Song 10: Wheel of the Year

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D (C)

The wheel of the year goes round and round,

A (G) D (C)

Round and round, round and round

D (C)

The wheel of the year goes round and round,

A (G) D (C)

All through time

Verses

Brigid is the time of the cauldron fire

Spring Equinox means colored eggs

Beltane is the time of the maypole dance

Summer Solstice is the longest day

Lammas is the time we bake our bread

Fall Equinox means harvest time

Samhain is the time we spiral dance

Winter Solstice is the longest night

: Amokeh and Jaden created this mnemonic chart to help the kids record the eight verses.

History & Lore

George:

This song was born at a Teen Earth Magic retreat (see next page for more on TEM) – although it’s never sung at TEM.

No, we don’t sing nursery rhymes with the teens. In 2011, we did a weekend workshop in the basement of the Oakland Peace Center. It was midnight on Saturday, following an all-day workshop and all-evening ritual. At least one teacher recalls already being in their sleeping bag.

Some teens were still running around and singing, and somehow the chorus of this song emerged (you can picture the “round and round” part, with the teens dancing in the middle of a gymnasium that has a big 11-circuit labyrinth painted on the floor).

Pretty soon verse ideas were popping up. The earlier-referenced teacher got out their flashlight and a pen and paper and started jotting down lyrics. By the time the energy ebbed, we had most of the song.

We sang it that year at a San Francisco ritual, and kept honing the words. Some of the verses changed as we did the recording – parents in the chorus pointed out that more visual, active lines worked better than reflective ones, so we changed “Brigid is the time we make our pledge” to “Brigid is the time of the cauldron fire” – the sort of detail a five-year-old is likely to remember!

The song comes complete with sabbat-coordinated hand motions – hopefully someone makes a youtube! Naturally it’s a kids’ favorite, and you can hear them singing along on the refrains.

A note on terminology: Bay Area Reclaiming uses neo-Celtic names for the cross-quarter holidays, but mostly uses the neutral terms Equinox and Solstice for the quarters, to honor that these are holidays of the planet and all peoples, not just one culture.