Editing Wheel of the Year (section)

==Narratives==

===Celtic===
{{See also|Celtic mythology}}

It is a misconception in some quarters of the modern pagan community, influenced by the writings of [[Robert Graves]],<ref name="Hutton 1993:145">{{cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy |year=1993 |publisher=[[Blackwell publishing]] |location=[[Oxford]] |page=145 |isbn=0-631-18946-7}}</ref> that historical [[Celts]] had an overarching narrative for the entire cycle of the year. While the various [[Celtic calendar]]s include ''some'' cyclical patterns, and a belief in the balance of light and dark, these beliefs vary between the different [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic cultures]]. Modern [[Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism|preservationists and revivalists]] usually observe the four 'fire festivals' of the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] Calendar, and some also observe local festivals that are held on dates of significance in the different [[Celtic nations]].<ref name="Bonewits 2006">{{cite book |last=Bonewits |first=Isaac |title=Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism |year=2006 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Group |location=New York, New York |pages=179, 183–4, 128–140 |isbn=0-8065-2710-2}}</ref><ref name="McColman 2003">{{cite book |last=McColman |first=Carl |title=Complete Idiot's Guide to Celtic Wisdom |year=2003 |publisher=Alpha Press |pages=12, 51 |isbn=0-02-864417-4}}</ref>

===Slavic===
{{See also|Slavic mythology}}

[[File:Kolomir00.jpg|thumb|''Kołomir'' – the [[Slavs|Slavic]] example of Wheel of the Year indicating seasons of the year. Four-point and eight-point [[swastika]]-shaped wheels were more common.]]
Slavic mythology tells of a persisting conflict involving [[Perun]], god of thunder and lightning, and [[Veles (god)|Veles]], the ''black god'' and ''horned god'' of the [[underworld]]. Enmity between the two is initiated by Veles' annual ascent up the [[world tree]] in the form of a [[Zmey|huge serpent]] and his ultimate theft of Perun's [[Cattle in religion|divine cattle]] from the heavenly domain. Perun retaliates to this challenge of the divine order by pursuing Veles, attacking with his lightning bolts from the sky. Veles taunts Perun and flees, transforming himself into various animals and hiding behind trees, houses, even people. (Lightning bolts striking down trees or homes were explained as results of this.) In the end Perun overcomes and defeats Veles, returning him to his place in the realm of the dead. Thus the order of the world is maintained.<ref name="cwm_sm">{{cite book |last=Leeming |first=David |title=The Oxford Companion to World Mythology |year=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[New York, New York]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000leem/page/360 360] |chapter=A-Z Entries |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000leem/page/360 |isbn=0-19-515669-2}}</ref><ref name="hlobil">{{cite book |last=Hlobil |first=Karel |title=Before You |year=2009 |publisher=[[Insomniac Press]] |chapter=Chapter Eleven:Slavic Mythology |isbn=978-1-92-658247-4}}</ref><ref name="sms_11">{{cite journal
|last=Lyle |first=Emily |title=Time and the Indo-European Gods in the Slavic Context. |journal=[[Studia Mythologica Slavica]]
|url=http://sms.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/11/SMS_11_Lyle.pdf |year=2008 |volume=11 |pages=115–126 |doi=10.3986/sms.v11i0.1691|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The idea that storms and thunder are actually divine battle is pivotal to the changing of the seasons. Dry periods are identified as chaotic results of Veles' thievery. This duality and conflict represents an opposition of the natural principles of earth, water, substance, and chaos (Veles) and of heaven, fire, spirit, order (Perun), not a clash of good and evil. The cosmic battle between the two also echoes the ancient [[Proto-Indo-European religion#Mythology|Indo-European narrative]] of a fight between the sky-borne storm god and [[chthonic]] [[dragon]].

On the ''great night'' ([[New Year]]), two children of Perun are born, [[Jarilo]], god of fertility and vegetation and son of the Moon, and [[Marzanna|Morana]], goddess of nature and death and daughter of the Sun. On the same night, the infant Jarilo is snatched and taken to the underworld, where Veles raises him as his own. At the time of the spring equinox, Jarilo returns across the sea from the world of the dead, bringing with him fertility and spring from the evergreen underworld into the realm of the living. He meets his sister Morana and courts her. With the beginning of summer, the two are married bringing fertility and abundance to Earth, ensuring a bountiful harvest. The union of Perun's kin and Veles' stepson brings peace between two great gods, staving off storms which could damage the harvest. After the harvest, however, Jarilo is unfaithful to his wife and she vengefully slays him, returning him to the underworld and renewing enmity between Perun and Veles. Without her husband, god of fertility and vegetation, Morana&nbsp;– and all of nature with her&nbsp;– withers and freezes in the ensuing winter. She grows into the old and dangerous goddess of darkness and frost, eventually dying by the year's end only to be reborn again with her brother in the new year.<ref name="cwm_sm"/><ref name="hlobil"/>

