Happy Samhain Everyone

Sam who? Yes, we know 31st October is traditionally celebrated as Hallowe'en these days. Particularly in the USA. This is turning into a hugely commercial event where everyone buys sweets for handing out at doorsteps as "Trick or Treat" gifts.

Well this just isn't right. In my dads youth they celebrated Hallowe'en, but not as a some commercial festival for corporate gain. It was about simpler things.

I think the old Celtic festival of Samhain should erase this capitalist "Trick or Treat" cash cow.

Samhain (pronounced saowen) marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st.

So say to all, a Happy Samhain. Let us celebrate the beginning of the darker half of the year, a celebration of autumn and winter and the end of the harvest.