Samhain today
Samhain is still observed by some Pagans today, though these days the celebrations are a little more private. Feasting still plays an important part in observing the festival, along with private prayer and small ceremonies in the home. Apple-bobbing might form part of festivities, and small bonfires may be lit. Time is also spent outdoors appreciating nature, and altars to the ancestors are set up.
Samhain is celebrated on the evening of October 31. In the past it was a three day celebration. In fact, the whole month of November was named for it, with other festivals during the month.
Remembrance of the dead remains the focus throughout. At its core, Samhain is a chance to reconnect with passed loved ones and celebrate their lives. Although the modern, more commercialised version of ‘Halloween’ now dominates the date today, it’s important for us to reflect on its spiritual origins, to pause, and offer a moment’s reverence.
Halloween is a part of Hallowtide, a three day observance of the Catholic church – All Hallow’s (or Saint’s) Eve, All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day. It was three days set apart for remembering the dead.
Halloween developed separately from Samhain in cultures which didn’t celebrate the older holiday, but it’s hard to hide the influence that the Irish and other Celtic people had on the celebration.
Until the middle ages, we only have the oral tradition to understand how Samhain was celebrated. In short, we know very little. By the time the customs were written down, the holiday had been Christianised into Halloween.
The thread which has run continually through both Samhain and Halloween is a connection to the dead and the supernatural. That connection was thought to be made possible by the thinning of the veil between worlds, which was at its thinnest at Samhain.
*taken from The Witchery Arts. For further reading and information follow link:
Samhain today
Samhain is still observed by some Pagans today, though these days the celebrations are a little more private. Feasting still plays an important part in observing the festival, along with private prayer and small ceremonies in the home. Apple-bobbing might form part of festivities, and small bonfires may be lit. Time is also spent outdoors appreciating nature, and altars to the ancestors are set up.
While Samhain might have had supernatural elements, Halloween was nothing but the supernatural and the dead, plus candy of course.
By the time that Halloween took over as the holiday celebrated on the evening of October 31, the jubilant mood of this time of year was darker. People no longer welcomed the dead into their homes, like in earlier observances. They feared them now, and on this night protected themselves from the supernatural.
Except those who used this date to explore the supernatural, and as any student of horror films can tell you, the witches, warlocks and magicians were the ones you had to fear most.
Now the most popular Halloween films are comedies.
How did we lose the fear of this holy night, when we commune with the dead, demons cross over the veil, when witches of a dark ilk spread their evil like a cloak of darkness upon the land, when the very pumpkins grin back at us from their viny patch? How did we lose it all in a rush of good cheer?
Remembrance of the dead remains the focus throughout. At its core, Samhain is a chance to reconnect with passed loved ones and celebrate their lives. Although the modern, more commercialised version of ‘Halloween’ now dominates the date today, it’s important for us to reflect on its spiritual origins, to pause, and offer a moment’s reverence.
But if this Halloween you’re trying to contact Uncle Edgar on the other side, and are counting on the thinning of the veil to make it possible, you might hold off a bit.