The term esbat was misunderstood by Margaret Murray and this error was reflected in her famous but discredited academic study on witchcraft. It appears that Gerald Gardner was unaware of this error and assumed Murray's misunderstanding was correct. When Gardner created Wicca he labeled the festivals "sabbats" and the sabbats "esbats."

A esbat is more correctly called a Full Moon Sabbat.

Also see Full Moon Shabbat for more information.