This is such a wonderful time of year, I love it with the leaves falling, the orange tones and the celebrations in abundance.
October brings us Halloween and each year I receive many messages wishing me Happy Samhain. I am always grateful for these messages because I love all that comes with it, though personally I celebrate this time as Halloween, I am not Wiccan and although you don’t have to be Wiccan to celebrate Samhain, I personally associate it with being Wiccan or at least Druid.
Here are some fun facts about the Samhain celebration and you will notice that there are many similarities to Halloween.
· Samhain is celebrated from 31st October until 1st November.
· It is believed that during this time that the barrier between the spirit world and the physical world break down allowing for interactions between the two.
· Historically this emergence was celebrated at the end of the final harvest which would be commemorated by a High Priest creating a wheel of fire to symbolise the sun.
· Communities created hearth fires, said prayers and cattle were sacrificed during the celebrations.
· These celebrations were mandatory, with historical texts showing punishments should someone not participate, mainly punishment by the Gods to cause illness or death.
· This execution of punishment would come from local soldiers who would gather the unwilling participants in the days after and ensure the culprit’s demise.
· More positively, celebrations also included offerings to Fairies and ancestors from individual families within the communities.
· There were scary beings considered monsters by the communities too, such as Lady Gwyn, a headless woman accompanied by a black pig who was said to chase those who wander the night and shape shifting spirit Pukah would haunt the harvest fields.
· The Acallam na Senórach (Tales of the Elders of Ireland) text c.1200 tells of three werewolves emerging from the cave of Cruachan (an underworld portal) each Samhain and killing livestock.
· These days, such celebrations are seen through prayers and chanting in significant areas such as Stone Henge, where Druids can be seen each year celebrating this time.
But what is the difference between Halloween and Samhain?
· They are almost the same, they are both celebrating the opening of portals and those who have passed.
· It is clear that Halloween is more commercially recognised, but the traditions are fairly similar, such as dressing up, ritual celebrations and honouring’s taking place.
· The main difference is that Halloween is a fixed date on the calendar, whereas Samhain is based on natures cycle which marks the time around halfway between the Autumn and Winter Equinox.
And what is the difference between Wiccan, Druid and Gaelic?
· Wiccans tend to be closed circles or groups of people, much like witches’ covens whereas Druids are open.
· For example, when we see celebrations during Samhain at Stone Henge, these Druids will come together from all over to arrive around the same time.
· The Gaelic’s are groups from Ireland, Scotland and North-western Europe all using the Celtic language. Their traditions tend to be Pagan in nature and have evidence of documentation from the 1200’s but historical digs show these groups dating back further.
As you can tell from this blog post, not only are the celebrations similar but there are also many similarities with Pagan groups too, all ultimately focusing on the same traditions and ideologies, but in their own way.
I too follow many of these traditions and do describe myself as Pagan but am not connected to a particular group, instead I prefer to create my own path when it comes to my spiritual path and feel that its important that all of us discover what connects to you and what is right for you personally too.
I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween/ Samhain!
Much love and spookiness,
Martina x
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