Pumpkin Harvest
The history of Halloween â € "or â €" What is Samhain?
Samhain, pronounced sow-wen, is a Celtic word means "Summer's End". It is also the Irish Gaelic word for the month of November. Samhain is the last of three harvest festivals in Celtic year and is the Celtic New Year. The Celts are recognized only two seasons: summer and winter. Thus, with the last harvest, the end of the summer, and cold, dark and dangerous days of winter. Any food that has not been introduced in the fields at the end of the day on October 31, Samhain, was left in the field and not eating. Be considered belonging to the fairies at that point, and would any patient who tried to eat.
The food in the stores at that time was all the food that will be achieved between this first day of winter and spring. Has passed through the cold, dark winter months. Hunger is always a possibility. Livestock was slaughtered at this time, both to preserve meat for the winter months, and sacrifice all the animals. With fewer animals to feed, those who remained would have a better chance to survive until spring. This is one reason for the death and the dead are related to this day.
Faced with the long, deadly winter, secure their food supply, without central heating, would have to brave the elements and dangers of the jungle to collect all the wood that needs to stay warm. With the days getting shorter and shorter, which was beginning to wonder if the sun never coming back. Wild animals will get hungrier and more aggressive than the winter has more difficult for everyone. Everyone did today, marking the beginning of the winter season, one of fear and danger. But it was a day of celebration, similar to American Thanksgiving – thanking the gods for the blessings of a bountiful harvest.
To the Celts, "between" times and places were very important. At these points, the veil between worlds is thinnest, and communication between the realm of faerie, land of the dead, and the human world is much easier. "Between" places include doors from one room to another, or between inside and outside, or the seashore, which marks the meeting of land and sea. "Between" times are dusk and dawn, marking the transition from night to day and overnight, and in more recent centuries, midnight, which represents the transition from a calendar day and the next.
Transitions between seasons are even more important "among the "moment. The transition from winter to summer in Beltaine (May 1), and the transition from summer to winter at Samhain, the two most important were the days Celtic year, but Samhain was the more important because it marked the transition from year to year. Ergo, this is the moment that the veil between worlds is more thin, and communication between the world of the living and the world of our deceased ancestors, fairies and other spirits is easier. This is also a good night for divination for that reason.
In this celebration of the harvest, when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is thin, the ancestors one, therefore an honor and veneration. Hospitality was very important to the ancient Celts. Who leave food out of your home, or out of step forward, as an offering to the spirits of their ancestors, who believed that the visit tonight. Offers of food or milk also left out of the fairies, and invite some Wiccans today tale beings in their homes to share their hospitality with them for the winter. The Celts also extended his hospitality to travelers and beggars wandering because Celts considered very bad luck to hold the hospitality of anyone in need.
But the thinness of the veil between worlds also allowed spirits more dangerous to wander in the human realm, so that Samhain was also a time of fear and apprehension. These two ideas influenced our modern custom of "trick or treating "on Halloween (our modern name for Samhain). Today, beggars wandering in the way children dress up as horrible spirits go door to door asking for food, jokes and threatening if not appeased. That is a very recent tradition, however, invented in the United States [1].
Pumpkins carved pumpkins o'-call also have their roots in ancient hospitality. The Celts did not have pumpkins in the Old World, as we have here in America, The pumpkin is a fruit of the New World. So instead of carving pumpkins, the Celts used turnips and squash. He emptied the interior, and put candles in them to create a flashlight. Then there would be a light in every afternoon to let outsiders know that hospitality roaming was available in that particular house. However, to frighten the spirits aa Malignant who might be wandering, homeowners are taking the precaution of ugly faces carved into lanterns to scare away anything unpleasant.
Many ancient pagan festivals, including the Celts, were adapted by the Christian church in an attempt to convert pagans to Christianity. Many of the traditions Christmas, like decorating an evergreen tree, became the traditions of Christmas. Many of the spring equinox traditions, such as decorating eggs became customs of Easter. And many practices of Samhain became Halloween tradition [2].
"Halloween" means "sacred." For example, "sacred ground", a place that has been blessed and is suitable for burial. The suffix "-een" is short for "night" the night before a holiday. Halloween, as our New Year's Eve, is therefore the celebration before the actual holiday, in this case, November 1, called "All Saints Day" of the Catholic Church. Halloween is also known as "Day of the Dead", following the tradition that this is a time to celebrate and commemorate the dead them.
