Spooky times
The darkness is closing around us, becoming longer as the day goes. By the time I wake up, it is dark out and when I retire after a good and sometimes long day of working, it is dark yet again. I can feel in the air that Halloween is just around the corner. Time to delve into the history of this spooky celebration and to share of other holidays of celebration, such as Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) and All-Saints Day. The veil is thinning and time to talk with the dead and your ancestors is now.
Halloween. Hallow meaning ‘holy person’ and -een, derived from the contraction word ‘eve’. Such a history and so much to open up. If only I planned better I could have engaged your mind each week for the month of October to prepare you in your celebrations. However, I did not, so now is the time to immerse you in history.
Did you know that Halloween actually was a Pagan religious fire festival, named Samhain, which derived from the ancient Celtic spiritual tradition? The festival was said to last three days and nights to celebrate death and rebirth. The Celtics believed the veil between the physical and spiritual world would become thinner and ancestors where able communicate with the living. Offerings where made to the spirits and the living would dress in costumes to not be kidnapped by the evil spirits and fairies. At the end of the festival the participants would join the Druid priests, who would light a community fire and then take back to their individual family hearths to relight for the time of darkness.
In modern Irish language Samhain, means ‘Summers end’, but back in the Iron Age the peoples knew it as the starting of “the dark half of the year.” The reasoning behind this was the Pagan’s calendar year was known as one side to be the light half and the other dark. This time was to usher in the harvest and were to take place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice.
In the 7th century when the Roman empire conquered much of Ireland, where the Celtics and Pagan religion was most prominent, the Catholic church Christianized Samhain, calling it All-Hallows Day. That day is known today as All-Saints Day and falls on November 1. That in turn made October 31 ‘All-Hallows Eve’. Many of the traditions were lost and converted into celebrating religious figures and Saints instead of past loved ones who crossed the veil. Despite Christianity taking over Samhain, dressing up during this holiday did not change. People still set out gifts and food to protect themselves from the evil spirits that roamed during the night. As the centuries passed on, costumes were transformed into children playing tricks on homeowners, or receiving food, or candies, as a treat.
Whether you believe if ghosts and ghouls exist, or that spirits (good and evil) are around, remember that this is also a time to celebrate loved ones that have passed on. If you are lucky, maybe one of those spirits will come and communicate with you on Halloween night. Keep your wits about you for you also may be visited by not so friendly spirits. In that case keep your gourds, turnips and pumpkins around for they might capture ‘Stingy Jack’ and keep you safe.
Seeking
W
onder
