The Seasonal Hearth

SAMHAIN

Samhain, also known as Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, and Hallowmas, is celebrated on October 31 - November 1, and is the Celtic Feast of the Dead. It is one of the four major Sabbats celebrated by the Wicca, the Druids, and others who follow the Celtic seasonal cycle. These four Sabbats are sometimes referred to as Fire Festivals, since themes of fire and light play such a prominent part in them. Fire - the making and keeping of it - was of course a vitally important thing to our ancestors, so it is not surprising to find such an emphasis.

Samhain is really a season, rather than just a festival beginning on the night of October 31 and continuing through the day of November 1. It marks the true beginning of the dark time of the year - Winter - and the night that we celebrate as "Samhain" marks the beginning of this season. The word "Samhain" means "Summer's End" in Gaelic. In the Coligny Calendar of the Celtic tribes of Gaul, this begins the month of Samonios, which means "Seeds fall."  Samhain corresponds roughly with the Teutonic feast of Winternights  - called "Winterfylith" meaning "Winter Full Moon" by the Anglo-Saxons - which is celebrated around the time of the 1st Full Moon  after the Autumn Equinox. At this time, just as with Samhain, the ancestors are honored and return to claim their portion.

Looking at the Wheel of the Year in terms of the Wheel of the Day, Samhain is seen to be the point between the sunset point of Fall Equinox and the midnight point of Winter Solstice. Samhain is a time of deepening darkness leading to the rebirth, at Winter Solstice, of the light of the Sun:

From the heart of the darkness is born the light.

Themes of the Season

The Wild Hunt

            This time of year marks the beginning of the ride of the Wild Hunt. According to Northern European tradition, the Wild Hunt begins to ride at the start of the Winternights and continues throughout the winter until Eostre. The dwellers in the Otherworlds gain greater power during the dark part of the year, from this night onward.  The Wild Hunt is led, in some of the legends, by Odin in his role as Lord of the Dead, or by Gwynn ap Nudd, who as King of the sidhe-dwelling Faery folk, is also Lord of the Death Realms. In other legends, primarily the Teutonic ones, it is the Goddess  - under the name of Holda, Holle, Hulda, or Perchta, who leads the Wild Hunt, riding through the night skies, sweeping the souls of the recently dead away from Mid-Earth and to the Lands of Death. 

Legends of the Wild Hunt are very archaic, and represent - among other things - ancient peoples' understanding of the workings of the great themes of Life, Growth, Death, Cleansing, and Rebirth. The Wild Hunt must ride, the powers of darkness, destruction, and finally, cleansing, must prevail. The Goddess - or God - must lead the Hunt, sweeping away the remnants of old Tide of Life, before the blessings of rebirth - and the new Tide of Life - could begin.........

The Rise of the Pleiades
The timing of Samhain - and thus the beginning of winter - was tied in with the rise of the constellation known to the ancient Greeks as the Pleiades. Traditionally this constellation rises near the time Samhain is observed - mid-November by current calendrical reckoning. The calendar change of 1752 having neatly removed eleven days, what had been reckoned as October 31- November 1, became November 11-12.  This date is now known by its Christianized name of Martinmas (feast of St. Martin), but is also referred to as Old Samhain, and falls astrologically at 18-20 degrees Scorpio. Some Wiccan and Pagan traditions celebrate Samhain at 15 degrees Scorpio - the exact midpoint astrologically between the 0 degrees Libra Fall Equinox and the 0 degrees Capricorn of the Winter Solstice.  Exoterically the Pleiades mark the seasons, esoterically they may be markers of cosmic phases. They are considered significant, and are used to mark "timing" in other cultures as well, most notably, the Mayan.

RJ Stewart, in his book, The Prophetic Vision of Merlin (Arkana, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1986; pg 143), says that esoterically, the Pleiades have been considered, in ancient times, to be the "Stellar Matrix" for the Solar System - as each of the 7 stars corresponds with one of the 7 traditionally known planets. Noting that their rising and setting times have been used as the two great turning points of the seasons, he goes on to say: "In Celtic practice, perpetuated by folk customs well in the 19th & 20th centuries, the rising of the Pleiades in November marked the festival of the Blessed Ancestors, known as Samhain or All-Hallows, when the dead draw close to the living, and the gates between the worlds are opened. All fires were extinguished at this time, a practice known worldwide, and the spirits of the dead were supposed to pass into the Otherworld. At the culmination of the Pleiades, a fresh magical fire was lit ritually, and from this, flames are carried far and wide. The fanciful ceremonies still found today involving bonfires, flaming barrels and similar practices are all echoes of this Druidic rite." As cosmic phase markers these stars have to do with the cycles of Life and Death; Samhain - as the beginning of Winter - is the Death part of the cycle, and Beltane - as the beginning of Summer - is the Life part of the cycle.

