Samhain

by Rain Trueax

Stores are decorated for a holiday that is a favorite of many people-- Halloween. Some decorate their homes in ghosts and scary objects. Many carve pumpkins to put a candle inside when the night arrives and scary creatures go door to door asking for offerings-- trick or treat. My dad talked about putting Model-T's on roofs as part of the trick end-- an excuse for young hooligans to run around causing mild chaos-- all in fun. The tradition from which this holiday arose goes way back to something only Pagans today may know.

October 31st is the beginning of a new season in the Celtic calendar. Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is in a season of change-- the time of shift between light to dark. It is believed that it is also when we are closest to the other side-- the barriers, between us and what is over there, break down.

This festival is older than Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, which they came out of it, as Christianity did with many pagan traditions.  The ancient Celtic celebrations, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain, all relate to seasonal changes more than religious ones. They are about a connection to ancient traditions as well as to earth.

This is the season where the harvest has been gathered-- at one time critical to survive the winters. As a way of recognizing its importance, the hearth fires would be allowed to go out. The people would gather with their Druid priests, who began a new fire. They would bring that back to their home to relight their own from the community flame.

Ancient Celts marked Samhain as the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals, taking place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. The Celts, from where this comes, did believe you could reach the other side but especially during Samhain.

As protection from the other side, offerings were left out for the fairies and for protection from monsters. A shape-shifting creature, Pukah, was of particular concern. The people did not want to be kidnapped and would dress as animals or monsters to fool the other side. Pukah can be spelled different ways. The being could look like animals or humans with ears and tails. They could be beneficial or threatening.

There were other beings to watch out for including a headless woman who chased those who were out at night. The Dullahan could appear as impish creatures or headless men on horses with flame for eyes. See one of those and the person would be soon to die. You know, in mythology, fairies aren't always kind. They can also be scary.

It's not difficult to see how Samhain morphed into All Souls Day and Halloween.

There is another culture that celebrates this season. It is called Day of the Dead, and I think it begins the 31st and ends November 2nd in contemporary Mexico and those of Mexican heritage in the US and around the world.  It is believed their Day of the Dead originated from Aztec celebrations possibly 3000 years ago.  For them, this is honoring the dead and goes back to pre-Columbian cultures. Today, it's a blend of Mesoamerican ritual and European religion in the Spanish culture. It mixes with the view that life is cyclical and death is an ever

present part of life.

 So, on the Day of the Dead, with the border down between spirit and 'real' world, the dead awaken and return to feast, drink, dance and play music with their loved ones. The 'living' family treat them as honored guests and leave favorite foods at the graves or on special altars in their homes. This is not to ward off evil. The celebration today is a mix of Spanish Catholic and native Aztec for beliefs and traditions. Those skulls and skeletons had been an important part of All Saints Day festivals in Medieval Europe. They had experienced so much death with the Black Death that decimated communities. No family was untouched in the 1300s. There was a constant reminder that we all must die one day. 

Put that together with Mexico and the Aztec culture who believed life on earth was an illusion-- death was a positive step toward a higher consciousness. For them, skulls were a positive symbol of both death and rebirth. 

To celebrate the Day of the Dead, some paint their faces to look like skeletons. You see this in art for sale in Mexican towns. This tradition has led to the charge of cultural appropriation when those doing it are not of Hispanic or Latino or Mexican heritage (not sure what the right word is today). 

The thing is when you look at how similar traditions for a certain season arise thousands of miles and many years apart-- from very different cultures, you have to ask why. Coincidence? Serendipity? Did one culture see what another was doing and rearranged it to suit its own? Or does it go beyond that to something in nature that claims it for its own?

Whatever the case, and whatever tradition you celebrate, it is a season of change and maybe, just maybe the barrier between us and what is over there is thinner and they can come through-- whoever they are.