Dave's Blog

10/31/2007

Halloween

Samhain. America's most popular Celtic holiday. 

The Coligny Calendar calls this the "Three Nights of the End of 
Summer," a.k.a. the first day of Winter. We also know this as the 
Celtic New Year. How does all this fit together? 

The sun points, which we recognize as astronomical season 
boundaries today, were midpoints to the British Celts. The 
boundaries were between those, on days we don't recognize, except 
by tradition, today. Although it has shifted a bit, All Hallows' 
Day or All Saints Day, stands on a boundary between Summer and 
Winter, the Light half of the year and the Dark half of the year. 
Now, a day begins at sunset; the dark half of the day is the 
first half. A year begins at the beginning of the Dark half -- at 
least by some accounts -- Celtic traditions varied over time and 
space. 

As this was a boundary, it was a "crack in time." Strange things 
could happen at the start of the New Year, people and things 
could slip through this crack. The dead could come back to visit! 
One should set an extra place at the table, because Grandpa just 
might drop in for dinner! "Trick or Treat" had a more sinister 
meaning once, for if a visiting soul were not satisfied, it might 
commit some malicious act before it returned to the other world. 
One might, for example, wake to find one's cow on the neighbor's 
property, and since possession is nine points of the law, it 
would not be our cow anymore. That would not be very pleasant, as 
one has to get through the Dark half of the year to enjoy the 
Light half. 

There are wizards and pirates, cowboys and generals in my family 
tree. Who will visit on this day?

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