Showing posts with label Samhain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samhain. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

THE HEART OF A CELT

With our modern holiday Halloween approaching, I thought this might be an appropriate time to remember that it found its origins in the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain.  But did you know this was only one of four fire festivals?



"The heart of a Celt is a heart of fire."

This quote from--ahem--one of my own books is as close a truth as I know, because the four Fire Festivals of the ancient Celts still live in our own time...and perhaps, for many of us, in our hearts.

The ancient Celtic calendar reckoned days from sunset to sunset. For this reason most--but not all--festival bonfires were lit as the sun set.

Samhain, our present-day Halloween, was the beginning of winter and also, coincidentally, a festival of the dead when the veil between this and the Otherworld was considered so thin that spirits and mortals could meet. At least in part to prevent dangerous straying, communities gathered around huge bonfires lit on the night of Samhain.

Imbolc, celebrated from February 1 - 2, was considered the beginning of spring. It was and still is the beginning of lambing season; my large animals veterinarian, Missy, spent one semester during vet school in Scotland, delivering lambs.

Beltane later became our modern May Day. Cernunnos, the horned god of Ireland, was held to have died and been reborn on Beltane, which was an unabashed fertility rite. In ancient days, it was also the time cattle were driven out to pasture until autumn. The bonfire lit for Beltane was a mark of joy at the return of the sun...and the return of Cernunnos.

Finally, Lughnasadh was the feast of the god Lugh and celebrated from July 31 - August 1. It was traditionally the time when spirits began to be distilled for the coming year. Even today in the British Isles, many distilleries close for the month of August and reopen on September 1. As you sip a good whiskey from those parts, give a tilt of the hat to Lugh--that is, if you can remember where your head is. After a morning of whiskey-tasting at Jameson's Distillery in Ireland, I couldn't!

The traditions still live in many of us. You have but to scratch the surface to find the ancient Celt beneath.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Trick or Treat!

Hi, Pat McDermott here, getting ready for lots of chocolate and cute little pixies ringing the doorbell. The origins of Halloween are rife on the blogs these days, so I’ll keep this brief. I suspect that millions of children preparing for Halloween are unaware of its Celtic/Irish origins in the Samhain (Sow-win) festival. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Samhain, the Celtic New Year, marked the end of summer and the start of winter. The boundary between the world of the living and the dead was at its thinnest at Samhain, and the Celts believed the spirits of their ancestors passed through that boundary.

In every Irish settlement, families honored their forebears by inviting them into their homes even as they warded off harm by dressing in costumes and masks to thwart evil spirits. While housewives prepared food for both the living and the dead, their farmer husbands inventoried food supplies and slaughtered livestock to augment their winter diets. The people allowed their household fires to go out, and they tossed the animals’ bones and other various sacrifices onto communal bonfires from which each hearth was ceremoniously relit.

The arrival of Christianity incorporated the Samhain celebration into the Christian calendar by renaming October
31st All Saints’ Day and November 1st All Souls’ Day. Several customs survived these name changes, including the wearing of costumes and masks. The Irish who emigrated during the 19th century famine carried their Halloween customs to America, where they melded with the harvest traditions of other cultures.

Best wishes for a fun and safe Halloween!

Pat's Web Site and Blog