Question: The oldest Wiccan holiday takes place during what time of year ?

text: Wicca
Practices -- Wheel of the Year
Painted Wheel of the Year at the Museum of Witchcraft , Boscastle , Cornwall , displaying all eight of the Sabbats Main article : Wheel of the Year Wiccans celebrate several seasonal festivals of the year , commonly known as Sabbats . Collectively , these occasions are termed the Wheel of the Year . [ 84 ] Most Wiccans celebrate a set of eight of these Sabbats ; however , other groups such as those associated with the Clan of Tubal Cain only follow four . In the rare case of the Ros an Bucca group from Cornwall , only six are adhered to . [ 115 ] The four Sabbats that are common to all British derived groups are the cross-quarter days , sometimes referred to as Greater Sabbats . The names of these festivals are in some cases taken from the Old Irish fire festivals , [ 116 ] though in most traditional Wiccan covens the only commonality with the Celtic festival is the name . Gardner himself made use of the English names of these holidays , stating that `` the four great Sabbats are Candlemass [ sic ] , May Eve , Lammas , and Halloween ; the equinoxes and solstices are celebrated also . `` [ 117 ] In the Egyptologist Margaret Murray 's The Witch-Cult in Western Europe ( 1921 ) and The God of the Witches ( 1933 ) , in which she dealt with what she believed had been a historical Witch-Cult , she stated that the four main festivals had survived Christianisation and had been celebrated in the pagan Witchcraft religion . Subsequently , when Wicca was first developing in the 1930s through to the 1960s , many of the early groups , such as Robert Cochrane 's Clan of Tubal Cain and Gerald Gardner 's Bricket Wood coven adopted the commemoration of these four Sabbats as described by Murray . [ citation needed ] The other four festivals commemorated by many Wiccans are known as Lesser Sabbats . They are the solstices and the equinoxes , and they were only adopted in 1958 by members of the Bricket Wood coven , [ 118 ] before they were subsequently adopted by other followers of the Gardnerian tradition . They were eventually adopted by followers of other traditions like Alexandrian Wicca and the Dianic tradition . The names of these holidays that are commonly used today are often taken from Germanic pagan holidays . However , the festivals are not reconstructive in nature nor do they often resemble their historical counterparts , instead they exhibit a form of universalism . The rituals that are observed may display cultural influences from the holidays from which they take their names as well as influences from other unrelated cultures . [ 119 ]
Wicca (English: /ˈwɪkə/), also termed Pagan Witchcraft, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. Wicca has no central authority figure. Its traditional core beliefs, principles and practices were originally outlined in the 1940s and 1950s by Gardner and Doreen Valiente, both in published books and in secret written and oral teachings passed along to their initiates. There are many variations on the core structure, and the religion grows and evolves over time. It is divided into a number of diverse lineages, sects and denominations, referred to as traditions, each with its own organisational structure and level of centralisation. Due to its decentralized nature, there is some disagreement over what actually constitutes Wicca. Some traditions, collectively referred to as British Traditional Wicca, strictly follow the initiatory lineage of Gardner and consider the term Wicca to apply only to similar traditions, but not to newer, eclectic traditions. Wicca is typically duotheistic, worshipping a Goddess and a God. These are traditionally viewed as the Moon Goddess and the Horned God, respectively.
Sabbat Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere Origin of Name Associations
Samhain , a.k.a . Halloween 31 October to 1 November 30 April to 1 May Celtic polytheism Death and the ancestors
Yuletide 21 or 22 December 21 June Germanic paganism Winter solstice and the rebirth of the Sun
Imbolc , a.k.a . Candlemas 1 or 2 February 1 August Celtic polytheism First signs of spring
Ostara 21 or 22 March 21 or 22 September Germanic paganism Vernal equinox and the beginning of spring
Beltane , a.k.a . May Eve or May Day 30 April to 1 May 31 October to 1 November Celtic polytheism The full flowering of spring ; fairy folk
Litha 21 or 22 June 21 December Possibly Neolithic Summer solstice
Lughnasadh , a.k.a . Lammas 31 July or 1 August 1 February Celtic polytheism First fruits
Mabon , a.k.a . Modron 21 or 22 September 21 March No historical pagan equivalent Autumnal equinox ; the harvest of grain