The Faery Folk

There are many theories as to the origin of the FaeryFolk and much lore has come down to us concerning their nature and behaviors. Whatever one believes of their nature and origin, they are noted to be attuned to the land and live in the Underworld, which they enter by mounds known as Sidhes. These mounds are their dwellings (as are other underground spots such as caves, caverns and hollow hills) as well as entrances to deeper parts of the earth. Faeries are said to change residence at every quarter - thus reflecting the change in the seasons and within the earth. The "quarters" referred to in this case are actually what the modern pagan traditions refer to as the "cross-quarter" days - Brigid, Beltane, Lughnasahd and Samhain.

The Underworld is also said to be the dwelling place of the Ancestors (see below) and in Celtic legend and lore there was not always a big distinction made between the faeries and the ancestors. It was often thought that the dead went to live in the "Blessed Isles of the West," often referred to as the Land of Summer or Summerland. These Blessed Isles of the West were also held to be the original home of the Shining Ones of Old - the Tuatha de Danann. One of the Irish legends states that after the defeat of the Tuatha at the hands of the Milesians, the Tuatha were banished to - or chose to take as their domain - the mounds and the hills: that is, the places below the surface of the earth: the Underworld Realm. This brings in the connection with the faeryfolk - whom some say are the Tuatha de Danaan. 

Of all the nights of the year, it is only on Samhain that the sidhe mounds, hollow-hills, caves and caverns are open and the treasures of the sidhe can be seen. All the spirits are abroad this time of the year - ancestors and other ghosts, pucas, faeries and hosts of other Under and Otherworldly beings. The Sidhe-dwellers were considered by the Celts to be the rulers of Samhain and of the other spirits at large at Samhain. The costume aspect of Halloween/Samhain might possibly come from the custom of "Ritual Disguise." Only those in disguise would dare venture out this night, their disguise designed to confuse the sidhe dwelling faeries, who along with the revered, but sometimes feared, ancestors, were abroad on this night when the veils between the worlds were so thin as to allow easy passage between them.  A Samhain feast was held with special foods and the hearth was prepared for the visit of the Ancestors. Food was left out to propitiate the spirits. In some parts of the Celtic world a place was set for them at the family table. Samhain is a night to honor the ancestors, and the Tuatha de Danaan, and the dwellers in the sidhe, who may, after all, be one and the same. **

The Dark Goddess

In addition to God who leads the Wild Hunt, the Crone Goddess - known also as the Hag or Cailleach,  is also associated with the season of winter now beginning, with its themes of death, repose, rest and wisdom. The Teutonic Goddess Holda was said to lead the Wild Hunt. The terrifying hag Cerridwen - the Welsh Goddess of the Death & Rebirth who was also a Goddess of Initiation & Transformation - shape-changed into many forms as she pursued Gwion Bach with intent to kill him for partaking of her Cauldron of Wisdom and Regeneration. When she, in her hen-shape found him - and he in the shape of a kernel of grain - she gobbled him up. But because she is Goddess of Death and Rebirth, nine months later she gave birth to him as a beautiful young babe of "Radiant Brow" (which is the literal meaning of "Taliesin," the name by which he was known after this "initiation"). He was so beautiful she hadn't the heart to kill him, the legend says, but instead set him adrift in a craneskin bag on Samhain (though some say Beltane). He was found by a King's son and rapidly grew into a man of great wisdom. This tale, which is really the tale of Gwion's initiation into the shamanic mysteries of the Goddess, is yet another illustration of "from the night comes the day, from the dark comes the light, from death comes life." Many pagan spiritual traditions honor the Dark Goddess - the Cailleach, the Wise One of death, destruction, purification and regeneration - on this day.

The Ancestors

During this season when the veils between the worlds are at their very thinnest, the Mighty Dead and the revered, beloved ancestors were honored and made welcome.  The Mighty Dead refers to the more heroic and important members of our tribes and families who have passed on into the Otherworld - the Land Beyond Death.  The Ancestors were, and are, ceremonially invited to come back to Mid-Earth, to warm themselves at the family's hearthfire, to partake of the family's Samhain supper, and partake also  in the night's festivities.  A candle was sometimes set in a window to guide them home, and offerings of food were left out for them, with the hope, perhaps, that this would make them feel welcomed. These food offerings left out for the ancestral spirits also served to appease the less friendly spirits who might likewise be abroad on this night.

In many cultures, the ancestors are said to live in the hearthfires, which customarily are extinguished and ceremonially relit on this occasion of year's end and winter's beginning.  We honor our ancestors, but also, we honor our descendants, although we will never know most of them.  We are their ancestors.  And perhaps they are, in some future time, sitting in front of a Samhain fire..........commemorating us.