Halloween as Samhain

Fall is the time we celebrate the harvest. Spiritually, it is the time when we reflect on reaping what we have sown. However, few realize what Halloween truly celebrates, that is Samhain (pronounced "sowan").

The following is from the web site, http://home.comcast.net/~buaidh/Samhainn.html

Samhainn begins at dusk on October 31, the eve of the new Celtic year. Oidhche Shamhna ("oi-kha haw-na"), the Eve of Samhainn, was the most important part of Samhainn. Villagers gathered the best of the autumn harvest and slaughtered cattle for the feast. The focus of each village's festivities was a great bonfire. Villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames. (The English word "bonfire" comes from these "bone fires.") With the bonfire roaring, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit their hearth from the one great common flame, bonding all families of the village together.

The eve of the Celtic year was a very holy time. The Celts believed that Oidhche Shamhna was a gap in time. Our world and the Otherworld came together on the night between the old and new years. The dead could return to the places where they had lived. Many rituals of Oidhche Shamhna provided hospitality for dead ancestors. Celts put out food and drink for the dead with great ceremony. Villagers left their gates, doors, and windows unlocked to give the dead free passage into their homes. Swarms of spirits poured into our world on November Eve. Not all of these spirits were friendly, so Celts carved the images of spirit-guardians onto turnips. They set these jack o'lanterns before their doors keep out unwelcome visitors from the Otherworld.

There was also a much lighter side to the Celtic New Year rituals. Children put on strange disguises and roamed the countryside, pretending to be the returning dead or spirits from the Otherworld. Celts thought the break in reality on November Eve not only provided a link between the worlds, but also dissolved the structure of society for the night. Boys and girls would put on each other's clothes, and would generally flout convention by boisterous behavior and by playing tricks on their elders.

Divination of the events of the coming year was another prominent feature of Samhainn. Celts used hazelnuts, symbols of wisdom, to foretell the future. Bobbing for apples, another traditional Samhainn pastime, was a reference to the Celtic Emhain Abhlach, "Paradise of Apples," where the dead, having eaten of the sacred fruit, enjoyed a blissful immortality.

So, you can see that many of the ways that were celebrated in the days of eld have survived to this day. Another tradition that I find beautiful is one that also involves the communal bonfire... Each person writes on pieces of paper those negative things in his or her life. It can be personal traits, outside influences, or things in life from which one needs to separate oneself. Then, one by one, these papers are thrown into the fire and the smoke carries them away. Isn't that lovely?

Now you know the meaning behind some of the things we do, which makes the season even more special. Perhaps we can bring some of the lovely old traditions back? However you choose to celebrate, have a happy safe family-centered time... Commemorate those who have gone before, those you loved... And watch out for the ghoulies behind you! Mwahahahahaha