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Samhain
October 31
(May 1 in the Southern Hemisphere)
At Samhain, the dark is dominant....1 November for the Celts was the beginning of the year itself, and the feast of Samhain was their New Year's Eve, the mysterious moment which belonged to neither past nor present, to neither this world nor the Other...Crops had to be brought in by 31 October, and anything still unharvested was abandoned ~ because of the Pooka (Púca), a noctural, shape-changing hobgoblin who delighted in tormenting humans, was believed to spend Samhain night destroying or contaminating whatever remained unreaped. The Pooka's favorite disguise seems to have been the shape of an ugly black horse. (Eight Sabbats for Witches, by Janet & Stewart Farrar ©1988)
"Samhain" means "Summer's End," the winter half of the year begins on November 1. (An ABC of Witchcraft Past & Present, by Doreen Valiente ©1973)
Samhain is the ancient Celtic New Year's Eve, and Festival of the Dead. The Celtic belief was that the boundary between this world and the other world was at its weakest on this night. (Witchcraft Today ~ Encyclopedia of Wiccan & NeoPagan Traditions, by James R. Lewis ©2001)
Samhain is The Night When the Veil between the Worlds Is the Thinnest and We Enter the Dreamtime. (Witch Crafting, by Phyllis Curott ©2001)
[Samhain is] also known as All Hallow's Eve or Halloween. This is the third harvest festival of the year, a time to honor our departed loved ones and the night when, in legend, the spirits of the dead return to commune with the living. The God has died, returning to the Underworld to await his rebirth at Yule; the Goddess is the Crone, mourning her lost love, leaving the world for a time in darkness....For the Celts, this was New Year's Eve; in some traditions, Samhain marked a "time out of time," then ending of the old year, the new year not beginning until the Sun's rebirth at Yule. Samhain is considered the oldest and most sacred of the Sabbats; opposite Beltane on the Wheel of the Year, these two high holy days honor death and life in their unending spiral....Contemplate the coming winter, and use this time out of time to let die old ways of thinking, outworn beliefs, and negative patterns. Meditate, rest and incorporate relaxation techniques over the next weeks to deepen your psychic awareness and to restore your soul. And await your own rebirth at Yule, as the Wheel comes round full circle once again. (Simple Wicca, by Michele Morgan ©2000)
On Samhain ("Sowen"), the God dies, leaving the Mother Goddess alone. At Yule, the God will be reborn.
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