Festival Samhain

The Festival of Samhain would be the most important festival of the year if any festival could be regarded as being more important than any other. In the case of Samhain, the event being marked is the ending of one year and beginning of the next. The word Samhain means „the ending of summer“, and comes from two word, samh, „summer“, and fuin, „end“. It also signifies the end of the light half of the year and the commencement of the dark half. Another old name for this festival was Oiche Shamhna (oi-chi how-nah), which means „Eve of Samhain“, indicating that the festival is considered to start with the darkness of the preceding day.

The Festival of Samhain is celebrated all over the world on the thirty-first of October, and the first of November. In anciet Celtic days, there was no set calendar, and Samhain would have beaan celebrated at different times in different places, although most would have tried to fit the festival in at the same time as their immediate neighbours. It was only in later Christian times that set dates were laid down for the celebration of religious festivals. The dates were usually set to continue the pre-Christian festivals around their original times throughout the year.

Samhain is very much on in-between time. Iti s neither parto f the old year nor part of the new year. Iti s too late for the light half of the year, but too early fot the dark. Iti s considered to be outside the effects of time altogether. To be in-between time is clearly a very special state, and it is recognised as being a time when the normal order of things is upset or reversed, and chaos reigns, albet temporarly. The dead are no longer barred from walking this earth, and can return to their families and home, and join in the celebrations with their loved ones. Similarly, it is at Samhain when the sidhe mounds open, and the people of this world can easily find their way into the Otherworld, and explore those realms without hidrance.

This state of being in-between was very important to the Celts, and is another manifestation of the all-impotant concept of the three levels of being. Evidence of the importance of being in-between can be found in many of the Irish legends, where many important births and deaths take place at either dawn or dusk, the times in-between night and day. Important meetings and combats are often recorded as taking place at fords in rivers or on beaches. A ford is neither dry land nor a full-flowing river, and similarly, a beach is neither dry land nor the swelling sea; they are in-between the two states.

Most of the legends dealling with death are set at dawn or dusk. In The Adventure of Neara, the hero has to carry a corpse upon his back, and sees many visions associated with death and destruction, as well as the riding.forth of the fairy host. The legend known as the Intoxication of the Ulstermen is set at Samhain, when the Ulster heroes stumble across Ireland in i drunken stupor. The death of the great Ulser hero, Cu Chulainn, occurred at Samhain, and the second battle of Moytura also took place at this time. From the sid at Cruachan emerged the god Ellen Trechenn (o corruption of in tEllen Trechend – „triple-headed Ellen“). This god was a destructive one, who used to burn Tara, the seat of the High King, every Samhain, until he was eventually killed by Fionn mac Cumhaill. The fact that this god was triple-headed emphasises the importance of the unit of the three levels at this time of year.

Northern Hemisphere: October 31
Southern Hemisphere: May 31

Samhain, pronounced SAH-win, is a Gaelic word that translates to „summer's end“, as this day was representative of the beginning of the dark half of the year. This is one of the four quarterly Pagan fire festivals, and it is Celtic in origin. As a Celtic fire festival, a bonfire was lit. Participants are throught to have animal masks, and sacrifices-crops or livestock- were place din the fire ensure the community's survival throughout the winter. Before returning home, members would take a flame from the communal fire to light their hearth. While documents on the exact historical festivities can be sparse, this was believed to be a time whenthe veil was thinning, and themes of communing with the dead and divination were prevalent.

With the spread of Christianity, it is proposed that the Catholic Church thought it would be easier to convert people by incorporating existing holidays into their calendar, and as such, All Saints' Day was created. Originally this took place in May, but it was later moved to November 1, and it maintained some to not participate in Samhain. It's speculated that this was due to the Celts' reluctance to not participate in Samhain. The night before All Saints' Day was referred to as All Hallows' Eve, and thid became the initial emergence of Hallowen that we know today.

For many Wiccans and Pagans, Samhain represents the New Year, and this is likely due to this date being considered the Celtic New Year. Many of the sabbats that we are familiar with today have Celtic origins, at least in part, but the official Pagan „New Year“ is enitrely dependent on traditions and beliefs.

