Overview of the Sabbats and Esbats

[RegularJackass]

Let me know if I'm off about some of these. These are the Sabbats and Esbats as I understand them.

The Witches' holidays, the Sabbats and Esbats, are all about celebrating the rhythms of nature and the turning seasons. You do NOT have to be Wiccan or a Witch to celebrate these holidays. They don't belong to any one religion or spirituality. The commonalities between all eight Sabbats and thirteen-plus Esbats are:
- Hosting a party for close friends and family
- Having tasty seasonal food
- Doing your best to bring as much goodness and holiday cheer into this world as you possibly can
- Offering some of the tasty seasonal food and drink to the Fairy Folk in small dishes outside
- Celebrating life
Sabbats correspond to the time of year and are solar festivals. Esbats correspond to the time of month and are lunar festivals. Sabbats are more community-oriented, while Esbats are more of an intimate friends-and-family gathering type thing. More often than not, one winds up celebrating Esbats alone, just you and the moon to keep you company.
Sabbats are when the seasons turn, astrologically speaking, or when they are at their peak. They are sun-focused. There are eight Sabbats. They are:
Imbolc - February 2, also known as Candlemas, Chandeleur, and Groundhog Day, celebrating the coming spring. The main seed sowing festival.
Traditional activities for Imbolc include making candles and pancakes, celebrating the sun, and bringing light into people's lives aka spreading the love. It's the time of the year when food and resources are scarce and cold is fierce in many places so this is often well appreciated.
Ostara - the spring equinox, astrologically speaking the beginning of spring. The spring festival.
Traditional activities for Ostara include dyeing eggs, giving children baskets filled with goodies and toys, and going to natural water features
Beltaine - April 31 or May 1, also known as Walpurgisnacht and May Day, celebrating the coming summer. A festival not connected to farming.
Traditional activities for Beltaine include giving friends May Baskets of flowers and goodies, dancing around a may pole, and frolicking in nature with one's lover
Litha - the summer solstice, is when full summer begins and also when the sun's intensity begins to wane. The summer festival.
Traditional activities for Litha include having a bonfire, water-related stuff like swimming and playing in sprinklers, and hosting a big party
Lammas - August 1, also known as Lughnasadh or the Tailtean Games, it's the festival of the first harvest, acknowledges the coming autumn. The main harvest festival.
Traditional activities for Lammas include having a potluck, baking bread, and hosting competitions of strength and skill
Mabon - the autumn equinox, astrologically speaking the beginning of autumn. The autumn festival.
Traditional activities for Mabon include gathering leaves and natural objects from nature, honoring the dead and maintaining their grave sites, and having a family dinner
Samhain - October 31, also known as Halloween, acknowledges the coming winter. A festival not connected to farming.
Traditional activities for Samhain include honoring the dead (for some people; others do that on Mabon), hosting parties, and building fires. This is the Witches' holiday par excellence, and on Halloween evening the veil between this world and the world of spirits is thin so some people scry, read Tarot, or do divination. Do note the veil is also similarly thin on Beltaine. Halloween in America these days is also unfortunately the night of gang initiations and wild parties involving alcohol, so please go with your children if they are trick-or-treating.
Yule - the winter solstice, is when full winter begins and also when the sun's intensity begins to wax. The winter festival.
Traditional activities for Yule include having a bonfire, hosting a big party, giving gifts to everyone on your list, baking cookies and breads, hospitality, the Yule log, decorating with holly, ivy, and mistletoe, and decorating the house with evergreen stuff. However, it appears that the older traditions do not involve chopping down an evergreen tree and bringing it in but instead involve going out to the forest or backyard to decorate one there, so no trees have to die for this celebration.
The Quarters are the Sabbats that are on the Solstices and Equinoxes. The Cross-Quarters are the Sabbats that are NOT on the Solstices and Equinoxes.

Esbats are easier to remember because they are another name for the full moons. They are the moon-focused holidays. Each moon of the year has a different name, and different traditional activities. I wish I knew them well, but I don't. Still researching that one.
Time-honored ways of honoring the full moon include sitting in quiet contemplation of it, moon-themed foods and drinks, enjoying some fresh fruits and herbal tea, water-based things such as swimming in a natural water feature or taking a bath, lighting candles or a small fire, wearing special clothes, and hosting parties. In Wiccan traditions consecrated "cakes and ale" are shared; this usually means wine or juice and some cookies or something like that. Usually a potluck is involved as well. Esbats are also the time when crystals charge up well, so many people put them in a moonlit window or outside in moonlight. There are many other things you can do to celebrate the full moon, such as taking a walk in the moonlight with a friend, making moon tea (same way you make sun tea), making a moon garden with white flowering fragrant plants, meditating under the full moon, doing Chandra Namaskar outside, and so on. Full moons are also an awesome time to go on a date.
Actually, I just learned today that some traditions celebrate both the new moon and the full moon. Oh no! Moar information to research!

Some practical ways to celebrate the holidays:
Host a potluck
Send out a bunch of "happy holidays" emails or letters, individually written for each person. No chain letters!
Dress in seasonal outfits
Decorate for the occasion anywhere you can
Take any excuse to go outside

Links for more information:
http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/angelline/index.html
http://pentacle.swankivy.com/sabbats.html
https://wicca.com/celtic/akasha/index0.htm
http://hearthnhomewitchery.tripod.com/p ... erbal.html
http://www.pookapages.com
http://www.earthwitchery.com/wheel.html
http://windspirit57.tripod.com/id8.html
http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Holidays/sabbats.html
http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Holidays/esbats.html
http://www.angelfire.com/de2/newconcept ... idays.html

Books for more information on the Sabbats and Esbats:
Celebrate the Earth by Laurie Cabot
Candlelight Spells by Gerina Dunwich
Enchanted by Titania Hardie