Pagan Holidays

I know that this information is all over around the internet, but this way I'll make sure the frequent readers of my blog will read it.

A "definition" of Pagan Holidays would be more vague as the one I'm going to describe. Despite of that, all you have to have in consideration is the fact that some Pagan sub-cultures doesn't regard to all the holidays I'm going to list, of they don't call it by the same name. The nomenculatures I'm going to use are the most common to Wiccans.

There are two kinds of holidays pagans celebrate: I'll call them Sabbats and Esbats.

Esbats (the days of the moon), the less commonly celebrated among non-wiccan pagans, are the Lunar cycles of Nature, celebrated at full moon in each of the thirteen lunar months.

An esbat is a smaller and less solemn occasion than the sabbat.

The solar cycle is maked by eight sabbats (time to rest), referred colectively as the Wheel of the Year: the two solistices and both the equinoxes (the four minor sabbats) and the four points in between (the major sabbats).

The Wheel of the Year spins like this (# means Major Sabbat, * means Minor Sabbat, dates refering to the North Hemisphere):

# Samhain (known as Halloween) - 31 October
* Yule (Winter Solistice) - 21 December
# Imbolc (known as Candlemas) - 2 February
* Ostara (Spring Equinox) - 21 March
# Beltane (known as May Eve) - 30 April
* Litha (Summer Solistice) - 21 June
# Lugh (full name is Lughnassadh, known as Lammas) - 1 August
* Mabon (Fall Equinox) - 21 Setember

About the dates presented, you must take in consideration that:
* The dates aren't fixed: the Winter's Solistice, for instance, isn't allways at the 21st of the December.
* There are two ways of presenting the dates, and I did in the "pagan way". The pagan Sabbat begins at dawn and ends at dawn. Taking the previous example of Yule, Yule's celebration starts at the dawn of the 21st of December and ends at the dawn of the 22nd of December.