The Samhain celebration is one of the original cross-quarter sabbats and, as such, is considered a greater sabbat. As Samhain is celebrated in the liminal space between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, the energy is considered most potent, and the celebration today i salso known as a time for remembering ancestors and celebrating the accomplishments and harvest of the year. The focus of this sabbat is typically on the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and it is still considered a time when „the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.“ With this in mind, offerings can be left out for ancestors and spirits.

There are many ways to participate in this sabbat, and they depend on your own spiritual path and practice. Naturally one way to honor this sabbat is by decorating your altar for the occasion. Another way is to plan ceremonies that celebrate the harvest. Focus on preparing meals with harvested fruits and vegetables, such as squash and pumpkins. Many consider the diner table a sacred space, so decorate your table in the corresponding decor and prepare your harvest feast.

This is also a time when many Wiccans and Pagans do magick that focuses on the spirit world. Because this sabbat is focused on life and death, it is a good time to work on communicating with ancestors and spirits. This also makes this a great time to focus on divination. If Samhain is symbolic of the New Year in your practice, you can use this time to seek guidance for the upcoming year. If your focus is more on the potent energy of this season, you can utilize the energy not only in your divination practice but in your spellwork as well.


Samhain Altar Decorations

- Dark altar cloths
- Skulls and skeletons
- Offerings to your ancestors
- Darker colored candles as well as oranges and reds
- Bread
- Cups of cider, wine, or mead
- Fallen foliage, such as acorns and leaves

On the last night of October place a mirror and a clock in a room that has not been used for some time, and at a quarter to twelve take a lighted candle and an apple, and finish eating the apple just as the clock strikes twelve, and then look in the mirror and you will see your future husband.

On Samhain put a ring in a dish of mashed potatoes, and the one who gets the ring will be married first.

On Samhain mash potatoes and conceal in the mass a ring, a coin, and a button. Divide it into as many portions as there are persons presents. The ring denotes marriage, the coin riches, and the button misfortune.

On Samhain set a table as if for supper, with as many seats at the table as there are girls, each girl standing behind a chair at the table. The one you are to marry will come in and take chair in front of you.

On Samhain write names of three men on three oieces of paper, roll them into balls, put these into balls made of Indian meal (wet so as to roll up), put the balls of meals into a basin of water: whichever one rises to the top bears the name of the one you'll marry.

On Samhain, girls place three saucers beside each other, two filled with earth and water, in the other a ring. They are respectively death, cloister or unmarried life, and marriage.

A Samhain custom is to fill a tub with water and drop into it as many apples as there are young folks to try the trick. Then each one must kneel before the tub and try to bite the apples without touching them with the hands. The one who bites one first will marry first.

On Samhain hang an apple by the door just the height of the chin. Rub the chin with saliva, stand about six inches from the apple, and hit the chin against the apple. If it sticks to the chin, you will be married, and your true love will stick to you.

A girl goes to a field on Samhain at midnight to steal cabbages. The first one whom she meets on her return will be her husband.

On Samhain at midnight a young lady in her night-dress walks backward into the garden and pullps up a cabbage. She will see her future husband over her shoulder.

I wind, I wind, my true love to find,
The color of his hair, the clothes he'll wear,
The day he is married to me.

Throw a ball of yarn into a barn, old house, or cellar, and wind repeating the above lines, and the true love will appear and wind with you. To be tried at twelve o'clock at night, on Samhain.

On Samhain put an egg to roast before the fire and leave the doors and windows open. When it begins to sweat a cat will come in and turn it. After the cat will come the man you are to marry, and he will turn it. If you are to die unmarried, the shadow of a cofffin will appear.

On Samhain go upstairs backwards, eating a hard boiled egg without salt, and looking in the glass. You will see your future husband in the glass, looking over your shoulder.

On Samhain go down the cellar stairs backward, carring a mirror into which you look. A face will be seen over your shoulder which will be that of your future husband.