate yule? Or Beltain? Or ostara? Or ... well you get my point. so in the interests of never wanting to put my big foot that far in my mouth again I thought i'd simply ask. Who does? Why? who doesn't? why?
I've read over many books/websites and the likes and not come across many that didn't have a basic Q and A page with some or all of these 'wheel of the year' dates on it. Esbats are a little harder to find info on so I guess I just accepted, without too much thinking (my bad) that sabbats were generally accepted, even if you don't go all ritualistic, and 99% of pagans acknoledged them and accepted that they were important. I've since been slapped with the knowledge that this is just not true!
I have included these basic wheel of the year holidays in my life because they are plastered everywhere (like I said most books and websites that just use the word 'witch' or 'pagan' include/mention/provide info on them) and nature is very important to me, personally and spiritually, thus the seasons and harvests etc have come to be important to me. I don't think I would acknowledge these dates if I had not read about them, I certainly wouldn't have tracked them down. so I guess their prominence in the available informaiton has effected me.
What do others do? do you follow the wheel of the year? Why? do you follow a similar wheel to the basic 'Wiccan' (i don't know if 'wiccan' is the right term but I am trusting that it is an effective term and most people will know which wheel I am refering to) wheel? do you celebrate totally different days and why?
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