By Glory Mirabello
The origins of Samhain (pronounced “sow [as in cow]-in”) date back to the ancient Celtic Tradition. The Celts lived as far back as 2,000 years ago in an area that is now known as Ireland/the United Kingdom/Northern France/Wales and Scotland. Samhain is the Gaelic word for “Summer’s end” or “assembly of spirits.”
Samhain marks the end of warm season and the beginning of cold season, and has always been the most sacred of all the Celtic festivals, starting at sunset on October 31st and ending at sunrise on November 1st. It is the Celtic New Year’s Eve and the beginning of the New Year of the Earth cycle. It is a time for reflection, a time of letting go of the old, and looking ahead to the new. It comes at a time when the sun is in the astrological sign of Scorpio. During this time of transformation, we are compelled to release all that is no longer appropriate for our lives.
This is also the time when we honor the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess. She is the Goddess who carries the wisdom and her name is Hecate. Hecate is the spiral – we go into her and we come out transformed. She is the nocturnal Lunar Goddess/Mighty Huntress who knows her way in the realm of spirits. She is a “shape shifter” and the midwife who helps to “birth” things into the world and also helps in the “leaving” process.
The God aspect of Deity is represented by the Lord of the Hunt or the Satyr Lord, as the focus becomes the hunt rather than the harvest.
In ancient times Samhain was a celebration of the bounty of the harvest and it meant that there would be enough food for the long, dark, cold Winter ahead. It also helped to renew the relationship with the Earth Mother by giving gratitude for all the blessings that she bestowed. Samhain was also the time when the seeds were put away for planting in the Spring. So we see that with the death of the parent plant comes the hope of a new beginning. Out of death comes life. This has always been Mother Nature’s promise of the continuation of life on the ever-turning Wheel of the Year.
Samhain was said to be a night of power where the veil that separates our world from the “other world” was at its thinnest – it was called “spirit night” in Wales. Because the veil was said to be so thin during this time, the Celts believed that the ancestors and the living were able to communicate more easily with each other.
This was the time to honor those departed loved ones, so an apple offering would be given in their honor. Each person would meditate upon the memory of family and friends who had passed on to the “Land of Shadows,” then the apples would either be put into the cauldron or buried in the ground.
It was a night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, dressing in costume, and divination. Among the most common divinations were those dealing with marriage, weather and the coming fortunes for the year. Ducking for apples was a marriage divination – the first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in the coming year.
The sacred colors of Samhain are black and orange with accents of brown, yellow and dark russets. Foods for the season are apples pomegranates, pumpkin pie, apple cider and root vegetables.
The origin of the carved pumpkin came from gourds carved by the Celts which were used as scary faces to frighten away any evil spirits in the vicinity, and they were also used with candles inserted in them to light the way of the carolers. Wassailing, or caroling was once associated with most holidays. Groups of neighbors would go from house to house singing songs that were appropriate to the holiday in return for drinks and treats.
And so, Samhain is a time of “seeing,” of rest and renewal and a time to honor the wisdom of the Crone, as she watches over us and guides us with her magick. And so as the Wheel of the Year turns, we once again go inward for clarity and understanding. May all your jack-o-lanterns burn bright on All Hallow’s Eve. Blessed Be!
Rev. Glory Mirabello is an interfaith minister, spiritual counselor and an MCNJ faculty member and officer.