Samhain - 31st October to 1st of November

Samhain is the Gaelic Irish word which means "November", in the Scottish Gaelic is means "all hallows", were the "all hallows eve" has drifted, and later it came to be the Halloween that everyone knows about.

This is the time which is belived that the dead spirits and all the ancestors can come to this world again, visiting us, passing through a tiny gap that is open, a door between this world and the world of the dead. The living can also travel there and be in contact with not only their ancestors, but also the gods and other spiritual beings. This is also a time, when many spiritual beings come into this world, to "hunt" for souls of those who are lost, or to those who have been chosen to take their part in this "hunt".

Also this is a time to celebrate the last harvest of the year for the Celtic peoples of Europe, making great feasts and sharing their food with the communities and with the dead, making offerings of wine, meat, milk wheat and other farm food. This food would also go into the ground or the people would put it in the forest, as a gift to the gods of the wilds, of nature and also to help the animals storing food for the coming winter.

This celebration spread throughout the world, and today most people celebrate Halloween, although, most people dont know the origins of this time and why people dress themselves with horrific costumes, but this is because the Celts would wear masks, with the aim of not being recognized by the spirits of the dead, in fear to be taken to live in their world, but also because in this way, both sides, the living and the dead, would wear masks, and no one would know who the spirits and the living were, in this way, everyone could enjoy this time and the feasts of the last harvest of the year, for a new year was coming, winter was the symbol of the end of that great year of harvests, a trial to every living creature.

Samhain was and still is a time to honor our ancestors, to remember them, getting the family together and share the food, tell old tales, remembering the ancestors by their deeds, their actions, and be inspired by what they were.

Note: If you want to know more about the Masks used in this time and why and their origins, you should check the post of 28 of October 2012 called " Spirit Masks in the European Paganism.