Samhain: the Dark Celebration of the Wheel of the Year

this article originally appeared in The Fellowship Journal of UUFLB in October of 2005.

A witch stirs some bubbly concoction in her huge cast-iron cauldron, while a black cat meows near by. She cackles evilly as she stirs. As some would have you believe, she’s stirring up a potion of some evil witchery to cast her evil spells over the countryside, and that she and her cat are tools of Satan. While there are pages and pages I could write dispelling the myths of Samhain/Halloween, my favorite articles on this matter are “Halloween Errors and Lies,” by Isaac Bonewits, “The Real Origins of Halloween,” also by Isaac Bonewits, and “Halloween Myths, Monsters and Devils,” by W. J. Bethancourt III. A new article I found is from ReligiousTolerance.org, “The myth of Samhain: ‘Celtic God of the dead’.”

Samhain, the Celtic New Year, is one of the four bonfire celebrations for Pagans. The God “dies” on Samhain. He leaves this realm and returns to the Summerland (“afterlife,” if you will) to be recycled and cleansed in the cauldron of the Goddess. Originally a “Feast of the Dead” was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the “wandering dead.” This tradition still is carried out today by lighting single candles and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home. Extra chairs were set to the table and around the hearth for unseen guests. Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide for them.

The most well-known symbol of Samhain is the jack o’lantern. The story of the original Jack O’Lantern is told at “History of the Jack O’Lantern.” The original “jack o’lanterns” were made from turnips, which were hollowed out and carved to look like protective spirits, for this was a night of magic and chaos. The “Wee Folke” became very active on this night, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Traveling after dark was not advised. People dressed in white (like ghosts), wore disguises made of straw, or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits. To this day, we still dress in disguises on Samhain. And there are some wee folk who go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Samhain is a time that is not a time, in a place that is not a place, on a day that is not a day, between worlds. Some say at this time the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, and scrying and communicating with the dead is often practiced on this night. This time of year is a time for three things: coming to terms with death, honoring/remembering of those who have passed to the Summerland, and wrapping up/finalizing projects from the year.

This is the “dark” time where the darker and wiser parts of the self are brought out into the open and examined. It is a time for looking forward and backward, of seeing time as cyclical, of releasing the energy that has built up over the year. Samhain is the time to remember, to study, to meditate, and to release. Who will you honor this year? What projects do you still need to complete as the old year dies?

See you Sunday,

Trys

Sources:

* Holidays, by Akasha: The Celtic Connection

* Ivy’s Pentacles; Samhain Fact Sheet

uploaded 25 oct 05

Wheel of the Year Series