Thought the Fifteenth:


Samhain

If you know anything about Wicca and you've spent any time at all looking around this website, then you will know that October is my favorite time of the year, because my favorite holiday is coming...Samhain. For those who aren't familiar with this special day, here is an introduction:

  1. Pronounced "sow-unn" (not "sam-hane), from a Celtic root of obscure origin. Perhaps from a now-forgotten god, but more likely a reference to the end of summer (Irish, "samhradh").
  2. Traditionally celebrated on November 1, but the Celts (much like the Hebrews), would treat the day as beginning at sundown. Hence the celebration on October 31 of...
  3. HALLOWE'EN. Yes, they're one and the same. So all that talk in Fundamentalist Christian circles about Hallowe'en being a witches' holiday is absolutely true. And if the Satanists want to share, more power to them, because...
  4. This is the day when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. This is the day to communicate with the dead. This tradition is deeply ingrained in the European consciousness. Witness the Catholic "All Saints (or Souls) Day" and the Mexican "Dia de los Muertos" with its skull and skeleton motifs.
  5. Samhain is the Celtic New Year. This is the day that the Morrigan, the Triple Goddess of death and rebirth, in her maiden aspect, would copulate with the Dagda, the Celtic all-father (who is, interestingly, a bit of a "holy fool" figure), and populate the earth for the coming year. Samhain is closely associated with the Morrigan (my patroness, by the way).

I have always claimed Hallowe'en as my favorite holiday. As far back as at least the fourth grade, I dreamed of being able to spend midnight on Hallowe'en in the graveyard at the end of the street. Never got the chance, though. Call it the effect of too many horror movies, if you will, but, long before I embraced paganism, when I was a lapsed Unitarian and budding Taoist at best, Samhain claimed me as its own. It waited, patient and timeless as one would expect, for me to truly embrace it for all it represents.

Blessings Bright & Dark to one and all on this, my first Samhain on the Web.

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