Myths and Legends: Journeys Through Time
Samhain
I realize that it’s completely the wrong month for a halloween article…but in a way it isn’t. January is the start of the new year for many people. Moved up from April 1st which is now called April Fool’s day. In my family…we have two new years. We have our personal new year which is on Halloween. And then we have the actual New Year on January 1st.. For as long as I could remember…every halloween, my mother has said “Happy Halloween, Happy New Year.” I never understood it until I was older and actually started researching Halloween and the pagan religion. Being a 3rd generation Pagan…it’s been interesting to grow up in a household that does celebrate two new years. It’s also been wonderful to be able to do that. So I present to you, my readers, a spooky article for the new year. Hope you enjoy.
Ah Halloween! The one time of year where you can change your appearance and nobody looks at you differently. You can also go from door to door asking for candy and try to scare somebody with a most excellent ghost story. Christmas aside, Halloween is the best day of the year. What is Halloween though? Why do people dress up? Why do we ask for candy or threaten to play naughty tricks? And what’s up with the orange and black?! As fun and as marketable as Halloween is, like Christmas is has ancient roots. What we call Halloween is actually a very modernized (very modernized) version of an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain.
Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween, or Sow-en) is pronounced and spelled several different ways. The spelling and pronounciation that we have today is the modern Irish spelling and pronounciation. In Scots Gaelic, Samhain is is spelled Samhuin and pronounced Sah-vin or in Manx Gaelic (original Scottish Gaelic) spelled Sauin and pronounced an t’Samhuin (phonetically unn T’avin). In Old Irish it’s spelled Samain and pronoucned savin. To translate it literally though…it goes in several different directions. Some say it’s literally translated as “Summer’s End”. Others as “November” (this might come from the fact that Samhain and an-t’Samhain are the Irish and Scottish words respectively for the month November). Some even go so far as to connect to a Celtic God of Death.
What it boils down to is that for the Ancient Celtics, Samahin was a major festival to mark the change in seasons as the Celts divided their year into two seasons. Light and Dark. Light season was what we call Spring and Summer where the days are longer and night shorter. Dark season was what we call Fall and Winter where the days are shorter and nights longer. May 1st marked Beltane..the beginning of the Light Season. November 1st marked Samhain..the beginning of the Dark Season. What we celebrate as Halloween is actually the eve of Samhain. For the Celtics, Samhain was the most important festival. Even though Beltane marked the beginning of things…Samhain marked the end of things and the most magical night of all was the Eve Samhain. It’s akin to the modern day new year. Many believe that the veil between our worlds was thinnest on this night as it was the one night of the year where the Gods drew closest to the earth.
The modern day aspects of Halloween come from a combination of Pagan rituals and festivals and Christian/Catholic influence. I would go more into this but I do not wish to come across as slamming either religion. I will say this though, in an effort to convert the pagan Celtics to the ways of Christianity, The Church decided that the best way to do it was to subtly influence them through their own festivals. Slowly Samhain became All Saints Day and Samhain Eve became All Hallows Eve or Saint’s Day Eve. The combination of the religions was in a way pretty effective as it has evolved to one of the coolest, scariest and most profitable (at least candy-wise) “holidays” of the year. Many pagans, Wiccans, witches etc consider Halloween their New Year. In a way it sort of is a new year. On Halloween you’re allowed one last chance to say good bye to people who have passed throughout the year as the veil between all the worlds is the thinnest. You’re allowed one last chance to pass on good wishes, blessings, things you meant to say but were never able to etc. So in that regard to all of my readers out there I say this. Happy Halloween, Happy New Year and Blessed Be!
For Further Reading check out these links!
http://www.dentonlifestyles.com/2011/08/just-say-ahh-15/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain
http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Samhain.htm