Happy Samhain!

[Father Bill]

...and a happy Samhain

All Saint's Day and ...Samhain - Oct. 31 / Nov. 1

The church has historically been one of the very best adaptive organizations, adopting and moulding festivals that pre-existed us.

What we now call Hallowe'en was once the first Celtic fire festival of the year. The Irish name for the holiday is Samhain (sow-een or sow'-inn), which refers to the whole month of November. Samhain comes from the old Gaelic "samhraidhreadh" meaning "summer's end".

A sort of Celtic New Year’s Eve, the old pagan fire festival marked the beginning of the dark half of the year. It was a harvest festival as well as a signal to begin preparations for the winter -- the season of death.

Like the Mexican Día de Muertos, this holiday would include (and for many modern Pagans still does include) feasting and rituals to honor dead ancestors and loved ones -- the Fleadh nan Mairbh. Ceremonies involved fire, lights and setting out food and gifts for passing spirits. Some spirits were friendly and could bring good luck, while others were evil or mischievous.

This was the root of the masking tradition we now know as trick-or-treating. After conversion to Christianity, most of these folk customs were still enjoyed though different meanings might be assigned to some of the elements.

All Saints Day, the day after Samhain, was the primary Christian response to the pagan festivities. It is a time for prayer and worship dedicated to the dead in general, not merely canonized Saints, as one might expect.