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Pagan Holidays - Samhain, Halloween, October 31

Celebrating November Eve
Many Wiccans and other neo-pagans ring in their new year on November Eve also known as Samhain (pronounced sow-en or sah-wen) on October 31st. Alternative dates include the time of the first frost or the exact cross-quarter date which is the time that is midway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice.
This holiday was one of the four fire festivals celebrated in Celtic lands and marks the end of the harvest when the earth enters a time of rest and darkness.
It is possible that the word Samhain is derived from two words, samh meaning summer and fuin meaning end, but scholars still debate the origin of the word. Source.
In Celtic cosmology, the dark precedes the light. The start of the day was not in the morning but after sunset. Winter was considered the dark half of the year. (Rees, see sources) Thus, the beginning of darkness at this time is why some neo-pagans celebrate Samhain as the start of the new year. On a deeper level, the primordial chaos before creation and the dark womb of the mother ushering in a newborn life help us better understand why darkness is feared but also respected.
Do you celebrate Samhain?
Feasts of the Dead
This is one time of year when the veil between the otherworld and our world is thought to be thin. All manner of spirits including fairy folk and the souls of ancestors were believed to walk about unhindered by the boundaries of space and time.
Families would leave a plate of food outdoors to appease these spirits. Hearth fires were lit from the community bonfires and divination was used to gain knowledge of such things as the harshness of the upcoming winter, marriages, births and deaths.
The mischief making that happened on this night such as cross dressing and spooking neighbors by pretending to be their dead relatives may have been a precursor to our modern trick or treat tradition.
A plate of food as mentioned above would be one way to avert an unhappy occurrence or trick happening to the inhabitants of the house. This has become our Feast of the Dead and can be as simple as an offering plate or a full-blown ritual to honor our ancestors.

Between the Worlds
Like the other Pagan festivals, this one too was hard to squelch, and All Hallows Eve, a Catholic feast, was moved to November to coincide with the Pagan holiday.
This Christian holiday marks the eve of All Saints Day when the souls of all saints known and unknown are honored. Its popular secular counterpart has come to be called Halloween shortened from Hallows evening or Hallowe'en.
Witches, goblins, vampires and ghouls are just a few of the things we associate with Halloween. This traces back to the belief that the dead walk among us this night.
The witches' cauldron, while prevalent as a plastic lawn decoration for the secular holiday, is a powerful symbol of death and rebirth for Pagans. It is also used as one of the tools for divination as a scrying bowl. Since the astral veil is thin now, psychic ability is believed to be enhanced.
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H. P. Lovecraft
Neither Good nor Evil
Of course, the popular holiday holds as much fascination for Pagans as does the more spiritual one. While some of us dislike the commercial monster Halloween is becoming, others revel in its acceptance by the mainstream. It's an excellent opportunity to not only dispel myths about its assumed evil origins but also to act like a kid and eats lots of candy.
Halloween's macabre overtone is the main reason for the association it has with evil. It can be argued that if the veil is thin there is no reason to believe only good spirits walk the earth. Pagans, at least those who are honest, don't deny this possibility. Why would we? Darkness is the counterpart of light, and we think that's a good thing. While one may feel more of an affinity to either darkness or light, we don't worship one or the other.
Hekate - Dark Goddess

Ways to Celebrate
Samhain can be celebrated any way you wish. It is no longer just a Celtic phenomenon. Dark deities from all pantheons are given their just respect at this time. They are those chthonic underworld forces that remind us of the instability of both dark and light requiring a balance between the two.
A spirit plate can be left out for the fair folk and/or the ancestors with a prayer offering of praise or petition. Meditate and use divination for issues most important to you or as a guidepost for the new year. Most of all, remember that darkness is not always to be feared but respected as the partner of the light. And Happy New Year to you and yours!
Samhain Around the World
Examples of Samhain Rituals
- Silent Supper
The Silent SupperEditor's note: This essay originally appeared in The Wiccan-Pagan Times, and was written in response to the September Eleventh tragedies. Some references to this event remain, but the article has been edited to include more general i - Internet Book of Shadows: Samhain (United Wiccan Church)
Internet Book of Shadows, at sacred-texts.com. Collection copyright � 2003-2008, Internet Sacred Text Archive. - Samhain Sabbat Solitary Ritual Guide - WiccanWay.com Online Store
Celebrate the Samhain (Halloween) Sabbat with this Samhain Sabbat Solitary Ritual Guide, available for free from the WiccanWay.com Online Store - Samhain - ADF Neopagan Druidism
A Samhain rite from the ADF. Neopagan Druids - ADF is an international organization devoted to creating a public tradition of Neopagan Druidry. - Samhain Chronicle of Free Public Halloween Witch Rituals | Coven Oldenwilde's Wiccan Website: Witche
Coven Oldenwilde a Traditional Wiccan CovenWitchcraft spirituality, metaphysics, lessons, spells, counseling,and much more. - Samhain Ritual from Obsidian Magazine
Ritual celebrating Samhain and honoring the ancestors. - Dieses Rituals (Norse Winters Nights) - ADF Neopagan Druidism
Ritual honoring the Disir, the female ancestors.
A Samhain Chant
"Fire red, summer's dead.
Yet is shall return.
Clear and bright, in the night,
Burn, fire, burn!
Dance the ring, luck to bring,
When the year's a-turning.
Chant the rhyme at Hallows-time,
When the fire's burning.
Fire glow, vision show
Of the heart's desire,
When the spell's chanted well
Of the witching fire."
~ Excerpted from a Halloween chant by Doreen Valiente in Witchcraft for Tomorrow
Holiday Music
Samhain Recipes
- Samhain Recipes
Samhain Recipes from Star Fire Circle. - Samhain Recipes - Greenhaven: A Pagan Tradition
Greenhaven: A Pagan Tradition recipes for Samhain. - Soul Cakes and Other Traditional Samhain Recipes
Ye Olde Witches Brew Magazine captures the vintage beauty of the Wiccan/Pagan Traditions relevant to our modern world - Samhain Recipes
Recipes from Coven of the Myst.
Sources consulted
Farrar, Janet and Stewart Farrar. A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook. Phoenix Publishing Inc., 1981.
Kondratiev, Alexei. Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal. 1997. Accessed 2008.
Rees, Alwynn and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales. Thames and Hudson, 1961.
© 2009 PatriciaJoy
Let us know how you celebrate.
Samhain is such a wonderful time as the New Year starts, I have my favourite ritual every year yet i am intrigued by some of the ones on here and may later make an adaption to mine, I feel the only limitation of being solitary is that I don't benefit from the combined thoughts of those in a coven but I also get to do things my way and take on influences from those i want to.
This is such a wonderful page, well written as the explanations are simple and effective. I enjoyed the music as I have not heard of most of them and will be listening to more from them.
I hope today is special for you. Blessed be
Like you said, death does not equal evil. Everyone is going to die at some point. Probably since people don't want to die they associate it with evil. 5*