Halloween

SAMHAIN

A YEAR ENDS, A YEAR BEGINS                        

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS ON OCTOBER 31 with Samhain, the witch’s New Year and the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. The word Samhain is Irish, meaning “summer’s end.” Samhain represents the third and final harvest of the year, where the remaining produce is stored to provide nourishment during the coming winter. In addition to the storing of winter provisions, Samhain had agricultural significance in other ways. In Ireland, it was the day on which pigs were killed and when cattle were moved from the mountains into protected pastures for the winter. The identification of Samhain with the beginning of the New Year comes from the Celtic tradition of each day beginning at sundown. Just as each sabbat festival begins on the eve of the celebrated day, so too does the year begin with the advent of winter. In addition to archaeology, early Irish accounts suggest that Samhain was also a festival when alcoholic beverages were consumed. (Page 1)

Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.

Exodus 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

By Many Names

Samuin, Samain, Sauin, All Hallow’s Eve, and Halloween are some of the other names for Samhain. In the New World, Samhain was Christianized and became All Soul’s Day or alternately, All Saint’s Day. It is also celebrated as Dia de los Meurtos inlands that were conquered by the Spanish. (Page 34)

Colossians

2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Practical Craft

CARVING A MAGICAL O’LANTERN

The original jack-o-lanterns were carved out of turnip and cabbages. The carving of pumpkins, gourds, and other fruits of the harvest season is still in wide practice today. Although this has survived as a secular tradition and is now part of the fun of the Halloween celebration, it can take on a much greater significance. (Page 28)

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Mark 7:6,9 [6]  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. [9] And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Deuteronomy 18:10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

Samhain is also the time when rituals were held to honor the dead. Benevolent spirits were beckoned and tempted with favorite foods that they enjoyed during life. Malevolent spirits were banished and kept away. The origin of the jack o’ lantern is rooted in the belief of wandering spirits and ghosts. The lanterns glow was meant for a beacon for the spirits of the dearly departed, while that terrible faces carved therein were meant to frighten away any spirit with ill intentions. (Page 4)

2 Kings 17:12, 17 [12] For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. [17]And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

On Samhain night, it is believed that the dead walk and that faerie cavort, causing both magic and mayhem. In Ireland a great bonfire was lit on the hill of Tlachtga, which was the funeral site for the progeny of Partholon, one of the first divinities of the land. Samhain is the time of the Cailleach, the crone who rules the winter season. Offerings and sacrifices were made in her honor. (Page 2)

Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

Galatians 5:19-21 [19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, [20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, [21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Leviticus 20:6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Ritual

REMEMBERING THE DEAD

Samhain was a traditional time for honoring the dead among the Celtics. Those who welcomed the departed spirits would set out a meal for them. Many considered the visiting dead friendly and welcomed their presence with respect and a noted absence of fear. (Page 23)

Matthew 22:32/ Luke 20:38 [32] I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Source: The Wiccan Year by Judy Ann Nock: Samhain

A book "The Wiccan Year" by Judy Ann Nock