For thousands of years, the ancient Celts
celebrated Halloween - or Samhain as it is truly
known, as one of the most important dates of the
Celtic faith.
Like us, the Celts divided the year into four
seasons: Samhain (winter), Imbolc (spring),
Beltane (summer), and Lughnasadh (autumn). But
their year began and ended on the first of
November due to the fact that they followed the
agricultural year which began and ended in
autumn when the crops had been harvested and the
soil prepared for the winter months.
In Gaelic, Samhain actually means 'summer's end'.
Samhain marked the Gaelic New Year, the turning of
the season from summer into winter - an important
time of preparation and gathering for people as
they got ready to face the harsher winter months
ahead.
For the Celts this last harvest of the year had a
deeply spiritual significance - the death of the
summer into winter continued the cycle of re-birth
that would eventually see the cycle of life begin
anew next year.
It was a time of reflection and celebration for
all those who had lived and died before and it was
widely believed that the barrier that separated
the world of the living from the realm of the dead
was at its thinnest at Samhain - hence the names
All Soul's Night or All Hallows Eve.
This was a time of celebration when the dead were
encouraged to return to the great feasts with the
living - in Ireland this was known as the Fleadh
nan Mairbh (Feast of the Dead) .
Offerings of food were also left outside homes for
any hungry spirits who happened to pass by, (this
is probably the beginning of trick-or-treat).
Communion with the dead was an important part of
the Celts' system of beliefs, but the rise of
Christianity and the growing power of the church
brought an increasing intolerance towards the old
ways.
Samhain was gradually vilified as the evil work of
dark witches and wizards - hence the now familiar
images of the hag racing across the sky on a
broomstick with a black cat in tow.
Divination - prediction or fortune telling -
was also popularly practiced at this strongly
magical time of year.
Entire villages would gather to make sacrifices
to their Goddess and God in the form of the bones
of slaughtered cattle they would ritually burn on
huge bonfires (or bone fires as they were known a
long time before Guy Fawkes took a trip to
Parliament).
Lanterns were carved out of turnips (or
pumpkins) to give light before the bonfires were
lit.
All households symbolically extinguished their
old fires, which were then re-lit with flames
carried in the lanterns from the bonfires as a
symbol of good luck and prosperity for the coming
year.
According to Irish mythology, the lanterns also
have a spiritual significance.
Because of the shimmering flames inside the
lanterns, it was supposed that the candles were
being touched by ghostly visitors - this is
probably how the tradition of carving frightening
faces on them came from, to welcome friendly
spirits and repel the malevolent ones.
Apples were also very important in the Celtic
tradition. There are literally hundreds of songs
and tales in all Celtic races of heroes crossing
the western sea on quests to find golden magical
apples which gave their finders wondrous powers -
to live without grief or sorrow, to have life
without death, without any sickness and without
weakness.
In Ireland the Other world land of Emhain
Abhlach, (the Isle of Apple Trees) and in Britain,
Avalon, were said to host these magical treasures
of the Goddess and Gods.
So the apple harvest at Samhain had great
importance, and bobbing for apples was the
traditional way of reliving those tales and
calling on potent apple magic as a blessing for
the new year.
ORIGINAL
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