This is an article I wrote for Pagan Holidays and Earth Magic about celebrating the Sabbats with children.
I was talking to my daughter (now in her thirties) about teaching Wicca to children. Her dad Herne, believed that being a Wiccan or Witch meant you were a healer, a teacher, a seeker, a giver, and a protector of all things. He felt that walking the old paths meant “…being in the presence of Mother Earth’s nature and being humbled in reverence.” For us, teaching Wicca to children was not about teaching spells and rituals. It was about helping them connect with our mother Earth.
When celebrating the Sabbats with children, our focus should always be on teaching them about nature’s cycles and rhythms. As we help others, both young and old, learn to respect, honor and work with all living things, we create a more unified, peaceful world.
No one knows more about having fun and celebrating the moment than a child. My favorite book on connecting with nature was written by a child. After reading a few paragraphs from this book it was clear that children could teach adults a lot about following a nature-based magical path.
Excerpts from this child’s writing are listed below. She grew up in the woods of western Oregon and in her diary (written when she was 6 – 7 years old) she recorded a world alive with creatures, fairies, talking trees, and singing creeks. Here are a few of her words:
“The wind … calls to me to come go exploring. It sings of the things that are to be found under leaves. It whispers the dreams of the tall fir trees. It does pipe the gentle song the forest sings on gray days. I hear all the voices calling me. I listen…”
“The wind does have many things to tell. He does toss back one’s curls so he can whisper things in one’s ears. Today he did push back my curls three times, that I might better hear what he did have to say.”
“I wave greetings to the plant-bush folks that do dance all about. Today a grand pine tree did wave its arms to me. And the bush branches patted my cheek in a friendly way.”
“Raindrops were beginning to come down from the sky. Their coming was in a gentle way. I had longs to be out with them. I so do like to feel the raindrops patter on my head and I like to run runs and hold out my hands to meet them.”
For this little girl, something magical was always happening right outside her front door. Most children experience this enthusiasm for the natural world. We should think of ourselves as Leaders of Learning when we explore our Mother Earth’s gifts with them. If we are lucky, when we are celebrating the Sabbats with children and sharing our knowledge of the old traditions, moon lore and nature’s changing seasons with them, they might teach US something about the true spirit and magic at the heart of these wonderful celebrations!
For more information on how and when to celebrate all the Pagan holidays, visit our Wheel of the Year Sabbat Calendar page.