===Wicca and Druidry===
{{Further|Wiccan views of divinity}}

[[File:Wheel of the Year.JPG|thumb|Painted Wheel of the Year from the [[Museum of Witchcraft]], Boscastle]]
In [[Wicca]], the narrative of the Wheel of the Year traditionally centers on the [[sacred marriage]] of [[Wicca#The God and the Goddess|the God and the Goddess]] and the [[god]]/[[goddess]] duality. In this cycle, the God is perpetually born from the Goddess at Yule, grows in power at the [[vernal equinox (Northern Hemisphere)|vernal equinox]] (as does the Goddess, now in her ''maiden aspect''), courts and impregnates the Goddess at [[Beltane]], reaches his peak at the [[summer solstice]], wanes in power at [[Lammas]], passes into the underworld at [[Samhain]] (taking with him the fertility of the Goddess/Earth, who is now in her ''crone aspect'') until he is once again born from Her mother/crone aspect at Yule. The Goddess, in turn, ages and rejuvenates endlessly with the seasons, being courted by and giving birth to the [[Horned God]].<ref name=DruryModernMagicalRevival /><ref>{{cite book|author=Vivianne Crowley|title=Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age|location=London|publisher=Aquarian Press|year=1989|isbn=9780850307375|pages=162–200|author-link=Vivianne Crowley}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition|year=1999|publisher=HarperOne|location=San Francisco|isbn=9780062516329|pages=[https://archive.org/details/spiraldancerebir00star_0/page/197 197–213]|author=Starhawk|author-link=Starhawk|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/spiraldancerebir00star_0/page/197}}</ref>

Many Wiccan, [[modern Druids]], and eclectic modern pagans incorporate a narrative of the [[Holly King and Oak King]] as rulers of the waning year and the waxing year respectively. These two figures battle endlessly with the turning of the seasons. At the summer solstice, the Holly King defeats the Oak King and commences his reign.<ref name=fer>{{cite book|last1=Farrar|first1=Janet & Stewart Farrar; with line illustrations by Stewart|last2=Farrar|first2=photographs by Ian David & Stewart|title=A witches bible|date=1984|publisher=Magickal Childe|location=New York|isbn=093970806X}}</ref>{{rp|94}} After the [[Autumn equinox (Northern Hemisphere)|Autumn equinox]] the Oak King slowly begins to regain his power as the sun begins to wane. Come the [[winter solstice]] the Oak King in turn vanquishes the Holly King.<ref name=fer />{{rp|137}}After the [[spring equinox (Northern Hemisphere)|spring equinox]] the sun begins to wax again and the Holly King slowly regains his strength until he once again defeats the Oak King at the summer solstice. The two are ultimately seen as essential parts of a whole, light and dark aspects of the male God, and would not exist without each other.<ref name=DruryModernMagicalRevival /><ref name="Farrars 1988">{{cite book|author=Farrar, Janet and Stewart|title=Eight Sabbats for Witches, revised edition|publisher=Phoenix Publishing|year=1988|isbn=0-919345-26-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Joanne Pearson|title=A Popular Dictionary of Paganism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3W02UMPejRwC |year=2002|pages=80|location=London|publisher=Taylor & Francis Ltd|isbn=9780700715916}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Carl McColman|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism|location=Indianapolis, IN|publisher=Alpha|year=2002|isbn=9780028642666|pages=121}}</ref>

The Holly King is often portrayed as a woodsy figure, similar to the modern [[Santa Claus]], dressed in red with sprigs of holly in his hair and the Oak King as a [[fertility god]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Raven Grimassi |title=Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzp63ep-MlQC |year=2000|pages=219|location=St Paul, Minnesota|publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide|isbn=9781567182576}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wigington|first=Patti|title=The Legend of the Holly King and the Oak King|url=http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yulethelongestnight/p/Holly_KIng_Yule.htm|publisher=paganwiccan.about.com|access-date=25 October 2012|archive-date=29 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129233157/http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yulethelongestnight/p/Holly_KIng_Yule.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>