Also known as: Hallowe'en, Martinmas, Old Hallowmas, ShadowFest,
Last Harvest, Summer's end.
Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for
the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the
dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some
believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the
beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at
night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings
of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground.
Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at
dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November
Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as
Halloween.
Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means summer's end. In
Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in
Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calend, or
first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to
Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the
blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before
became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or
Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to
be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were
waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the
centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry
of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which
appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in
its mystery.
In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when
the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer
hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that
would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched
ricks, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the
table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods in
pagan times. All the harvest must be gathered in -- barley, oats,
wheat, turnips, and apples -- for come November, the faeries would
blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and
berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires
were stacked high by the hearth. It was a joyous time of family
reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking,
salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come.
The endless horizons of summer gave way to a warm, dim and often
smoky room; the symphony of summer sounds was replaced by a
counterpoint of voices, young and old, human and animal.
In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the
tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year.
The greatest assembly was the 'Feast of Tara,' focusing on the
royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the
point of conception for the new year. In every household throughout
the country, hearth-fires were extinguished. All waited for the
Druids to light the new fire of the year -- not at Tara, but at
Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the
burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith,
who may once have been a goddess in her own right in a former
age.
At at all the turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near
to Earth at Samhain, so many sacrifices and gifts were offered up
in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of
objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be
healed were cast into the fire, and at the end of the ceremonies,
brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the
home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane. As they received the flame
that marked this time of beginnings, people surely felt a sense of
the kindling of new dreams, projects and hopes for the year to
come.
The Samhain fires continued to blaze down the centuries. In the
1860s the Halloween bonfires were still so popular in Scotland that
one traveler reported seeing thirty fires lighting up the hillsides
all on one night, each surrounded by rings of dancing figures, a
practice which continued up to the first World War. Young people
and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and
hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish
boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterwards, ashes from the
fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the
winter months -- and of course, they also improved the soil. The
bonfire provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of
winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits
long before electricity illumined our nights. When the last flame
sank down, it was time to run as fast as you could for home,
raising the cry, The black sow without a tail take the
hindmost!
Even today, bonfires light up the skies in many parts of the
British Isles and Ireland at this season, although in many areas of
Britain their significance has been co-opted by Guy Fawkes Day,
which falls on November 5th, and commemorates an unsuccessful
attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in the 17th
century. In one Devonshire village, the extraordinary sight of both
men and women running through the streets with blazing tar barrels
on their backs can still be seen! Whatever the reason, there will
probably always be a human need to make fires against the winters
dark.
