Samhain is a one of a kind holiday. The only holiday that I know of in any religion that has three aspects. However, there are probably other religions that have holidays with at least three aspects that I don’t know about yet.
The first of the three is the last harvest and, like the Jewish do during Rosh Hashanah, we too pay off our debts — financial and emotional. Granted, not all debts are paid off in full in one day. However, you can make a good faith effort to offer apologies and repair relationships that have broken. Make some sort of payment plan- in cash or labor, for those financial ones.
Samhain — sit with the ancestors
The second is honoring the recent dead. Many of us hold a dumb supper. We eat a silent dinner and set a space at the table for the deceased family member, friend or mentor. Our Celtic ancestors even kept the door wide open in hopes of their arrival. This aspect is also a celebration by the Mexicans in their Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) ceremony on Nov. 5. They basically do what we do as in, they observe the thinning of the veil. However, they usually go to the cemetery and have a meal, usually dinner with them there. They recount and tell stories. Sometimes they will say things that they never had the chance to say before their loved one’s passing.
As I stated last year, according to the Celts, the year ends at sundown Oct. 30 and begins 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.
Catholics now observe their holiday of All Saints Day to Nov. 1 and, later, All Souls Day to Nov. 2. Both of these observances were held in late winter and most likely in February. I’m not going to get into why these holidays are where they are and why Mexico also has theirs at this time. I’ll save that soapbox for a future blog post.
Samhain is the Celtic New Year
Then we cannot forget the third aspect, which it seems many seem to forget or recognize — the Celtic New Year. By Samhain the light half of the year is over and the darker half of the year has begun. The Celts focus on the fact that we are born in darkness. Given that everything is born in darkness, the Celtic New Year, like the Celtic day, starts in the darkness. This makes logical sense to me.
Extinguishing a home fire symbolizes the end of the year. Additionally, Druids hold bonfires. It is from these fires that they relight home fires for the new year. The soot and ash are for protection. Like the yule log, and Beltaine fires, the ashes are spread on fields to help with crop growth next year.
Not just Samhain but Halloween
Now you may ask where Halloween falls into all this, and it’s just a silly custom our children insist on.
This is not entirely true. While it may be silly to wear a costume pretending you are someone else, our ancestors had a good reason. They did this in order to ward off evil spirits. When the veil is thin, anything could easily walk across, not just a loved one. The disguises are supposed to scare off anything that wants to cause harm. Turning clothes inside out, or wearing them backwards is a disguise from the wild hunt, as well as vengeful spirits.
Trick-or-treating basically came from the Pagan custom of turning clothes inside out. During Samhain, our ancestors went outside they didn’t want to be recognized by wandering spirits or the wild hunt.
Receiving candy replaces the food that we left outside to appease wandering spirits as well as a remnant of the Dumb supper. It might even be the earliest form of caroling, since they would sing at every door for treats.
It is believed that bribing with treats pacified the spirits. In turn our ancestors hoped that the spirits wouldn’t kill the livestock. The livestock kept their bellies fed during the winter.
Speaking of Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns are, you guessed it, Pagan. Back in the day in Ireland, pumpkins were not the choice. Pumpkins are an American food and eventually we took them back to Europe. Turnips and gourds are hollowed out, and carried as lanterns to create scary faces.
The Samhain three
What part of Samhain are you celebrating? I suggest all three in one way or another. Paying debts is easy to do with or without a formal ritual. The hosting of ancestors could be your meal with an extra place set. Share it with your wild siblings. This can be a ritual or just an aspect of your usual meal. New year, new goals, is so mundane few fail to grasp it. Set your intentions for the coming year, be they financial, educational or self-developmental. But do remember, this is a promise you are making to not just yourself, but your deities.
This Sunday, Sacred Wheel CUUPs is hosting a Samhain ritual at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, New Jersey. We intend to hit on all three aspects. Next year, I am planning on enough of us that want to do a Witches Ball. Hopefully, we can finally get it together.
Oh, and don’t be a dud on Halloween. Pass on blessings, in silence or otherwise, while you pass out candy. Remember, what you give comes back three fold.
See also: Samhain — the time between and
The three aspects of Samhain – honoring our ancestors, the last harvest & the Celtic New Year
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In