Neopagan Holidays

Neopaganism encompasses several modern, spiritual oriented groups whose practices center around the Earth and/or Goddesses. These groups include Wiccans, Druids, Alchemists, Witches, Asatruist, Shamanists, and Neo-Native Americans. Contrary to many beliefs and stereotypes stemming from archaic Christian portrayals of Pagans, these people and their new age counterparts are not spiritually devoid and do not worship the Devil, in fact Satan does not exist in Paganism.

While there are many groups in the Neopagan community commonalities exist between them. In general, Mother Nature (The Great Mother Earth) is highly worshipped and many groups believe in some sort of Supreme Being (typically in God and Goddess as a duality), although most groups are catagorized as polytheistic. Many believe that life continues as an energy in some form after death but don't generally believe in the concept of people going to a place of punishment such as Hell. However some groups believe souls of wrongdoers can be trapped in suffering after death.

Generally, Neopagan celebrations center around the Earth and seasons of the year and are charted on a festival calendar. Called the Wheel of the Year, the Neopagan seasonal calendar included eight major celebrations and festivals referred to as Sabbats. Four of the events center around the equinoxes and solstices while the other four major celebrations recognize significant dates on the solar calendar. As is common is other religions, holidays begin at sunset the night before the event.

Most Neopagan holidays involve performing rituals and many include occult (magic) work or supernatural elements. Rituals often consist of meditation, music, dance, symbolic speech, poetry, and costumes. Typically they have a three part structure that includes preparation of the space, the ritual actions, and post activities of gratitude and fellowship building. While neopagans don't usually have regular meetings in the way followers of other religions attend a church, temple, or mosque, they do gather for their celebrations and festivals, usually in private homes or open outdoor spaces such as parks.

Major Neopagan Holidays