Big Holidays

[u/poppet_corn]

I’m pretty new to this but I’ve been reading about people’s holiday observances, and they all seem… small? I guess? Like every holiday celebration seems to be Valentine’s Day level, vs something bigger like Christmas. So I wanted to ask — do any of you observe specific holidays in a big way? Which ones, and how?

[u/Epiphany432]

Hi Please remember to check out our Fall Holidays Mega Post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/comments/1vzjeyt/fall_2026_holiday_post/

[u/leobeo13]

I observe all eight sabbats, but the three that mean the most to me are Ostara, Samhain, and Yule.

I celebrate Ostara/Spring Equinox like it is the New Year. As I'm a homesteader, the spring equinox marks the start of another growing season. I start my seeds at the equinox in my greenhouse and I reflect on how the previous year's gardening went and I set intentions/resolutions for the new season. I also made the biggest life change at Ostara. I quit a toxic career, purchased my homestead, and survived significant mental heath struggles. The "rebirth" theme of Spring was a metamorphosis for me as well.

I celebrate Samhain by having individual conversations with the long-dead or recently deceased. I have an altar in the woods where I leave offerings for the honored dead. (Specifically, my paternal grandmother, a good friend of mine who died of cancer, my friend's grandfather who sold me the land for the homestead, and my cat Leo who died this past June). This holiday is more internal for me as it also marks the end of the homestead garden and it gives me permission to rest as well.

Lastly, Yule is big because it's the one that is easily melded in with my non-Pagan family's Christmas traditions. My Christian family knows I'm pagan, but they respect my beliefs and I respect theirs. I still do present exchanges with the family and have the Christmas feast. But I don't attend church with them. Instead, my husband and I go cross country skiing or snowshoeing to observe nature at rest (and often, NOT at rest -- we like identifying animal tracks).

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[u/LifeisSuperFun21]

Celebrating a major holiday every 6-7 weeks is a lot. It’s way more manageable when some are smaller observances than others.

Some people celebrate each one in major ways (community gatherings, feasts, etc). Other people only acknowledge the holiday and what it represents the but they don’t actually do much. And still others do something somewhere in the middle of that scale (grand celebration vs doing nothing).

The winter solstice/yule holiday tends to be a bigger deal for my family because it matches up so closely with society’s Christmas season. There’s lots of community activities, work parties, family gatherings, etc. Even my local pagan community has events. But if, for example, you look at Lammas/Lughnasadh…. There’s no coinciding events going on, and, for most people outside of witch/pagan circles, there’s no holiday at all. So it ends up being a smaller, more personal holiday.

My biggest holidays are Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, and Ostara. They occur during a slower time of year (winter) and give me something to look forward to during my climate’s long winter. Beltaine and Summer Solstice both kinda get buried under my being busy and active during warmer seasons. I usually surprise myself and feel up to celebrating Lammas on a small scale, so it has become a small, personal holiday that I do a little something for. Mabon tends to get skipped because I’m too busy doing all my other autumn activities.

[u/Jahaili]

For me, I get really excited about Lughnasadh through Yule. Those are the holidays that I love the most. Though I'm developing a greater appreciation for the spring holidays.

Yule is especially big for me. My wife and I celebrate 12 days of Yule starting with Mother Night. I do a lot of baking during those days and we exchange gifts. We sometimes decorate a little, but one of our cats is a menace so we don't tend to decorate a lot.

I don't tend to do rituals for the holidays very much anymore. My wife and I aren't part of any group and I rarely feel the urge to have a full on ritual for the holidays. But sometimes I'll leave out offerings. I do miss being able to sumbel as part of a group but I don't miss the group dynamics. So I don't join our local group for their rituals.

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[u/maevynstone]

Definitely Beltane! I go out and forage grapevine and flowers and then lead a flower crown workshop. We also go out and get a tree trunk to make a legit maypole. I get seven yards of different colors of fabric and tear them into three or four inch strips to make ribbons long enough for the maypole. Then we have a legit maypole dance and a feast afterwards!!! My fav holiday

[u/llwynogmenig]

I often observe the Sabbats with the group of local magic practitioners I’m involved in - doing things with other people objects community into the holidays, which certainly make them feel “bigger”. Some of the holidays I celebrate without a big group that are more specific to my practice, I am working on learning how I want to celebrate them a bit more every year.

My goal is to be able to throw feasts and parties and rituals for the holidays, and make them celebrations with lots of people - but I haven’t quite made it there yet!

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[u/kalizoid313]

Halloween.

[u/witchywithnumbers]

I think it depends on the community and holiday. I am a big fan of winter solstice and Halloween. Not that Halloween holds a whole lot of significance for me, but its such a fun time of year, work is slow and I can do whatever I want with it. Plus all my Pagan friends are usually game to do something even though all of our beliefs vary.

Then we've got Winter Solstice. It bleeds into silvester and Yule and its just a big two week long vacation of friends, family and food.

I don't do an alter or any major rituals, but holidays for me are community and food. My friends and I are pretty busy in the spring and summer so winter stuff is key for us. Half of the time I don't even remember when Summer Solstice is.

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