SamhainSamhainSamhain (pronounced 'Sau-en') is a time of endings and beginnings, a time of shadows of future and past. Ancients believed that at this time of year, the separation between the worlds of the living and dead was so thin that the dead could walk among the living. Preparations were made to welcome back esteemed ancestors and to guard against maleficent spirits.
On Samhain Eve, a 'Silent Supper' was set for the returning ancestors. Measures were also taken to ward off the ill wishes of enemy spirits. Because head hunting was a part of Celtic warfare, heads of enemies were displayed to prove that at least this particular enemy would not come back to worry a warrior's family. The head was considered the seat of both wisdom and the soul.
Divinations were common at this time. It was believed that the future was more accessible with the separation so thin, and many a young girl would try to discover who her future marriage partner would be. These customs continued into the Christian era, and are still practiced in one form or another by hopeful young women.
This day was a time between times, a time when rules were broken. Women and men would cross-dress, children would play pranks on people. Since this day was neither of the old year or the new, these merry-makers believed that all the rules people normally lived by were suspended.
Samhain really was a time between two worlds, the world of summer and harvest, and the cold, barren world of winter. Excess cattle were slaughtered both to provide meat for the coming winter, and to cull the herds so the feeding grains would last. Late-season fruits and vegetables were 'put up', nuts were gathered and hoarded for the winter.
It was a time of celebration and of gatherings. The final harvest was over but the snows were still a ways off. People could relax and get together. It was Thanksgiving for a plentiful harvest, or a time to commiserate together for the fallow ground. This was the time when history and lore was passed around the fire, when the closeness of the Ancestors called forth stories of wandering spirits and dreaded consequences.
Samhain brought the old year to its close. The old year died,
yet the new year lived in the bowels of the earth. Trees which seemed
to be losing their life were merely dormant, waiting for spring to beckon
fresh, new leaves. Grasses died yet lived in the seed they'd dropped
to earth. This is a highly symbolic time, a time of death and of
rebirth, a time to remember those who had passed on, and to greet those
who still remained. The ending and beginning of a life, a year, a
culture, and the belief that those who went on would be renewed as the
earth renewed in spring.
