Here's some more information if anyone is interested. If not - ignore it.

I wrote these descriptions a few years back. They're basically Wiccan in orientation. The Wiccan Wheel of the Year starts at dawn on the day after Hallowe'en/Samhain, so the first ritual is Yule. The descriptions illustrate the several levels of meaning in each of the Sabbats.

YULE: Longest night of the year, a celebration honoring the eventual return of the dominance of the Sun, birth of the Sun god, Yule log - traditionally a phallic representation of the dying power of the Oak King (Sun) - giving warmth in the cold, sometimes Yule is a time for a vigil waiting for the Sun to finally arise - the actual birth of the Sun - the births of most Sun Gods were celebrated at the Winter Solstice: Saturn, Wotan, Mithra, Jesus, the Christians adopted 12/25 in 273 C.E. Jesus was likely born in March or April.

IMBOLC: The recovery of the Goddess from giving birth, Brigid's Day, honoring the Celtic Goddess of Fire, Fire festival to encourage the Sun to hurry it's return, purification after the shut-in life of Winter and readying of the household for Spring, time for focusing on the family, the working for crafts - making & mending of tools needed the rest of the year, initiations into covens, Scandinavian festival includes women wearing crowns of lit candles, blessing of children who make it thru Winter - borrowed by Christianity in Christening, Candlemas is the time of the Purification of Mary - 40 days since the birth of Jesus as she was not "pure" enough to re-enter the temple.

OSTARA (festival of the Goddess Eostar): Spring is here! time for planting and the raising of newly born animals, Nature Fertility festival, Puberty rites, Easter is named after the Germanic Goddess Eostar - eggs & bunnies = fertility symbols, eggs were painted with fertility symbols and hidden in the newly-seeded fields to encourage growth or they were cast into fires as offerings to the goddess and god, the goddess Eostar's traditional escort was a rabbit, Ostara was the time for the resurrection of the Goddess from the underworld - hence a perfect time for the resurrection of Christ. While Christianity has tried to overcome the "Lunar focus" of pagan religions - the date of Easter, and hence much of the Ecclesiastical calendar, is set thru both the Solar & Lunar calendars - the First Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

BELTANE: May Day, or Lady Day, flower festival - flowers were gathered for the home and maypole, Roman festival of Florinalia - Flora - Goddess of Flowers, the fertility of the Goddess & rite of manhood of the God, Maypole - the symbolic union of the Goddess: the wreath, and the God: the pole - through union, the crops and animals are blessed, consummation of "courting" couples to see if the lady would "take" by Midsummer, best time of the year to communicate with the Fairy folk, time for protection spells as well as fertility.

LITHA/MIDSUMMER: Longest day of the year, Fire Festival to celebrate the full glory of the Earth Mother, the Goddess is pregnant, this is the time in the community for handfastings or weddings - if a couple was pregnant from Beltane they would get handfasted - if not they would wait until they did or separate, time for a break from tending the fields, everything is growing, plants animals and pregnant moms, big festival for working with community, magic includes love and healing - most powerful Solar day for magic.

LUGHNASADH (festival of the God Lugh) /LAMMAS (bread mass): First harvest, leafy greens, berries, give thanks for the fertility of the land, it's the feast of the Celtic Sun God Lugh - renowned for wisdom and knowledge, the God is losing his strength, the time to celebrate those moving past the raising of kids, the feast of Bread - the first grains are harvested and the rest of the growing year cna be forseen.

MABON (festival of the Goddess Mab): Second harvest, look back on the year, Goddess is entering her crone phase, God is ritually sacrificed - in order to let his son rule the next year as well as his blood to bring fertility to the land for the next year's crops, croning and eldering are done, time to begin to take stock for the coming of Winter, magic includes long-term love, strength and completion of large projects.

SAMHAIN (Summer's end): Celtic New Year, final harvest, The Goddess travels into the Underworld thus bringing "death" upon the world, Persephone myth, animals are slaughtered that may not make it through winter, Samhain Eve - the "veil" between our world and the realm of Spirit is at its thinnest, thus communication between the living and the dead is easier, Mexico - Day of the dead: visiting ancestors at graveyards, Europe: people traditionally carved gourds & placed them on their doorsteps to scare away unwanted spirits.