How to Pronounce the Sabbats
Samhain (31 Oct) -- Irish Gaelic for "summer's end." The standard Irish pronunciation is "sow-in" with the "ow" like in "cow."Other pronunciations that follow with the many Gaelic dialects include"sow-een" "shahvin" "sowin" (with "ow" like in "glow"). The Scots Gaelic spelling is "Samhuin" or "Samhuinn." There is no linguistic foundation for saying this word "samhane" the way it might look if it were English. When in doubt, just say "Hallows" or even "Hallowe'en."
Yule (21 Dec) -- Norse for "wheel." It's pretty muchpronounced just like it looks, although if you want to make a stab ata Scandinavian sound, it'll be more like "yool" and less like "yewl."This is the winter solstice.
Imbolg/Imbolc (1 Feb) -- Irish Gaelic for "in the belly."Pronounce this one "IM-bullug" or "IM-bulk" with a guttural "k" on theend. Other names include Candlemas; Brighid (pronounced "breed"), whois the Irish goddess whose festival this is; and Oimelc (pronouncedEE-mulk), which means "ewe's milk" in Scots Gaelic.
Ostara (21 Mar) -- Saxon name for a maiden goddess of spring,loosely connected to Astarte and Ishtar. This one's easy --"o-STAHR-uh." Other names include Eostre (say "OHS-truh" or"EST-truh"). This is the spring equinox.
Beltane/Bealtaine (30 April/ 1 May) -- Irish Gaelic for either "firesof Bel" or "bright fires." If you want to try it in Gaelic, you cansay "bee-YAWL-tinnuh" or "BELL-tinnuh." Unlike Samhain, this word canwithin the linguistic structure of its language of origin bepronounced like it looks -- "BELL-tane" -- without totally abandoningits original construction. Other names are Walpurgisnacht(vawl-PUR-gis-nahkt) and May Day.
Litha (21 Jun) -- Norse or Anglo-Saxon for "longest day."You can say this one just like it looks, or you can try for aScandinavian sound and say "leetha" with the "th" more like a "t."This is the summer solstice.
Lughnasadh/Lunasa or Lammas (1 Aug) -- The first is IrishGaelic for "festival of Lugh" (a major Irish deity); the second isAnglo-Saxon for "festival of the loaves" ("hlaf-mass"). Don't panicat that spelling; the second (which is modern Irish as opposed to oldIrish) tells you all you need to know. Say "LOO-nah-sah." (Somepeople maintain that the Scots dialect says it "LOO-nah-soo.") Lammasis just like it looks, "LAH-mus."
Mabon (21 Sep) -- This is believed to be a form of the Welsh word for "son." Therefore, it would probably be pronounced "MA-bon"with the "a" like in "mass." However, most Wiccans and pagans say"MAY-bon." This is the autumn equinox.