October 29, 2007

• The Historic Halloween

  So…. I decided to take the plunge and be a Xanga Lifetime member. Really I am trying to make a New Year’s resolution to write more, and since online, outside of the many community boards I belong to, I write the most at Xanga, it seemed like a good choice. I haven’t noticed a big difference with this lifetime membership yet, but it’s only been a few minutes. heh I’ll probably explore my new limitations over the next few days. I’ve also been going through and revamping/editing my angelfire site where I used to post my Circle of the Bodhisattva Newsletter. Maybe I’ll start that back up again. If anyone here likes to write on Pagan/religious subjects, in a few months I might be willing to take submissions.

  So some of you may be wondering, Hey! What’s up with this New Year’s resolution business… New Year’s isn’t until January. Well, Halloween, or Samhain, is the Pagan “New Year.” Halloween is one of the most important Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. It is called Samhain (pronounced SOW-in in Irish, SOW-een in Wales, SAV-en in Scotland) and Sauin in Manx. It means summer’s end, and it is often pronounced phonetically as ”SAM-haine” in non Gaelic speaking countries. It is the last of the three harvest festivals, often referred to as the “Last Harvest.” Though some groups do not celebrate the coming of the new year until Yule, Samhain is usually considered the end of the old year in almost all Celtic based traditions. Halloween is also known as Fleadh nan Mairbh, All Hallows Eve, Hallowtide, Harvest Home, Hallowmass, Hallows, The Day of the Dead, All Soul’s Night, All Saints’ Day, Third Harvest, Samana, Old Hallowmas, Vigil of Saman, Shadowfest (Strega), and Samhuinn, Dyedy (“Ancestors” Slavic), and Vetrarkvöld (Scandinavia).

  The Historic Halloween

  As with most Celtic holidays, Samhain begins at sundown. This night is called Oíche Shamhna in Irish, Oidhche Shamhna in Scots Gaelic, and Oie Houney in Manx, and it is the primary focus of the celebration. It is a time of fairs and festivals. Some witches may celebrate two Samhains (October 31st and the nearest Full Moon), while older customs had the festival extending for three days. The old date for Samhain was when the sun enters 15 degrees Scorpio, but the Catholic Church made this date Martinmas.

  While individual remembrance and communion with the dead might be sought by people at any time during the year, there is no other time when such a deep communal connection could be forged than during the Samhain season. The rituals of Samhain involve a more intense union with the dead in the time-honored fashion of all communal bonding, with feasting. As a harvest festival, there are few times of the year when we can enjoy such bounty as nature provides now. Sharing a solemn meal, “in the sight of gods and mortals,” placed mutual responsibilities on all participants. By inviting the dead to such a feast, the living were reminded to honor their ancestors, while the dead were encouraged to take a hand in the well-being of their living kin. In this way, celebration of Samhain is a kind of ancestor worship.

  Most Samhain customs fall into two broad patterns. The dead, present as invisible entities, entered through open doors and windows to partake of the festivities. A certain amount of food might be set aside exclusively for the dead. In some cases, a specific type of food, usually some kind of cake, was made solely for them. There was also the practice of the Dumb Supper, where places were set for those who had departed. It was called a “dumb” supper because no one was to speak throughout the entire meal. In others customs, a portion of the same food that the living would eat was put aside. The most classic example of this pattern is the boued an Anaon (“food of the hosts of the dead”) custom in Brittany. The Anaon (a word related to Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld) are the gathered hosts of ancestral spirits. They are usually portrayed as hungry for sustenance from the world of the living. A large amount of food was set aside for their sole use and had to remain untouched by all human agencies for the entire feast. Eating the food of the dead, even if one was desperately hungry, was a terrible blasphemy. Anyone who did so was condemned to become a hungry ghost after death, barred from sharing the Samhain feast for all time. This aspect of the dead is very similar to the Hungry Ghost festival of China.

  The other pattern of this Samhain custom encouraged the recycling of the offered food into the community. This may be seen most in the Welsh cennad y meirw, “embassy of the dead” custom. While the wealthier members of the community put together lavish Samhain feasts for their households, the cenhadon (the poor) took on the collective identity of the community’s dead by going from door to door in disguise. At each house they were given a portion of the food that had been set aside for the dead. Refusing them food for any reason was sinful and retaliation in the form of destruction of property was acceptable and encouraged. This may be the true origin of the “trick” aspect of our modern Halloween, though the reasoning has been lost. In any event it was a way to encourage the time honored traditions of community and charity.

