The leaves are changing, and the veil is thinning. Spirits good and evil come through to the land of the living, roam the streets and maybe stop by and pay you a visit. It’s SPOOKY SEASON! By far my favorite time of year! The weather is perfect (at least here in Colorado), the chill in the air brings forth warm drinks, warm soups, and warm hoodies. A time to celebrate Halloween and a time to embrace Samhain.
What is Samhain?
Samhain (sow-win) is a Pagan celebration that can be celebrated October 31, or on the full moon closest to the 31st. The name Samhain is Gelic, meaning summers end. This celebration is one of the most important of the four fire festivals. It lies halfway between an equinox (Autumn Equinox/ Mabon) and a solstice (Winter Solstice/ Yule).
Pagans celebrate life and death during this celebration. By respecting the dead, you can respect life more. Celebrating all those who came before you that allowed you to be here today.
Halloween goes along with Samhain as well as peanut butter and jelly. Halloween got a lot of its traditions from Samhain, although it has changed up a little bit over time.
Samhain- Before it became Halloween
Before Halloween is what it is today, centuries ago Pagans celebrated Samhain. This was a time where livestock was brought back from the fields, the rest of the harvest was gathered, and everyone was preparing for the cold months ahead. If Samhain ended up falling on a Wednesday, farmers believed that they were in for a tough winter.
Gathering as a family and honor those who have departed from this plain is probably the most major part of this celebration. Samhain was also a time for marriages, November being a very popular wedding month. Many Samhain games had to do with marriage and predicting who may marry within the coming year. (more on these games in this post)
Fire Tradition
Families around the community would put out their hearth fires. Not one household fire was to be lit. Over where the community comes together, a bonfire was lit. From this fire, members of the community would light torches from this community fire and bring it home to relight their hearth fire. It was considered a sin to have your hearth fire lit by anything else. The Druids would do this ritual, lighting the community fire with a wheel and spindle, the wheel representing the sun. The Welsh believed that these fires would protect their homes and farms from witchcraft and evil.
In Welsh communities, once the fires had burned out, members of the community would gather around the ashes to conduct a ritual. This ritual was called Tinley. Each person would place a stone in the ashes forming a circle. If someone’s stone happened to move from the circle, it is believed that, that person has been claimed by the Fey and therefore they would die within the next year.
They also lit torches and jack-o-lanterns (we will go over further in the post), lining the walkways of their home. They believed that this would keep witches away from their homes and farms. But this was not the only purpose for these lit torches. These torches also lit the way for ancestors who have passed on, giving them a path to find their loved one’s home.
The Irish would put out their hearth fires for Samhain. Instead of relighting the hearth, they would go through the rest of the night using only homemade candles. Women would make them and pray over them before giving them to neighbors.
Dumb Supper
Samhain, like any of the Pagan festivals, is a time for feasting. This feast however is not like the other feasts during this time. The Samhain feast is called a dumb supper. Yes, you read that right, a dumb supper. This feast is one for the living but is also a feast for the dead.
Once the food is prepared and ready for everyone to sit down, first plates of food were made up and served to the family’s ancestors (a separate table or on top of a buffet would work). Now that the ancestors have received their food, the family can now sit down to enjoy their food. However, during a dumb supper everyone is to remain quiet. The only time there is talking is before the meal when ancestors are verbally invited to sit down and dine with the family and after the meal is over when ancestors are thanked and asked to leave now that the dinner is over. Now, not everyone follows the complete silence rule, but if there is talking, it is spoken in very muted tones.
After the meal has finished, kids would gather and play games while the adults gathered to talk about what has happened over the year.
Offerings
Many food offerings were given during this time as well. Food was left at the edge of the villages as offerings to any wandering spirits that may be passing through or any faery folk that may be nearby. Sacrifices were also made, sometimes being a black sheep or sow. The sow once symbolized the goddess Cerridwen, the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration.
The Irish would leave out cakes for any wandering spirits. Any mortal that eats one of these cake offerings would become a “hungry ghost” in the afterlife.
Jack-o-Lantern
The jack-o-lantern was not always the big fat orange pumpkins we commonly use today. In fact, pumpkins were not used until Halloween was brought over to the United States. Pumpkins were not common over in Europe during this time. However, they were abundant over here in the US.
