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Because one tenet of Neopaganism is that all of nature is cyclical, the passing of time is also seen as a cycle, a wheel which turns and turns. The course of birth, life, decline, and death that we see in our human lives is echoed in the seasons. The eight Sabbats are religious holidays that celebrate the passing of the year.

Each Sabbat also symbolizes a time in the life of the God, who is born from the Goddess, grows to full manhood, mates with her, and reigns as king during the summer. He then declines and dies, rising anew the next year.

The Sabbats, with the traditional dates of their celebrations, are:

• Midwinter / Yule, on the winter solstice
• Imbolc, on February 2 and the preceding eve
• Ostara, on the spring equinox
• BeltaneThis article is about the Gaelic holiday. For the Celtic Doom metal band see Beltaine (band) and for the song by Marc Bolan and T. Rex see Beltane Walk. Beltane or Beltaine (From either Irish Gaelic Bealtaine or Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn both from Old Iri/Beltaine/ May DaySee: Mayday for the distress signal May Day is a name for various holidays celebrated on May 1 (or in the beginning of May). Labour association Mumbai, are common. The holiday is most often associated with the commemoration of the social and economic achi on May 1May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). There are 244 days remaining. Events 305 Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. 1328 Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-North and the preceding eve
• MidsummerMidsummer is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice. Midsummer-related holidays, traditions and celebrations, most of which are considered secular, are particularly important in Finland and Sweden, but found also in other parts of Northern E/Litha, on the summer solsticeThe summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the Sun in relation to the celestial equator. The summer solstice is the date with the longest day and hence with the shortest night. This date usually falls on June 21/ June 22 (in the
• LughnasadhLughnasadh is a Gaelic holiday celebrated on 1 August, during the time of the harvesting. Lugnasadh was one of the four main festivals of Celtic religion: Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. There are many spellings of the name in popular and histor, on August 1Some entries on this page have been duplicates from June 28. The correct dates for such events need to be determined. August 1st is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. Events 527 Justinian I and the preceding eve
• MabonFor the Celtic deity, please see Mapon. Mabon is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats of Neopaganism. It is celebrated on the autumn equinox, in the northern hemisphere circa September 21 and in the southern hemisphere circa March 21. Also called Ha, on the autumn equinox
• Samhain, on the eve of October 31

This calendar follows the seasons of the northern hemisphere, where the celebration of Sabbats originated.

Neopagans in the southern hemisphere usually celebrate the Sabbats on the opposite dates of the year (6 months apart from the northern dates), in order to follow the cycle of seasons where they live; i.e. an Australian Neopagan would celebrate Samhain on May 1, when a Canadian Neopagan would be celebrating Beltane.

There are similarities between many Christian holidays and the Sabbats that predated them in northern Europe. It was not at all uncommon for Christian missionaries and priests to adapt local Pagan practices for Christian use. For example, many pagans claim that Christmas is today celebrated on December 25 because that was once the date of the winter solstice and hence the date for the celebration of Saturnalia, a Mediterranean pagan festival that has been claimed to be connected to Yule. There are however alternative explanations for this date, including the belief in the ancient world that people would die on the same day of the year as their conception; since the date of Jesus's death was known to be approximately at the spring equinox, the date for celebrating his birth was set at the winter solstice. It is likely that the dates of festivals were set by the early church for a number of reasons, including but not exclusively the need to compete with existing pagan festivals. However it needs to be realised that these dates were set in the Mediterranean region, whereas the Sabbats that Neopaganism celebrates mostly originate in northern Europe.