  Also at this time, the flocks were brought in from the fields to live in sheds until spring. Some animals were slaughtered and preserved to provide food for winter, and the last of the crops was gathered from the fields. Any crops left on the field after this time were taboo. Bonfires (bone-fires) were built, and bones from the feasting were thrown in the fire as offerings for healthy and plentiful livestock in the New Year. All hearth fires were extinguished and relit from the village bonfire, and later the ashes were spread over the fields to protect and bless the land. The hearthfires would burn continuously until Beltaine unless calamity struck, in which case the hearth fires would be extinguished and relit from “need-fire,” a similar magical practice that was engaged as the name implies, when needed.

  The period from Samhain to Yule, the “time which is no time,” is very magickal and at the same time very dangerous. The veil between worlds is thinnest at this time. None should walk alone at night while the dead return to visit their kin and the doors to the Faery Realm open. The ghosts of all persons who were destined to die in the coming year were said to walk through the graveyard at midnight on Samhain. Going about in costume was an ancient practice designed to ward off spirits bent on causing mischief. Villagers would dress as ghosts to escort the dead to the city limits and deter the angry or evil ghosts from doing any damage by appearing to be one of them. People dressed in white, wore disguises made of straw, or dressed as the opposite gender. Many thought ghosts possessed an evil nature as a rule and so for protection, jack-o-lanterns with hideous candle-lit faces were originally carved out of turnips and carried as lanterns to scare away the malevolent spirits. Later pumpkins were used when Celtic settlers reached America.

  Samhain is also the beginning of the cider season, and apples, a favorite food of the dead, are traditionally buried for their consumption. To honor spiritual visitors and gain their favor for the coming year, a Fleadh nan Mairbh (feast of the dead) is laid out. Many folks leave milk and cakes (Bannocks) outside their door on Samhain. In Belgium, small white cakes or cookies were prepared as Cakes for the Dead. A cake was eaten for each person gone, with the belief that the more cakes you ate, the more the dead would bless you.

  In addition to communion with the dead, divination of the future was a common practiced as people focused on the coming year. Certain traditions, such as bobbing for apples, roasting nuts in the fire, and baking cakes which contained tokens of luck, were actually ancient methods of telling fortunes. Stones were marked with names and thrown into the bonfires. In the morning, these stones were retrieved and the stone’s condition foretold the person’s fortune. New Year resolutions are a common practice on Samhain.

  Modern Halloween

  When the Romans invaded Britain, they brought with them many of their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day, named for Pomona, the goddess of fruits and gardens. Also celebrated around the 1st of November, the Celtic Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day eventually combined to form the basis of our modern Halloween.

  In 800 AD, the Roman Catholic All Hallow’s Day was switched from May to November 1st to coincide with the Celtic Samhain in an effort to convert the Pagan masses. The eve of All Hallow’s Day became All Hallow’s Even and slowly evolved into the familiar word Hallowe’en. Mexico observes a Day of the Dead on this day, as do other world cultures. Our modern celebration includes all of these influences, Pomona Day’s apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain honoring the dead and otherworld, and skeletons and skulls from All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

  As thousands of Irish and Scottish immigrants flowed into America, the Hallowe’en practice of Trick or treat evolved. Beginning sometime around the 1840s, the old tradition of going door to door asking for donations of money or food for the New Year’s feast was carried over to the US from the British Isles. Traditionally, curses were heaped upon those who did not give generously; while those gave from their hearts were blessed. During the 1920′s, Hallowe’en antics became a way of letting off steam for the poor living in crowded conditions. Eventually however, innocent acts of vandalism, such as soaping windows, gave way to violent, cruel acts. Organizations like the Boy Scouts, in an attempt to pacify the holiday, encouraged good children to visit shops and homes asking for treats to prevent criminal acts. These “beggar’s nights” became very popular and evolved into what America calls Halloween. From these varied origins, the term “trick or treat” was derived, though this greeting was not commonly used until the 1930′s. As early as1910 however, American manufacturers were making or importing products just for the holiday.

  Samhain Associations

  Plants : Broom, Calendula, Catnip, Deadly Nightshade, Hemlock, Mandrake, Mugwort, Mullein, Mushrooms, Nettle, all Nuts, Oak, Passionflower, Pine, Straw, Ginseng, Wormwood

  Foods of Samhain : Allspice, Beef, Almond, Apple, Bay, Calendula, Garlic, Gourds, Hazelnut, Mulled Wines, Mushrooms, Nettle, Nuts, Pine, Pumpkin, Pork, Poultry, Rosemary, Rue, Sage, Turnips, Sunflower, Tarragon

  Incense of Samhain : Heliotrope, Mint, Nutmeg

  Gems and Stones : All black stones, Amber, Brass, Clear and Smoky Quartz, Diamond, Garnet, Gold, Granite, Hematite, Iron, and Steel, Marble, Pyrite, Ruby, Sandstone

  Colors of Samhain : Black, Orange, White, Silver, Gold

  • 12:34 pm
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