Before pumpkins people would carve turnips. These turnips were hallowed out (supposedly harder to do than a pumpkin) and a candle or a smoldering piece of coal was placed inside. String was wrapped around the turnip to allow for it to be carried or hanged.
There is a Celtic-Christian legend based around the name jack-o-lantern. Legend goes that a blacksmith by the name of Jack was so incredibly evil that neither heaven nor hell would accept his soul. With no-where else to go, Jack found himself wandering the dark emptiness that is purgatory with only a carved turnip for light. Insidious anyone? During Halloween when the veil is thin, he leaves purgatory and roams the streets of the living with his turnip lantern lighting the way.
Samhain Fun and Games
Believe it or not, there are many games that we still play today. Some have been changed up a little bit, you know, for safety reasons. I don’t know about you, but I love that some traditions never die.
Trick-or-Treating
Tricks
Tricks in during trick-or-treating has always been a thing. During this time of year pranks would be played. Some would play pranks on those who they did not like or who were not popular within the community. Others would play pranks and blame it on the fey (well that’s rude). Some popular pranks included:
- The removal of doors. Taken completely off their hinges.
- The removal of fencing around someone’s property.
In Scotland they celebrate “cabbage night” which takes place October 30. This was a night where people would throw cabbages at the homes of people they did not care much for (hopefully it didn’t get too hot the next day, the smell! Bleh!).
Treats
Trick-or-treating has been around since the 16th century; however, candy was not something that was passed out. Instead, children would go door-to-door singing songs and pray for the souls of the dead. In exchange, the children would be given soul cakes which is a small, round sweet cake.
In France children collected flowers from neighbors. Each home giving one flower. These flowers were placed at loved one’s gravesite the following day.
In the 1950’s Halloween became more of holiday for children. Offering sweets and candy to prevent kids from getting into mischief. This then changed again in the 70’s to a holiday for everyone. Which is the way it should be. I don’t know about you, but if a teenage, adult or elderly person came trick-or-treating to my house, I will be giving them a treat as well. Share the joy of this holiday with everyone!
Costumes
Costumes began with the Celts and the Druids. They were worn to confuse “bad creatures” such as fey or evil spirits that may have crossed the veil. People dressed up as animals or other types of creatures in the belief that it would prevent them from being taken by the fey. The fey sure get a bad rep during this time.
In the 1930’s costume went more commercialized changing from ghosts and ghouls to Mickey Mouse. The witch costume managed to stick around though. And still continues to be a popular choice today.
Divination Games
Are you ready for the fun games?! Many of these games involve the ever so popular fall fruit, the apple. Some of these games are still played to this day. How many have you played?
GAME 1:
Snap apple- a Druid game where an apple was tied to one end of the string and a candle to the other. The string was thrown up and over a rafter and the candle was then lit. All of those who played the game would have to try and catch the apple in their mouth without getting burned. The winner of this game was said to have a very successful marriage in the coming year. If you choose to try this game, please do not use a lit candle. Go without the candle and play like its tetherball instead.
GAME 2:
Do you want to know the first letter of your soul mate? All you need for this game is an apple and a knife or peeler. Start peeling the apple from the top and all the way down to the bottom. Once you have peeled the apple, take that peel and throw it over your shoulder. The peel should reveal the first letter of your soulmate. If the peel of the apple stayed intact through the peeling process, it meant that the player would be married at the end of the year. Now if the peel broke then the player would go another year without being wed.
GAME 3:
Wish to predict the future? All you need for this one is an apple and a way of cutting the apple. Simply cut the apple in half and count the seeds. That’s it! Super easy!
- 2 Seeds- early marriage
- 3 Seeds- wealth
- 4 Seeds- travel
- 5 Seeds- good health
- 6 Seeds- wisdom
- 7 Seeds- granted wish
GAME 4:
Here is a wish game using two apple seeds. Take your apple seeds and place one on each eye. Now make two wishes, each seed representing a wish. Sit or lay still until one of the seeds fall. This is the wish that is said to come true.
GAME 5:
Here is a multiplayer game. Each person hangs an apple from a string over a fire. The first string to break means that person is next to marry and goes down the line. However, if your apple is the last to fall, you may never wed.
