SAMHAIN
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To most modern Pagans, while death is still the central theme of the festival this does not mean it is a morbid event. For Pagans, death is not a thing to be feared. Old age is valued for its wisdom and dying is accepted as a part of life as necessary and welcome as birth. While Pagans, like people of other faiths, always honour and show respect for their dead, this is particularly marked at Samhain.
Loved ones who have recently died are remembered and their spirits often invited to join the living in the celebratory feast. It is also a time at which those born during the past year are formally welcomed into the community. As well as feasting, Pagans often celebrate Samahin with traditional games such as apple-dooking. Death also symbolises endings and Samhain is therefore not only a time for reflecting on mortality, but also on the passing of relationships, jobs and other significant changes in life. A time for taking stock of the past and coming to terms with it, in order to move on and look forward to the future.
Not only did the Celts believe the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead dissolved on this night, they thought that the presence of the spirits helped their priests to make predictions about the future. To celebrate Samhain the Druids built huge sacred bonfires.
People brought harvest food and sacrificed animals to share a communal dinner in celebration of the festival. During the celebration the Celts wore costumes - usually animal heads and skins. They would also try and tell each other's fortunes. After the festival they re-lit the fires in their homes from the sacred bonfire to help protect them, as well as keep them warm during the winter months.
Celebrating Samhain
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Holy sites were any border places - the shore between land and water seas, lakes, and rivers , bridges, boundaries between territories especially when marked by bodies of water , crossroads, thresholds, etc. Holy times were also border times - twilight and dawn marking the transitions of night and day; Beltaine and Samhain marking the transitions of summer and winter.
Read your myths and fairytales - many of the stories occur in such places, and at such times.
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At Samhain which corresponds to modern Halloween , time lost all meaning and the past, present, and future were one. The dead, and the denizens of the Other World, walked among the living.
It was a time of fairies, ghosts, demons, and witches. Winter itself was the Season of Ghosts, and Samhain is the night of their release from the Underworld. Many people lit bonfires to keep the evil spirits at bay. Often a torch was lit and carried around the boundaries of the home and farm, to protect the property and residents against the spirits throughout the winter. On Samhain Eve, supper was served in absolute silence, and one place was set at the head of the table "for the ancestors".
This place was served food and drink without looking directly at the seat, for to see the dead would bring misfortune. Afterwards, the untouched plate and cup were taken outside "for the pookas", and left in the woods. In other traditions, this is the night to remember, honor, and toast our beloved departed, for the veil between the living and the dead is thin, and communication is possible on Samhain Eve. Animals and food supplies needed special protection during this time, too. Samhain marked the time cattle, on which the Scottish Highland economy depended, were brought in from their summer grazing to their winter fold.
The Gods were petitioned to protect the cattle during the long, hard winter. By now, the winter store of food had been harvested and stored. On Hallowmas Eve, ere ye boune to rest, Ever beware that your couch be blest; Sign it with cross and sain it with bread, Sing the Ave and the Creed.
Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from. Tlachtga where the Great Fire Festival at Samhain was celebrated. As millions of children and adults participate in the fun of Halloween on the night of October 31st, few will be aware of its ancient Celtic roots in the Samhain (Samain) festival. Tlachtga was the location of the.
For on Hallowmas Eve, the Night Hag shall ride And all her nine-fold sweeping on by Her side, Whether the wind sing lowly or loud, Stealing through moonshine or swathed in cloud. He that dare sit in St. On Hallowmas, all the witches of Scotland gather together to celebrate, prophesy, and cast their spells.
Tradition has it that on this night, they can be seen flying through the air on broomsticks and eggshells, or riding black cats, ravens, or horses on their wild Hallowmas Ride.
Samhain (Samain) - The Celtic roots of Halloween
The rural people did not dare step outside their doors for fear this night. He told me the following tale:. Her name was Sidiethe, and she was a Water Witch with fair skin and red hair. She was always seen in a white robe with a black cape. Sidiethe often sings along the banks of Loche Linhe, near Glen Coe and sometimes she is weeping.
Shortly before the massacre at Glen Coe in , she was seen washing clothes at the ford of the river while she wept.
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Sightings of this ghost go back as far as the 's. She is also known as the White Witch of Glen Coe. Loche Linhe is reported to have a kelpie, as well!
Deeper Into Samhain
Faeries migrated from the summer hillocks to the winter barrows on Samhain night. If you had families that were captured by fairies that year, this was the one night you could win them back, be snatching them off their faerie mounts as they rode by. The famous Scottish legend, Tam Lin, is the story of a faithful young maiden that rescued her lover from the faeries on this fateful night. Many of the traditions of Halloween derive from Pagan and Druid customs.