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SAMHAIN (Pro; “SOW-en”, or “SOH-en”) Samhain is the beginning of the ancient Celtic liturgical year, and is the Festival of the Dead. At Samhain we honor the Spirit world, the spirits of our Ancestors and deceased loved ones, as well as our Spirit Guides. At this time we reflect upon our own physical mortality and the nature of change and transformation in the cycle of Life and Death. Samhain is the festival of the end of the Harvest and the beginning of Winter (by traditional reckoning). The word Samhain is GAELIC and means “Summer’s End.” Samhain is pronounced “SOW-en” in Ireland, and “SOH-en” or “SAH-en” in Scotland. Samhain is traditionally celebrated on NOVEMBER 1. By ancient reckoning the day begins at sundown, which is why the Samhain celebrations begin on October 31. The night time portion of the festival is properly called the OICHE SHAMNA, or Vigil of Samhain. Oiche Shamna is pronounced “uh-EEK-uh HOW-nuh.” Samhain is also called Hallows or Hallowmas, and the Oiche Shamna is also called Hallowe’en. The word Hallow means “Spirit” -literally “Holy One.”
Samhain is a Lunar or Grand Sabbat, and is sacred to the Crone Goddess, from whom the image of the “Hallowe’en witch” descends. The Crone has many names, including Hekate, Morgan, and Cerridwen. She is depicted as an elderly woman, and is Patron of magic and of the Spirit World. The Crone is the Goddess of the dead, of wisdom, and of the ultimate Spiritual origin of all things.
In the Vangelo Delle Streghe the Crone is equivalent to Primeval Deity, Goddess before the first creation.
At Samhain the Psychic Tide is at a high point, and it is a good time for all sorts of magic, divination, and inner workings. Traditionally Wiccans consider Samhain the most sacred of all festivals.
- excerpted from the First Degree Course of the Correllian Nativist Tradition of Wicca as administered on Witchschool.com |
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