The Celtic New Year, the Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season. The light half of the year has ended and we are traveling into the dark part. This makes sense as in the United States we also shift out of daylight savings time. This year it’s on Nov. 3, so by the way don’t forget to fall back. The Celtic New Year is one aspect of Samhain, sometimes forgotten though by many Pagans.
Pagans seem to remember the last harvest and especially honoring the dead. but the New Year? Not so much. It could be because the Jewish New Year is in the early fall or that mundane and calendrical New Year’s is Jan.1. Whatever the reason, Druids celebrate the Celtic New Year as part of Samhain. The Celtic celebrations include bonfires. Now, I am not asking us to light bonfires, they’re illegal in most places, or at least require a permit. What I’m saying though is that at Samhain let’s acknowledge the Celtic New Year in some form.
According to the Celts, the year’s ending starts at sundown Oct. 30 and ends at sundown Oct. 31. This means that the Celts believe that between sundown Oct. 31 and sundown Nov. 1 are 24 hours outside of regular time or time that “stands still.” This is the “day” in the Year and a Day promises we make. Mundanes also use the term a year and a day often as well.
This is the time between honoring our ancestors and the newly dead, and the beginning of the New Year. This “time out of time” we often reference during Samhain rituals.
I asked participants at Sacred Wheel CUUPs’ ritual to write anything they didn’t want to carry into the New Year. After having a few minutes to think and write, participants shared some of the ‘refuse’ they wanted to leave behind. People responded with ideas like procrastination, stress, smoking, hate, fear and unhealthy relationships. I asked them to put their lists on their altar for a day, add to them if they thought of more. Then, I asked them to burn those papers.
My congregation also does this as part of the Fire Communion ceremony in January for the mundane New Year. It is in a way similar to the ritual the Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, co-senior minister led this past Sunday. Sammler-Michael held a New Orleans Funeral March with a small “coffin.” She asked us to visually picture tossing the past year’s negativities in the box while the Jazz parade marched along. Many members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, New Jersey participated in this ritual and the funeral march. This was very symbolic and it was so welcoming and touching to witness. Now, I know this is not Druid, maybe Caribbean, however the similarities are there. Instead of Samhain, they have the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos). This is also a two day celebration from Nov. 1st through 2nd.
Some of us have a lot of bad energy from the past year to dump. There are so many negatives that I needed to dump, such as my recent relationship. It was short lived and ended right in time for the New Year, if I say so myself. However, I can finally say that my fear of dogs has finally subsided. I tried ridding myself of that for a very long time. My elder, the Rev. Foxxy Pullen is the most proud of that conquest, probably more than I am. This is something she and her late husband, Herm, worked a lot on with me. Next up for bat, is battling my fear of highway driving.
So going back to the time in between, this seems to be the case lately at least for me. I feel like life is at a stand still, less now that we aren’t in the heat of the pandemic. I wonder if our ancestors ever felt like that outside of Samhain. Yes, I am doing things, sometimes multiple things in a day; sometimes too many to count, yet it feels like things are at a standstill.
So, when our mundane friends and family are out trick-or-treating, yes answer the door and give them candy. However, remember this is a somber holiday too. I have been to Witches Balls that held both aspects together tastefully. After all, our ancestors disguised themselves wearing their clothes inside out to avoid harassment from evil spirits. It is also thanks to them that we have jack-o’-lanterns. Of course they didn’t use pumpkins, they used turnips.
So hold a dumb supper for your ancestors, set the food outside afterwards. Apparently, one should never look at the ancestor’s seat because seeing the dead will bring misfortune. I’m not one for superstition but I will follow that bit of advice.
So, let’s remember all the aspects, especially the Celtic New Year. Blessed Samhain.
See also: The three aspects of Samhain – honoring our ancestors, the last harvest & the Celtic New Year
And Follow Your Gut Instincts; Always Trust Those Uneasy Feelings
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