Creating A Nova Scotian Wheel of the Year

In recent years I’ve seen a fair amount of criticism of the Wheel of the Year. It happens like clock work, or more precisely like a calendar. The Wheel turns, a Sabbat is celebrated, and the inevitable conversation begins. We don’t live in Britain. There are no snowdrops at Imbolc, no tulips at Ostara. What is the connection between Mabon and the Fall Equinox? Online bloggers decry the artificiality of the Wheel. Podcasters debate the relevance of ritual observance based on an agricultural understanding of the seasons.

Yes, and…

I love the Wheel of the Year. Every six or so weeks, we take time out of our every day lives, and mark the position of the sun, and celebrate the world around us. It gives us the opportunity to lift our attention from the mundane as we focus on Divinity, on celebration, and on community.

Inspired by ancient Pagan traditions, the Wheel of the Year is a modern interpretation. The turning Wheel may suggest some themes, but there are no required practices. And so it is what we make of it.

If the well-known festivals don’t work for you, create your own. Use the Wheel of the Year as a template and fill it in with what’s going on outside where you live.

1. Samhain – October 31 (observed)
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Winter Nights, Hallowe’en, Dia de la Muertos
   2. Themes: final harvest festival, veil is thin – communication with the dead
   3. Ways to celebrate: Read aloud the names of the dead, hold a dumb supper, hold an ancestors’ dinner, divination, historically, payment of debts
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Summer’s End, a literal translation of Samhain, no chance of a fall heat wave after Samhain. Final harvest festival, celebrated with the Ancestors
2. Yule – Astronomical Winter Solstice
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Midwinter, Winter Solstice, Jol, Alban Arthur
   2. Themes: the returning light
   3. Ways to celebrate: Seasonal lights, yule tree or evergreens brought into the home, eating traditional foods, bon fires and drumming up the sun
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as The Return of the Light. Seasonal Christmas lights, the focus is on the return. Plus celebrating the Winter Solstice is the closest thing there is to a universal holiday. Halifax: Parade of Lights. Bon fire on the cliffs and drumming up the sun after the longest night
3. Imbolc – February 2 (observed)
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Disablot, Disting, Brigid’s Day, Candlemass, Oimelch
   2. Themes: orienting to spring, pregnancy of ewe’s, increasing light, purification and cleansing
   3. Ways to celebrate: house cleaning, eating foods reminiscent of the sun, creating Brigid’s Crosses and other Brigid revering traditions
   4. Celebrated at the Armshaw home as Eagle Watch, a winter tradition in Sheffield Mills, Nova Scotia. The Sheffield Mills Eagle Watch, in the Annapolis Valley, NS, is an annual January/February community event that’s been running for 20 years, offering eagle-related exhibits, photography demonstrations, music, breakfasts and lunches—and a map with best-bet viewing sites based on where chicken is put out for the raptors.
4. Ostara – Astronomical Spring Equinox
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Alban Eiler, Spring Equinox
   2. Themes: Spring, hares/bunnies, eggs, new life, balance, purification and cleansing
   3. Ways to celebrate: decorating eggs, planting seeds indoors, house cleaning
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Maple Spring. Occasional ice storms aside, longer days and warmer temperatures lend themselves to hopeful plans for Spring. The sap is running. A tour of a maple sugar farm is a seasonal delight.
5. Beltane – May 1 (observed)
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Bealtaine. , May Day, Valpurgisnacht
   2. Themes: new life, fertility
   3. Ways to celebrate: parties, bon fires, May pole dancing, festival games
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Blossom. You can maybe start your garden before May but it is risky. May is the season of Garden Centre pop ups, yard raking, direct sowing and bees in the fruit tree orchards. Magnolias are blooming, dandelions are popping up and the annual Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom festival rounds out the month of May.
6. Litha – Astronomical Summer Solstice
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Midsummer, Summer Solstice
   2. Themes: longest day of the year, power of growth, fae activity, weddings and handfastings
   3. Ways to celebrate: bon fires, drum down the sun at sunset
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Longest Day. The heat of Summer is yet to come, though the days will now be getting shorter. This is the end of the school year. The roses are in bloom. Bon fires, before the summer fire bans, and drumming down the sun are rituals shared with friends and family.
7. Lammas – August 1 (observed)
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Lughnasadh, Freyfest
   2. Themes: first harvest, crafting,
   3. Ways to celebrate: bake a loaf of bread, feasting on the first of the harvests
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Festival of Hodgepodge. Cream and the first of the summer vegetable harvest make up this Nova Scotian delicacy.
8. Mabon – Astronomical Autumnal Equinox
   1. Other names or seasonal celebrations: Autumnal Equinox, Harvest Home
   2. Themes: second harvest festival, Persephone travels to the underworld, balance
   3. Ways to celebrate: a Pagan gratitude observance for the harvest, Review and see if you have anything outstanding that you would like to complete.
   4. Celebrated in the Armshaw home as Apple Harvest. Local orchards open for pick your own, offer tours to customers. Seasonal cooking and communal meals

Build traditions that honour the past and celebrate the present. Create a Nova Scotian Wheel of the Year practice that reflects your experience. And leave a comment sharing your own East Coast observances.

Blessed Be