Today, October 31st is celebrated most commonly as Halloween, a holiday celebrated frequently with mischief, practical jokes, and costumed revelry. The holiday originally began as a festival that for several days, lingering into the first days of November. This holiday, known under various names throughout the world, celebrated the end of the summer and the harvest, often with a night of feast or offering, with the next day being heralded as the New Year, and a time for honoring the dead.
This ancient celebration, of Celtic origin, was known as Samhain. The Irish Celts who partook of the ancient holiday marked the year in two halves - a half of light and warmth, and a half of darkness and cold; seasons of winter and summer. Samhain marked the end of the year, and the coming of the season of darkness. As such, they celebrated the warmth and the prosperity of the previous year over the course of several days, feasting on the fruits of the harvest, with great bonfires often lit and used in rites of purification in preparation of the coming darkness.
Today, many modern pagans celebrate Samhain as perhaps the most important of the Sabbat holidays. Ceremonies, rituals, offerings, and festivals are held in reverence to those loved ones who have passed on in a manner not so different from the celebrations of our Celtic ancestors. Samhain, within modern Paganism, is also often viewed as a festival of darkness. It is a holiday that marks the end of summer and autumn come to an end, countered by the celebration of Beltane, the festival of light, in the Spring.
As we slip into October and winter's chill fills the air, it is not hard to imagine or feel the magic of the season. And as we consider our ancestors, who lived through such times from harvest to harvest, hoping that their crops would yield enough to get them through the winter, it is not difficult to see how important it would be to celebrate the joys of the year past, and make peace with the ancestors who had passed on. In today's world, candy fills the stores and costume stores pop for a month or two at a time, filling the season with merriment and excitement as we all get ready for parties and festivities. We get ready for our own days of feast and celebration. How will you be celebrating your Samhain?
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