The Cross-quarter day reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Cross-quarter day

1. See quarter days.

2. In the Neopagan wheel of the year, there are eight solar holidays or sabbatss. Of these, four (Yule, Ostara, Midsummer and Mabon) refer to the solstices and equinoxes. The other four fall between these, and are referred to as cross-quarter days.

The cross-quarter days are:

• Imbolc (February 1), -in Ireland, Lá 'le Bríde St Brigid's Day and the first day of Spring,
• Beltane or Beltain (May 1), -in Ireland, Lá Bealtaine and the first day of Summer,
• Lughnasadh or Lammas (August 1), -in Ireland, Lá Lughnasadh or Lúnasa and the first day of Autumn and
• Samhain (November 1), -in Ireland Lá Samhna and the first day of Winter.

They are usually celebrated on the evening before.

This is the "Cross-quarter day" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.