1 NOVEMBER – SAMHAIN pronounced sow-in, sah-vein or sam-hane
Samhain is what we now celebrate as halloween. In Celtic times, Samhain was the division of the year when summer was giving way to winter, the light giving way to dark. It is a Celtic Spirit celebration: a time when the thin veil that separates the material and spirit world is lifted making communications with ancestors and the departed easier and making it easier for spirits to pass through.
Bonfires were lit and these were used to light fires in homes. Fire was used to ward off evil spirits. Villagers would use the fire from the communal bonfire to light their hearths and in this way families would come together to celebrate, spend time together, dance and sing. Gifts of food were left outside for any evil spirit lurking so they would not come into people’s homes. Costumes were used (animal skins, animal heads and masks) during these rituals to disguise people so evil spirits could not recognise them, thus the costumes protecting them from harm.
Samhain was the Celtic New Year and divination played a large part in these celebrations. The Celts saw Samhain as a gateway or portal and celebrated the transition from one season to another. They believed that at the centre of every portal is a paradox. This is a threshold between two worlds but being at the centre it is neither in one world or the other but in both at the same time. – Samhain belongs to both the Summer and the Winter and yet also to neither. – It was a portal from Summer to Winter and a magical time of movement between the seasons.
Between Samhain and the Winter Solstice, the darkest time of the year, the Celts believed the portals between living and dying were more open and spirits would walk freely over the land.
In Celtic Ireland, the Great Fire Festival which began on the eve of Samhain (Halloween) began on the hills in the Boyne Valley called Tlachtga and Tara.
This celebration honours the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolised by the Crone and Consort.
Samhain is what we now celebrate as halloween. In Celtic times, Samhain was the division of the year when summer was giving way to winter, the light giving way to dark. It is a Celtic Spirit celebration: a time when the thin veil that separates the material and spirit world is lifted making communications with ancestors and the departed easier and making it easier for spirits to pass through.
Bonfires were lit and these were used to light fires in homes. Fire was used to ward off evil spirits. Villagers would use the fire from the communal bonfire to light their hearths and in this way families would come together to celebrate, spend time together, dance and sing. Gifts of food were left outside for any evil spirit lurking so they would not come into people’s homes. Costumes were used (animal skins, animal heads and masks) during these rituals to disguise people so evil spirits could not recognise them, thus the costumes protecting them from harm.
Samhain was the Celtic New Year and divination played a large part in these celebrations. The Celts saw Samhain as a gateway or portal and celebrated the transition from one season to another. They believed that at the centre of every portal is a paradox. This is a threshold between two worlds but being at the centre it is neither in one world or the other but in both at the same time. – Samhain belongs to both the Summer and the Winter and yet also to neither. – It was a portal from Summer to Winter and a magical time of movement between the seasons.
Between Samhain and the Winter Solstice, the darkest time of the year, the Celts believed the portals between living and dying were more open and spirits would walk freely over the land.
In Celtic Ireland, the Great Fire Festival which began on the eve of Samhain (Halloween) began on the hills in the Boyne Valley called Tlachtga and Tara.
This celebration honours the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolised by the Crone and Consort.