GAME 6:
Would you want to know how your marriage is going to play out? Personally, I don’t think I would. But if you do, here you go. Throw two nuts into a fire. Hazelnuts recommended. If the two nuts burn together, you have a happy marriage. If the two nuts bounce away from each other, be prepared for arguments, and if the two refuse to ignite from the flames, your marriage is and will not be a happy one.
GAME 7:
On Halloween, women would sit in front of their vanity mirror, where they would proceed in eating an apple or brushing their hair. It is said that she would see her future husband over her left shoulder in the mirror. Sounds like a scene out of a Disney movie. Have you attempted to scry in a mirror?
GAME 8:
Here is one that has less apples and more eggs. Take an egg and poke a small hole into the shell. Let the egg white drip out of the shell and into a glass of water. What kind of shapes do you see in the swirls of egg white? Use this information to see what the future may have in store for you.
Have you tried any of these games? I can’t say that I tried catching an apple on a string, but I have bobbed for apples. When I was eleven or twelve years old, I remember seeing the apple peel game being done on an episode of Charmed. You best believe I tried it out with my best friend. The letter I got was a “B”. At this time, I was so thrilled because my crush at this time, his name began with a B. Spoiler alert! I did not get married at such a young age and nothing ever became of me and my past crush. But let’s fast forward to present time where I have been so lucky to find such an incredible man. And guess what? His name starts with a B. I don’t see wedding bells happening, but that’s ok. We are fine just being together.
Modern Samhain Activities
Now that we have delved into how games were played over the centuries, how can we celebrate Samhain today? Samhain evolved into something more than it was. Society has added new chills and thrills that has all of us anxiously waiting for this time of year to roll around again.
- honor the dead
- have a dumb supper
- meditate and reflect on the year
- build an ancestor altar
- trick-or-treating
- pumpkin carving
- divination
- try old divination games listed above (please do not use a lit candle while trying to catch an apple with your mouth)
- haunted houses
- decorate for Halloween
- drive to see leaves changing
- hayride
- corn mazes
- make your costume
- story telling (scary stories or share stories of passed loved ones)
- bob for apples
- bake/ cook
- grave rubbings (using a piece of paper and a crayon, place the paper over a headstone and gently rub the crayon over the paper.)
- decorate your altar
- go to a pumpkin patch
- try a Ouija board (with caution)
- light your pathways for your passed loved ones
- Halloween parties (personal and community)
- make candles
- leave out milk and honey offerings for the faeries
- Halloween crafts
- invoke deities that symbolize death (Morrighan, Hades, Persephone, Hecate)
- have a seance
- do tarot readings
- go to an apple orchard
- send prayers to the deceased
- bonfire (if allowed)
- visit cemeteries
- craft fortune tellers, also known as “cootie catchers” (remember those paper fortune tellers you made in school?)
- connect with dark gods/goddesses through meditation to hear whatever wisdom they wish to share with you
- witches’ ball
- masquerade ball
- costume parties
- horror movie marathons (my favorite!)
Correspondences
Names: Halloween, Hallowmas, Allhallows Eve, Third Harvest, Sauin, Calan Gwaf,
Colors: Orange, Black, Brown, Yellow
Herbs: Mugwort, Rosemary, Garlic, Sage, Myrrh, Yarrow, Wormwood
Flowers: Chrysanthemum, Calendula, Marigold
Trees: Cedar, Hazel, Hemlock
Magical Focus: Healing, Love, Grief, Preparation, Protection, Divination
Spiritual Focus: Ancestry, Beginnings, Ends, Wisdom, Rest, Preservation, Death, Reincarnation, Faeries
Animals: Owl, Raven, Black Cats, Crows, Spiders, Bats
Crystals: Carnelian, Jet, Obsidian, Moonstone, Onyx
Incense: Cinnamon, Myrrh, Clove
Food/Drink: Apples, Nuts, Fermented Foods, Pumpkin EVERYTHING, Apple Cider
Symbols: Besom, Cauldron, Masks, Bats, Spiders, Black Cats, Pumpkins, Ghosts, Witches, Faeries, Skulls/Bones
Deities: Hel, Pluto, Hecate, Kali Ma, Persephone, Hades, Isis, Osiris, Lilith, Demeter, Ishtar, Rhiannon, The Horned God
Sources
Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials- Samhain Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Halloween