All Hallows Eve
Samhain
Oct 31
Hallowe’en, All Hallows
Associations:
Divination, honouring the dead, carving Jack o’
Lanterns, pumpkins, apples, sage, mugwort .
Samhain is observed by various Neopagans in various ways. As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the deities who are associated with the dead in their particular culture or tradition. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts and Living Celtic cultures have maintained the traditions, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic culture being only one of the sources used.
Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans
Tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. At bonfire rituals, some observe the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of
purification.
According to Celtic
lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, at times even
fading away completely, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is
the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. Though Celtic Reconstructionists make offerings
to the spirits at all times of the year, Samhain in particular is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors.
Often a meal will be prepared of favorite foods of the family’s and community’s beloved dead, a place set for them at the table, and
traditional songs, poetry and dances performed to entertain them. A door or window may be opened to the west and the beloved dead
specifically invited to attend. Many leave a candle or other light burning in a western window to guide the dead home. Divination for
the coming year is often done, whether in all solemnity or as games for the children. The more mystically inclined may also see this as
a time for deeply communing with the deities, especially those whom the lore mentions as being particularly connected with this
festival.
Wicca
Samhain is one of the eight annual holidays, often referred to as ‘Sabbats’, observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel Ot The Year. It is
considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four ‘greater Sabbats’. It is generally observed on October 31st in the
Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by most Wiccans as a celebration of death and of the dead, and it
often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In
some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness and death, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of life and fertility.
While the Wiccan version of Samhain is not a form of reconstruction, and is largely mixed with other traditions in a form of universalism, it is influenced by the Celtic holiday from which the name was taken.
The term Halloween (and its older rendering Hallowe’en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening of/before “All Hallow’s Day”, also known as “All Saints Day’ Day”. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints’ Day from May 13th to November 1st. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although we now consider All Saints’ (or Hallows’) Day to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.
In Ireland, the name of the holiday was All Hallows’ Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, the name is still well-accepted, albeit somewhat esoteric. In Irish, the festival is known as Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain), or simply Samhain; in Scottish Gaelic it is Samhainn or Samhain; in Welsh, Calan Gaeaf to the Welsh; “Allantide” to the Cornish and “Hop-tu-Naa” to the Manx. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.
Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe).
| Color | Symbolism |
|---|---|
| Black | death, night, witches, black cats, bats, vampires |
| Orange | pumpkins, jack o’ lanterns, Autumn, the turning leaves, fire |
| Purple | night, the supernatural, mysticism |
| Green | goblins, monsters, zombies, aliens |
| White | Ghosts, mummies, a full moon |
| Red | blood, fire, demons, Satan |
Blessed Be UK 
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