There are several misconceptions and outright lies propagated by the fundamentalists Religious each year on Samhain, Halloween in an attempt prohibited. The first is that the party is of Druid, the Druids were a priestly class of Celts, but were a late manifestation of the Celtic religion. The Celts practiced their religion for millennia prior to the priestly class of Druids developed.
Another misconception is that the Romans adopted Samhain, adding to its traditions, which, however, the traditions of Halloween, as we know, have reached us from Ireland. Ireland was never conquered by the Romans. Samhain was also celebrated by the Picts in Scotland, but the Picts were never conquered by the Romans, either. The only territory of the British Isles by the Romans conquered England was successful.
Another mistake is that Samhain is pronounced Sam Hane and is the name of a Celtic god of the dead. The Celts had no god of the dead [3]. Samhain is also pronounced that way, is pronounced "Sow-Ween" because of the odd way Irish Gaelic ended up writing letters when writing in English. There is a very minor character in Celtic mythology that has a name with a similar spelling, but it has nothing to do with death or with that particular holiday.
Some people also claim that in this day of celebration for the souls of the dead had to pass the bodies of animals if they were "sin" and that human sacrifice was practiced. The Celts did not believe in sin, or in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls. The Celts also did not practice human sacrifice, with the exception of the execution of criminals, who continue to practice in the U.S. today.
Halloween in America is now totally secular holiday. Although it still maintains some of its roots harvest festival, and no religious or spiritual significance to the practice of shaking apples, trick or treating and dressing up in costume.
Samhain, however, is still observed by Wicca and other pagan spiritual meaning in the Wheel of the Year, the cycle of holidays that mark transition points in the natural solar cycle.
[1] Because Samhain represents the transition between years, could not fall in a year or next. Because technically there is no time for this period, the other rules of society are suspended so as to create the necessary atmosphere for people to vent frustrations, often playing practice jokes to each other. This may be the forerunner of mischief on Halloween practiced today.
[2] Many of the associations of Halloween, black cats to wear costumes, witches, are more associated with the Germanic tradition and the Walpurgis Night, which is associated with May instead of the Celtic Samhain tradition.
[3] A few sources list Gwynn ap Nudd as a British god of the dead, and Arawn as a Welsh god of the dead, but there is no Irish equivalent.
***
For Part II of this article, "A Subtle Samhain Celebration" or "What if you do not live alone" www.careandfeedingofspirits.com visit. Part II provides instruction on how to take advantage of this season to get in touch with loved ones killed in the other side of the veil of death and other subtle ways to mark the holiday. But hurry! Only available until 31 October 2008. After going back into the vaults.
Have a blessed Samhain and a Happy Halloween!
BB,
Vivienne
Bibliography
Isaac Bonewitz, "the true origins Halloween, "Version 4.5, © 1997 and 2002, http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-origins-text.html, downloaded 9/19/03.
"Halloween bugs and lies, or fundamentalist Christians What Do not Want You to Know ", version 4.4, Â © 1997, 2002; http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-lies.html, 9/19/03.
BA Robinson, "the myth of Samhain, the Celtic god of the Dead," © 1998-2001 by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, last updated 10/19/01, http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallow_sa.htm, 9/19/03.
WJ Bethancourt III, "Halloween: Myths, monsters and demons ", Â © 1994 updated 10/7/01; http://www.illusions.com/halloween/hallows.htm, 9/19/03.
Rowan Moonstone, "the origins Halloween. http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/5452/hallorig.html, 9/19/03.
About the Author
Vivienne D’Avalon is the owner of Persephone’s Haven (www.persephoneshaven.com) and a regular contributor to CroneSeraphim.com. She is an Eclectic gothic Wiccan, a chaos mage, and a kabbalist; and she is the author of “The Patriot’s Spellbook” (available through 11/4/08 with the purchase of “On the Care and Feeding of Spirits”) and “On the Care and Feeding of Spirits” (available for purchase as an ebook at www.careandfeedingofpsirits.com).
Autumn Pumpkin Harvest
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