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Samhain, the Pagan New Year
Of all our holidays, Samhain is the most obviously pagan in its origins. Halfheartedly assimilated by Christians as Halloween (or "All Saints' Day" for the truly pious), the focus on the underworld — on death and dying — is hard to reconcile with a tradition that promises everlasting life. The thing that makes this holiday essentially pagan is its acceptance and celebration of death as a natural part of our experience. The concept of the Wheel of the Year, around which the Eight Sabbats are based, reminds us that death is necessary for rebirth. Samhain is a time for endings and new beginnings. Like the Death card in the Tarot, it does not mean stagnation and decay. Rather, it symbolizes the difficult, yet rewarding pain of transformation. The Motherpeace tarot's interpretation of the card as a snake shedding its skin evokes the concept well. Different localities have different lore around Samhain (or Halloween). My successor at About.com has a page that will take you to the sites that explore these many myths and rituals. One of my favorites is an Irish tale about a mythical horse that roams the landscape on Samhain night. The Pookah is a fearsome beast and anything left standing in the fields after sundown must be left for it. Talk about great motivation for getting the harvest in on time! Because that's what Samhain really is—the festival that celebrates the last of the harvest. For agrarian cultures, it's a natural break in the year, and that is why Samhain is also known as the Pagan New Year. After the frenetic work of planting and harvesting, Samhain is a time to take stock of one's accomplishments and to look forward into the coming year. With darkness encroaching but not complete, it's also quite literally the year's twilight time. In the half-shadows and before electricity, it truly must have seemed as if there was a veil between this world and the next, and that it was at its thinnest. Hence, Samhain is a time for remembering those who have passed into the other world, and it is also a time for forecasting what is yet to come. At Samhain the God is journeying into the underworld (remember Persephone and Demeter?), a journey that ends when he is reborn at Yule, the Winter Solstice. The Goddess is in her in her crone phase at this time of year, which explains all the images of the "old hag" witch. In years past, I've celebrated Samhain publicly, privately, with a coven, and as a solitary. There is no wrong way to celebrate this holiday -- except perhaps to let it go by without thinking of it at all.
Bright blessings, |
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