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| SAMHAIN OR HALLOWEEN |
| What is the true meaning of this holiday??? |
SAMHAIN AND ITS TRUE MEANING
Samhain or Halloween and this time of year has been largely misunderstood in Modern Times. Because of misperceptions this holiday has now become commercialized in a mostly negative way and stands for everything that the Wiccan belief is NOT, such as horror movies, dripping blood, monsters, killing, and evil spirits and their undoings. It really does not represent these things at all. For Pagans and Wiccans, it is a time of Harvest, the end of the Warm Season ( the word means "the end of summer"), and the honoring and rememberance of those that have gone on before.
Samhain is the only Wiccan and Pagan Holiday that deals with the honor and respect of the Dead, the Ancient Ones, our Ancestors and the place that Death has in the Cycle of Life. It is a time to speak to those who have gone before us into this unknown mystery of Death and the Other Side, the other dimension, Heaven, Dreamtime, or whatever name you choose to call the Summerland. This is the night that the veil between the Worlds is at its thinnest. So being able to communicate with those that have passed on should be easy. And it is certainly a time of happy reunion with the spirits of the Dead that we know and that have gone on before us. Divination in all its forms is supposed to be the most accurate at this time and provides spiritual messages to those who believe and ask the Lord and Lady or the spirits for guidance.
The history of this holiday holds its roots within the ancient Celts and the Scottish and Irish cultures. It is no wonder that the entire meaning of this holiday was misunderstood by the early Christian Leaders and they made sure that they had a coinciding "religious feastday" the very next day on November 1st--All Soul's Day instituted in the 800's and changed from it's original day in May. This Holiday was also, in some ancient Pagan cultures such as the Celtic culture, New Year's Eve. It is the last of the three Harvest Festivals, the first one being Lammas (August 1st), the second one, Mabon (Sept 21st).
Like Beltaine, the opposite Pagan feastday, bonfires (bone-fires) hold a special significance. They were lit for the sacrifice of any cattle that had not yet been slaughtered and the meat cured for food for the oncoming winter. The Celts used hazelnuts which are symbols of wisdom, to foretell the future for the coming year. Bobbing for apples was another traditional Samhain pastime, and referred to the Celtic Emhain Abhlach, "Paradise of Apples," where the dead ate the fruit and achieved immortality. The Irish and Scottish peoples originally used a hollowed out turnip with an ember inside as the original "Jack-o-Lantern" and when they arrived here in the States, found that pumpkins served this purpose much better and were easier to carve out.
Hallowe'en was initially brought to the United States in the middle of the 1800's during the large immigration of Scottish and Irish immigrants during the Potato Famine and other problems in their countries. By 1910, the commercialization of this ancient Pagan feastday was in full gear. Next to Christmas, this holiday is by far the most popular and Halloween costumes, decorations and other "supplies" are a huge business in our country.
On Samhain (Sow-han), be sure to light a candle in your window to help the spirits find their way back to the Other Side before daybreak. Leave some cookies for them to eat to nourish themselves before their long journey back. Do wear costumes and have fun trick or treating, and speak to those you know that have gone on before you. I have no doubt that they can hear you! Maybe they have a special message just for you!
Happy Samhain and Blessed Be!
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