Enjoying Samhain - The Celtic New Year
Purpose: Samhain (which is supposed to be pronounced sow-en, though some modern Pagans pronounce it as spelled) is the most important holy night of the year. In fact, it is considered the Celtic New Year. It is believed to be the evening in which the veil between the realm of the living and the dead is thinnest, allowing members of the spirit realm to walk the earth in great numbers.It is thereby considered the evening where our loved ones who have gone over to the other side of the veil are honored with a special feast. This is certainly the reason All Saint's Day was created by the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate honored individuals who have passed on, as well as the similar All Souls Day, which honors the memories of our individual loved one's who have passed on. The association with spirits of the dead walking the earth, as well as faeries and other etheric beings roaming the material plane in large numbers that evening, is probably the basis for the modern Halloween's emphasis on ghosts and goblins, and the popular stereotypical image of the witch as a swarthy old crone with green skin was derived from negative images of real witches as being corrupt harbingers of evil or mischief. The jack o' lantern, a still popular decoration, is derived from the image used by ancient Pagans to keep unwelcome spirits from the hearth during the celebration. Calls to your ancestors and loved ones for assistance is appropriate for those practicing spell work on this day, as is spell work for endings and calling upon the Crone aspect of the Goddess.
The God symbolically dies of old age at this point, though the Mother Goddess is now pregnant with the reborn Sun God in her womb.
Associated Stones: Obsidian, onyx, carnelian
Other Names: All Hallow's Eve, Ancestor Night, Feast of the Dead, Halloween
Christian Equivalent: All Saint's Day (Halloween itself is celebrated commercially, but is not considered a holy day by Christianity), and All Soul's Day
Day: October 31
Our Samhain Altar - 2010
Samhain Offering
Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons
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