Winter approaches.  The harvest has been gathered and stored; the granaries and hay barns are full, and the farm animals have been tucked snug in their barns for the long winter.  The days are becoming shorter and shorter, and nights seem to last forever.  Native Americans call this the time of the Long Nights.  Daylight is paler and more slanted, but these October days have a translucent beauty of their very own.  Foliage has already turned red, gold, brown and orange, and the brisk winds of autumn are scouring the hills and sweeping away the coloured leaves.  The air is spicy and carries the promise of cold days to come.  Animals of field and forest are filling their pantries and preparing their burrows for winter.

Halloween or “Samhain”, as the ancient Celts called it, means “summer's end”.  According to the  ancient Celtic two-fold division of the year, summer was the interval from Beltane (May 1)  to Samhain (October 31) and winter was the interval from Samhain to Beltane. This is the most important and revered day on the Wheel of the Year, the day on which the old year ends and the  new year begins.  The first day of the new year begins at sundown,  just as the new year begins in the darkest time of the year.

The Irish pronunciation of Samhain is "sow-in" with the "ow" pronounced as in "cow", and there are other pronunciations in other Celtic dialects including "sow-een",  "shahvin", and "sowin" (with a long “o” sound) . There are also various ways of spelling the word Samhain, among them, "Samhuin" or "Samhuinn." The word is never pronounced just as it is written, so if you are not sure how so say “Samhain”, just say "Halloween" or "All Hallows Eve".

This is the time of the year when one reflects on the past year and looks forward to the future.  It is a day on which to remember that death is one of the rites of passage in this earthly existence of ours, and that death is a part of our daily lives, whether that death be a physical one, the end of a trend of thought, emotional closure, or issues which need to be laid to rest.  Life is a continuous cycle of death and rebirth and Samhain is a time of acceptance and celebration of this never ending cycle.  it is a time of remembrance and hope.   It  is also a time to remember the ancestors and loved ones who have gone before us into Summerlands.

The two themes of celebrating the dead and divining the future are intertwined on this day as they are in any New Year's celebration. It was once believed that the dead returned to the land of the living on this night to celebrate with their families, tribes, and clans. The great burial mounds of Ireland (sidh mounds) were opened up, and lighted by torches lining the walls so the dead could find their way home.  Extra places were set at the table and food was put out for anyone who had died that year.  Old stories tell of Irish heroes making raids on the Underworld while the gates of Faery stood open, though everyone had to return to their appointed stations by cock-crow or sunrise.

Samhain is a feast of divination and the best night of the year for looking into the future according to the Celtic view of time. Our modern era has a linear view of time, and New Year's Eve is simply a milestone on the long road which stretches in a straight line from the time of one's birth to the time of one's death, but to the ancient Celts time was cyclical and their New Year's Eve represented a point outside of time, when the natural order of the universe dissolves back into primordial chaos before regenerating itself in a new order. Thus Samhain is a night which exists outside of time and may be used to view any other point in time. It is the best night of the year for reading tarot cards, casting runes or reading tea leaves.

Surely this is the most magical night of the year, a night of jack-o-lanterns, costumes, scarecrows, trick or treating, goblins, ghost stories, seances, tarot card or rune readings and scrying with mirrors.  It would be wise to remember that Samhain is a night of power, the night of the year when the veil which separates our world from the spirit world is at its thinnest, as thin as gossamer.

The most famous symbol of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern.  The Celts traditionally carved gourds for Samhain and placed candles in them to serve as lanterns for those traveling after dark, and “scary faces” were carved on the gourds to keep at bay any evil or mischievous spirits who were abroad on this night.  When placed at doorways and in windows, the jack-o-lanterns had the power to protect the entire household. When early settlers immigrated to the New world, they began using pumpkins which were more readily available and easier to carve, and the custom has survived.

The custom of bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a pagan baptismal rite called seining, and the custom of dressing in costumes and "trick or treating" is of Celtic origin, but there are some notable differences in modern times. In older times both adults and children dressed up in costumes and the treat requested was often alcoholic in content. Roving bands sang seasonal carols from house to house in a tradition similar to Yuletide wassailing - there was a time when such caroling was  performed on every major holiday, rather than just at Christmas (and now rapidly waning altogether).  In Scotland the tradition of dressing in costumes usually involved some form of cross-dressing since ancient societies gave their members an opportunity to don the role of the opposite gender for one night of the year.

To those practicing the Old Religion or Wicca, Halloween is one of the four high holidays or sabbats, and it is the most important holiday of the year.  Practitioners of the Old Religion often hold two celebrations, one for non-believer friends the week before Halloween, and a ritual which is held with other believers late on the evening of Halloween or Samhain.  There is much warmth and fellowship at such rituals and often there is the feeling that invisible and departed friends have joined the circle, are participating in the rituals and are joining in the celebrations.  Another important related date is the actual cross-quarter day, or Old Halloween, which occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio, an astrological 'power point' which is symbolized by the Eagle. This date has been appropriated by Christianity as the feast of Martinmas.

Halloween or Samhain, whatever one chooses to call it, is that night of the year when one's mind turns to the magical, the mysterious and the supernatural.  It is the one night of the year on which each of us, whatever our beliefs, may ponder the mysteries which exist "beyond the fields we know" and think of those who dwell there.

May your jack-o-lanterns glow brightly this Samhain.  May your home be blessed with many young masked and costumed visitors, and may it be protected from things which go bump in the night.

Cate