All Soul’s Night, Loreena McKennitt, with images from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Pretty much everyone knows now that Halloween derives from the old Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced Sow’-en) which was celebrated at the halfway point between the Summer and Winter Solstices. The two halfway points between the solstices and the equinoxes, at the middle of the fixed signs of Taurus (Beltane) and Scorpio (Samhain) were considered gateways between the light and the dark.
Samhain marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter, and it was said that the veils between the worlds were at their thinnest. The gods were thought to be closest to the earth during this time and divination was an important part of the celebrations for the early Celtic peoples, as it is today.
This idea of a thinning of the veils between the worlds is what gave rise to the idea of ghosts and goblins parading around at this time of year and gives us what we now call Halloween. I leave you with this wonderful poem:
Samhain Round
Samhain Round
Lyrics of a song by the same name.
Composed by Marc Hirsch
© October,1997 Mark Hirschhorn
And as the light around us fades
In golden shadows through the glade,
Like distant echoes down the hall,
we answer Samhain’s ancient call.
From everlasting times ’til now,
To storied lands, we all must bow;
Where magic rings within our souls
And as we shatter, we are whole.
This is the night to join the Dance,
Partake in all-renewing trance;
Where worlds within and out are One,
Our sacred journey now begun.
To greet the ones we loved before,
Our kith and kin from days of yore,
Forgiven foe and long-lost friend –
We dwell among you yet again.
For now the worldly veils are thin,
Where hope and healing can begin.
Our deeds are done; the hour is late
To rest within the arms of Fate.
By fin and feather, leaf and bark,
As sun now banks to sheltered spark;
This year of trial and joy is past
Within the Circle we have cast.
And as the light around us fades
In golden shadows through the glade,
Like distant echoes down the hall,
We answer Samhain’s ancient call …
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