Know Your Sabbats: The Fire Festivals

There are numerous ways to celebrate the fire festivals. One of the most popular is performing outdoor rituals and gathering together for a feast. Modern-day pagans use the long hours of daylight to show gratitude to nature for the abundant harvests it brings. 

Besoms, solar symbols, and other magickal decorations are used to beautify the home altars that paints an energetic vibe to your living space. Offerings of food, wine, and various objects to honor the gods and goddesses is also a pivotal part of every festival. 

At night, bonfires are lit and entertaining games bring comfort to everyone which brightens the space between the earth and the spiritual world. A time full of magick and divination, spells of protection, love, prosperity, and cleansing are performed hand in hand with rituals. 

Celebrating the fire festivals could vary from one witch to another. Sprinkling a touch of your personality would be very ideal as this celebration embraces diversity and gives room for personal growth and elevation.

The Four Fire Festivals

Ostara

Ostara is the season of honoring fertility and the new growth of the Earth. As the midpoint of the year, day and night are now at equal length and the gods have also returned into the world.

With the magical energy of Ostara, we can recreate new habits to reinvent ourselves and facilitate change in spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects.

When we begin to break old habits, our personal power is put into action by holding the freedom to decide what to hold on to and what to let go of. 

Litha

Litha or the midsummer festival marks the longest day of the year. It is a promising day, ruled by the Sun and the element of Fire that invigorates every Pagan with the warmth and comfort it brings.

Litha gives way to the marriage of gods and goddesses. Revitalize your personal power by performing meditation while waiting for the sun to rise, this connects you to your internal intuitions and adds a magic of abundance to every adventure you are about to partake in.

Mabon

Mabon is the mid-harvest festival that celebrates the hard work done and inspires people to reap what they sow.

This festival honors the second harvest. In this period of transition, the lush greenery of summer has surrendered to the crisp and fiery energy of autumn. This time of transformation, connect to yourself through meditative magick and appreciate the fact that, just like the season, you also go through change.

Through this appreciation of oneself, you acknowledge the vital role of your personal power in your life. 

Yule

A direct contrast to the Litha festival, Yule, or the Winter Solstice indicates the longest night of the year. This festival mainly signifies the renewing cycles of life.

To symbolize the heat and life-giving qualities of the sun, it is customary for Pagans to burn Yule logs. The use of personal magick unleashes the energy of your personal power, connecting you to your inner self which helps you be prepared mentally and spiritually for what is to come as another season unfolds.

The Fire Festivals and Equinox Sabbats

The four fire festivals- Ostara, Litha, Mabon, and Yule are also called Low Sabbats or Lesser Sabbats. Dates of the celebration of these festivals vary slightly from one year to another. Typically, rituals made for these seasons are performed during nighttime symbolizing its relation to the lunar calendar. Fire festivals represent the elements- Ostara is to fire, Litha for water, Mabon is to air, and Yule for the earth.

Contrary to Low Sabbats, rituals for Cross-Quarter festivals are often performed during the day where the sun is in full intensity. Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh are also regarded as the Higher Sabbats or Greater Sabbats and have their dates of celebration set. These solar holidays also represent the four elements: Samhain to water, Imbolc for air, Beltane for earth, and Lughnasadh is to fire. 

The eight Sabbats are designed to maintain balance. It draws reflection and gratification for what has been gained in a year as well as the things that one had lost, but still cherished in memory in the cyclical turn of the year.