Samhain

Samhain pronounced – Sow-in, Sah-vin, or Sow-een

31st October – in the Northern Hemisphere.

Samhain is considered as being the Witch’s New Year. It is also known as – Oidhache, Shamhna, Halloween, All Hallows, Third Harvest, Day of the Dead, Feast of the Dead, Sadow Feast, Ancestor night, Old Hallowmas.

Samhain is the last of the Sabbats in the Wheel of the Year and is considered as being the most powerful and a very important time for Wiccans, witches and Pagans.

Samhain is a translation of the ancient Irish word for summers end and marks the beginning of the dark half of the year, the dark opposite to the light bright Beltane. By this time, our ancestors would have gathered in and stored the final harvest, the cattle would have been moved to the winter pastures, the animals chosen, would have been slaughtered, the meat cured and stored for the winter months.

Everything has died back (except obviously the evergreen trees and shrubs) and the heat from the Sun is now so weakened that it may offer little warmth or visit less each day leaving the impression that the world is dying!

At the Samhain festival, the final of the three harvest festivals, our ancestors would have celebrated the abundance received throughout the light half of the year. The bones left over from the Samhain feast would be thrown into the fires as offering for good fortune in relation to the cattle for the next season. This where the word “bonfire” comes from – bone and fire!

Samhain is a combination of celebrations and serious rituals; a time to honour our ancestors and loved ones in spirit (the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is at its thinnest); in addition it’s a time also to honour the Death part of the life, death and rebirth cycle which forms the basis of the Wheel of the Year as well as the core beliefs of the Witch, Wiccan and Pagan family.

Also, Samhain was/is a time for reflecting on our lives, especially the past year, and for identifying anything within us, or around us that we would like (or need) to let go of, to release, especially behaviours. Things that are or maybe, stopping us from moving on, stopping us from growing. Until these things are released, there is no room for the new beginnings which maybe waiting for us when the new growing season begins once again. By letting these go we can begin the New Year with clarity and acceptance of the turning wheel of life and death.

Samhain marks the time for the Goddess to enter her time for sleeping; the God has aged, and with his power (the Sun) almost gone, He descends to the Underworld. Some believe, or see, the God as Cernunnos, the Horned God, or the God of the Hunt, who now is a fully mature stag and who gives his life in order that his people can survive the barren winter. As part of the rituals for this Sabbat, the God is thanked for his role and work during the past year and faith is offered up, that he will be reborn at Yule.

The Goddess never dies (the Earth doesn’t die even though the Sun is not around as much!), but She is now in her wise Crone aspect and although She knows He will return, the Goddess does mourn the passing of the God. It is from the Crone that we learn and understand that death is part of life and that the old must be released if we are to grow and bring forth new manifestations, new life. The death stage of the life, death, rebirth cycle is considered as the most powerful, bringing with it the potential for a new life, a new beginning, that is waiting to occur. Although the Goddess is in the Crone aspect, at this time, she is also in her Mother aspect representing both the life and death part of the cycle.

Customs associated with Samhain, many of which are still upheld.

The Samhain festival was an important time as people feasted, danced etc for the last time before winter restricted travels (in those days, winter was a lot harder, with heavy snow covering the ground much of the time).

In some places it was believed, Samhain was a time for the Aos Si (mischievous fairies) to be highly active, so much so that people would carry iron or salt to protect themselves if they needed to go outdoors. To protect themselves and their livestock over the coming winter, people would leave food and drink outside the front door for the Aos Si, which is probably were the idea of putting the pumpkins outside comes from, especially when carved with faces etc.

On Samhain the dead were honoured by a place being set at the table for them and room left at the fire. To make sure loved ones could find their way home, a candle was lit in every window in the house. For those spirits who had no living relatives to welcome them back, people would leave apples along the roadside. Whilst most felt that blessing and honouring the dead was most important, some felt that the dead needed to be honoured and appeased to prevent misfortune on the family.

Divination was/is a key part of the Samhain time, was especially aimed at future marriages and death. All types of divination were performed:

• names were marked on stones which would then be thrown into the fire. The next day, they would be taken from the ashes and “read” in accordance with the condition they were in.

• Crows and other birds would be counted and the directions, the manners of how/where they were flying would have specific meanings.

• Apples and nuts would be used in various ways, including the peeling of an apple in one single peel. This was then thrown on the floor to reveal the initial of a future spouse!

Many of the modern-day Halloween celebrations are based in the Samhain customs. Some of our Celtic ancestors may have played on the fears of the Aos Si by disguising themselves in white or clothes made of straw to steal the gifts of apples, nuts etc put out for the offerings.

Scottish pranksters would imitate the fairies by playing pranks on their neighbours if they did not get food or treats from them. They would have carried carved out turnips to either represent evil spirits or to protect themselves from them as they wandered around!

Other customs stemming from the Celts, may include the skull and skeleton. The skull was revered by warriors as being the house of the soul and the root of one’s power. They were often used in divination. Skeletons were mainly used in the Day of the Dead celebrations can be dated back to ancient Europe.

The witch side of Samhain can be attributed to our ancient Shamanic practitioners, but it was later when the images of evil witches with their cauldrons, broomsticks, black hats and black cats mainly came from the Christian Church in their attempt to promote the idea of “Evil Witches”.

However, Samhain – the Witches holiday – turned out to be the one that the Church could not stamp out. Although All Saints Day was created on 1st November, the Pagan traditions etc. remained, and still do, alive and thriving!

The Wiccan belief of reincarnation is meditated on at Samhain, as it was/is accepted that the life-death-rebirth cycle belongs to all living things. It is believed that when returning to the Otherworld, we only rest, heal etc before returning back to the physical world.

In some traditions, Samhain is considered as the New Year of the Celtic calendar as it was believed this started on 31st October, but there is a question mark about this as no specific evidence agrees or disagrees with this. However, Samhain is recorded in ancient (medieval) Irish literature as being the first of the four cross quarter day festivals.

Coven rituals will mainly be outside around a sacred bonfire with coven members each focusing on letting go of bad habits and other unwanted energies which they symbolically release into the fire.

Samhain is the most potent time for spell work. Any type of spell work will be effective especially those associated with the themes of Samhain – banishing, releasing, and the strengthening of psychic abilities.

The Samhain altar should include photos or mementoes of deceased loved ones. light a votive candle specifically for them.

Other symbols include:

• Cauldrons

• Besoms

• Pentacles

• Seasonal food – if possible, a carved pumpkin with light inside (???)

Give the Sacred space a thorough cleanse sweeping away unwanted energies and influences from the past year, before beginning any rituals or spell work.