The Celebration of Samhain

Samhain or Sam Hain is a pagan celebration for the harvest in the fall. It also represents the Celtic New Year. Samhain is the Celtic-Gaelic word meaning summers-end. Contrary to popular belief, it is not about worshipping the devil, cooking up potions in a cauldron or sacrificing people to the gods. Samhain probably got a bad rap from the Catholics in the 600's when they were trying to convert non-believers to the Christian faith. During this time, All Saints Day was moved from May 13 to November 1. It is also important to note that in this time period a day began in the evening, which in this case was October 31.

A typical Samhain celebration began in the center of a village. Two bonfires were lit across from each other. The bones of slaughtered animals and items from local crops were thrown onto the fire as sacrifices to the gods. This was done in the hope that they would have bountiful crops the following year.

People also dressed up in animal skins and wore animal masks at these celebrations. They did this to confuse bad spirits that were believed to be wandering around the day of this celebration. The day of the celebration was important to the pagans; it was the one day of the year that both the dead and the living could exist on the same plane. Villagers would also leave out items from the harvest on the doorsteps to apease the good spirits that were walking about.

Other things that would happen at the festivals included singing, dancing and fortune telling. At the end of the celebration people would take a stick from the bonfire and go home and light their own hearth fires with it. This was supposed to bring good luck during the winter months.

Sam Hain underwent some changes when the Celts were under Roman rule for 400 years. Two Roman holidays were melded with Sam Hain. The first holiday was that of Feralia. During this celebration, which began on February 21, people honored the dead. The temples were closed during the festival so no religious ceremonies were performed at this time. At the closing of this festival, offerings were made on the graves of the deceased, such as small gifts and food and a feast was held afterwards.

The second celebration was that of Pomona. Pomona is the goddess of orchards, fruit trees and gardens. The practice of bobbing for apples or apple-dookin' may have evolved from this particular celebration.

Hallow comes from the Roman word meaning "sanctified." When Pope Boniface IV changed the date of All Saints Day to November 1, the name of this celebration began to change as well. The term Hallomas was used to describe All Saints Day, Eve of All Saints and All Souls Day. All Hallows meant the celebration of the sanctified celebrations. Sam Hain, at this point, was being effectively edged out in favor of the Christian celebrations.

Trick or treating is the modern day version of mumming. Mumming was the Celtic practice of dressing up in costumes that represented the dead. This included dressing as witches, demons, devils, fairies and performing in order to receive food or money from others. This perhaps explains why certain scary costumes are still popular today.

The following are somel rituals or customs that are associated with the celebration of Sam Hain:

Souling - when people tried communicate with the spirits of their ancestors. Carving vegetables - in modern day is represented by the carving of pumpkins

Honoring the dead at the table - an empty chair and a plate of food was set at the table on Samhain

Silence at midnight - a minute of silence was observed at the stroke of midnight in honor of the dead

Tossing stones into the fire - a personal mark was made on a stone and then it was tossed into the fire. If the stone was broken or could not be found, bad luck would be had throughout the year

Soul cakes - also known as barnbrack, were cakes made and eaten by the living on Samhain. Certain charms were baked into the cake which could be lucky or unlucky. A ring meant marriage, a coin for money, a wishbone for wishes coming true or a pea for poverty.