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TWV Presents... Popular Pagan Holidays [Show all] Views: 5,246,563 Holiday: ... Autumn: The Croning Time The Hidden God: an Observance of Samhain Samhain: A Time for Introspection---and Activism Samhain Cleaning: Remembering But Letting Go It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chri... Yuletide! The Holly King Presents Christmas's Pagan Origins The Dark Half of the Year La Befana The Path to Avalon: An Inner Journey for Samhain The Halloween Witch: Sense of Humor or Sense of Ire The Holiday Season, The Constitution and What's REALLY Important What Is A Real Witch's Sabbat? A Beltane Celebration The Beltaine Storm Spiritual Aspects of Yule Alicia Meets Grandmother Autumn: A Children’s Story Supermoms’ and Superdads’ Defense Against “Holiday Kryptonite” Lughnasadh, The Ritual Winter Solstice By Any Other Name Mabon: Preparing the Celebration For A Religion So Opposed to Paganism, You Sure Stole a Lot of Our Stuff! Mabon and the Coming of Autumn A Story For Autumn The Ostara Transformation Key Points of the Pagan Wheel of the Year The Babylonian Ghost Festival A Meditation on Samhain: How Lucky You Are. Let Slip The Past, Free The Now: The Alchemy of Samhaine The Theme of Mabon Samhain: The Ritual Samhain: Learning to Release Samhain November Days The Celtic Origins of Samhain Ostara: Enter the Light! Mabon Equinox. Circa September 21st August: Celebrating The Harvest Honor The Father, Honor the Sun: A Summer Solstice Tribute Those Magickal, Mellow Days of Summer Musings On October Solstice Swim at Beach 69, Puako, Hawaii The Best Thing About Death Samhain is Ablaze with Reflections of My Father Connection To The Dead: The Meaning Of The Fall Season Holiday: All ... A New Pattern Glimpsed in the Holidays We Want them Back! (A Pagan View of the Holidays) A Beginner's Guide To The 8 Sabbats How to Get the Most Out of Your Year The Wheel of the Year: Round and Round She Goes and Where She Stops! Turning The Wheel By Choice Holiday: beltaine ... INDEX: Beltane Beltane -- Holiday Details and History You Call it May Day, We Call it Beltane In Praise of Pagan Men Beltane -- Enlightening Links Beltane Essay (4) Beltaine - Our May Morn Beltane: Return To Feeling Mother Earth and Sister Moon: A Beltaine Story of Creation Holiday: imbolc ... INDEX: Imbolc You Call It Groundhog Day, We Call It Imbolc Imbolc Regained: The Tale of Valentine's Day Holiday: lughnasadh ... INDEX: Lughnasadh Lughnasadh - Overview by Christina Holiday: mabon ... INDEX: Mabon/Autumn Equinox Mabon - Overview by Christina Mabon and the Harvest in Modern Times You Call it the Autumnal Equinox, We Call it Mabon You Call it the Autumn Equinox, We Call it Mabon The Return of Harvest Home Holiday: midsummer ... INDEX: Midsummer/Summer Solstice Midsummer/Summer Solstice Solstice... Season of light and dark A Pagan Pilgrimage: The Destination in the Journey Holiday: ostara ... You Call It Easter, We Call It Ostara INDEX: Ostara Ostara - Overview by Christina Ostara - Powerful Links by Christina Why did the Bunny color and hide the eggs? Holiday: Ostara ... Oestara’s Ever-Present Communion and Gift of Joy NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.

Article Specs Article ID: 2203 VoxAcct: 5 Section: holidays Age Group: Adult Days Up: 755 Times Read: 210,312 RSS Views: 45,245 A Brief History of Hallowe'en Author: Christina Aubin [a WitchVox Sponsor] Posted: October 28th. 2007 Times Viewed: 210,312 The Celtic peoples called the time between Samhain (pronounced "SOW-in" in Ireland, SOW-een in Wales, "SAV-en" in Scotland or even "SAM-haine" in non Gaelic speaking countries) and Brigid's Day "the period of little sun." Thus, Samhain is often named the "Last Harvest" or "Summer's End". While almost all Celtic based traditions recognize this Holiday as the end of the "old" year, some groups do not celebrate the coming of the "new year" until Yule. Some consider the time between Samhain and Yule as a time which does not even exist on the Earthly plane. The "time which is no time" was considered in the "old days" to be both very magickal and very dangerous. So even today, we celebrate this Holiday with a mixture of joyous celebration and 'spine tingling" reverence. The Samhain Holiday begins at sundown on October 31st. The nightide was always a time to be wary of walking alone in the countryside. So much more on this Night when the veils between the worlds of humans and spirits was at its thinnest. Traditional lore speaks of the dead returning to visit their kin and the doors to the Lands of the Sidhe (pronounced "shee") or Faery Realm being opened. "The Feast of the Dead" ("Fleadh nan Mairbh") is laid out by many to welcome these otherworldly visitors and gain their favor for the coming year. Many folks leave milk and cakes ("Bannock Samhain" ) outside their door on Samhain Eve or set a place at their table for their ancestors who may want to join in the celebrations with their kin and family. Some Witches use a chant at the beginning of the Feast to welcome their ancestors. One of these, for example goes like this: And so it is, we gather again, The feast of our dead to begin. Our Ancients, our Ancestors we invite, Come! And follow the setting of the sun. Whom do we call? We call them by name (Name your ancestor that you wish want to welcome.) The Ancients have come! Here with us stand Where ever the country, where ever the land They leave us not, to travel alone; Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone! Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Great be their Power! Past ones and present-at this very hour! Welcome within are the dead who are kin, Feast here with us and rest here within Our hearth is your hearth and welcome to thee; Old tales to tell and new visions to see! It is also customary to light a new candle for the "new year". This ritual harkens back to the days when Samhain was one of only two days- the other being Beltaine-when it was considered correct to extinguish the "hearth fire" and then to re-light it. If your fire failed at any other time of the year, it was thought to be very bad luck indeed. Upon the rekindling of the fire in the morning, this blessing was often said: We Call Upon The Sacred Three: To Save... To Shield... To Surround The Hearth... The House... The Household This Night, Each Night, Every Night.! Many Witches of the Old Ways, actually celebrate "two" Samhains or Halloweens (Yes, some older traditions DO use the term "halloween"!) . The "Old" date for Samhain occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio. (As a side note, the Catholic Church has "borrowed" this same day to celebrate the holiday of "Martinmas".) So if you follow this Way, you can always celebrate the "party aspect" with your friends on one date and the "worship" part with your kin on the other. If you are interested in learning more about Samhain traditions and customs, you can read Peg Aloi's article entitled "You Call It Hallowe'en... We Call It Samhain" ABOUT... Christina Aubin Location: North Shore, Florida Other Articles: Christina Aubin has posted 26 additional articles- View them? Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE Email Christina Aubin... (No, I have NOT opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please do NOT send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.) To send a private message to Christina Aubin ... 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