In many Western countries, Halloween is a day of celebration, dressing up, and extorting candy from every house on the block. But it wasn’t always so. In fact, Halloween is a rather modern holiday. Samhain (pronounced SOW-win), is the Pagan festival that preceded it and is still celebrated today by much of the Pagan community.
Around the world, modern Pagans — from Wiccans to Druids — get together each year to observe the traditions and rituals that were associated with it. Bonfires and feasts are staples, but, at its heart, Samhain is a deeply spiritual time of reflection and remembrance.
Medieval Samhain
Historical records aren’t complete, and we don’t have a clear picture of what the first Samhain celebrations entailed. We do know the festival is Celtic in origin, and its name comes from the Old Irish language. During Ireland’s early medieval period, from 400 to 1100 CE, Samhain marked the onset of winter.
Transition has always been a central theme. According to the “Tochmarc Emire” (“The Wooing of Emer”), a medieval Irish tale, Samhain is “when the summer goes to its rest.” Nowadays, the holiday is usually observed from October 31 through November 1, placing it about halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. Medieval Samhain celebrations were also celebrated as October gave way to November.
(NOTE: The Northern and Southern hemispheres experience autumn at different times because of Earth’s movement around the sun, so modern Pagans who live below the equator often wait until April/May to hold their Samhain rituals.)
As Samhain came around, the people had finished their summer harvest, but the harshest part of the winter season was still several weeks away. According to historian Robert Hutton’s 2003 book Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, that made Samhain a perfect backdrop for important tribal meetings in rural Ireland that sometimes lasted for days.
Samhain Spirits and Customs
A number of classic Irish folk stories were set during Samhain. As many of these involved the deaths of kings and other morbid or dangerous happenings, the supernatural became associated with the festival. Fairies, as an example, were said to be especially active during Samhain.
And at some unknown point, the belief arose that Samhain was also a time when the wall between our world and the spirit world became weak, and the spirits of one’s dead ancestors could easily cross over — opening the possibility for communication between the living and the dead.
Not all was copacetic between the Pagans and the encroaching Christians in the British Isles. In the sixth century, Pope Boniface IV established May 19 as a Christian day of remembrance honoring those who’d died for their faith. Three hundred years later, in 873 CE, the Church moved the Feast of All Holy Martyrs to November 1, renaming it “All Saints’ Day.”
Some scholars believe this was a bid to “Christianize” Samhain rituals, but others disagree. Nonetheless, Halloween as we now know it owes much to All Saints’ Day, which also went by “All Hallows’ Day.” The night of October 31 also had a title of its own: “All Hallows’ Eve.” As time passed, this was shortened to “Hallow-ee’n” before the punctuation marks were removed and the holiday became “Halloween.”
Samhain in the 21st Century
While Western culture adopted spooky pastimes such as trick-or-treating, costume parties, and watching the classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” special on TV for Halloween, modern-day Pagans have a slightly different itinerary.
“Dumb suppers” are among the traditions some Samhain celebrants choose to observe. At a feast, custom calls for leaving a single place empty to honor a deceased ancestor or family member. All the living guests eat in silence while reflecting on the departed. Sometimes, guests burn messages written for the absent person. Sometimes, the dinner’s courses are served in reverse order. With dumb suppers, there’s a lot of room for variation.
Pagans can also embrace the spirit of Samhain through quiet meditation, divination ceremonies, or redecorating their personal altars with gourds, dried corn husks, and other autumnal symbols. Because remembrance is a key aspect of Samhain, the altars often include photos of loved ones who’ve died.
Druids, one type of Pagan, lean toward outdoor bonfire rituals during Samhain. Pagans who keep gardens may treat the festival as a hard deadline for their harvests. Anything edible they don’t gather by the time the festival ends, they leave behind — as a gift to the spirits.
And because of Samhain’s emphasis on transition, some Pagans treat it as the start of the Celtic New Year.
None of this means that Wiccans, Druids, and other contemporary Pagans swear off Halloween. Some enjoy the secular Halloween season, but they simply don’t engage with it on October 31. Others make time for both trick-or-treating and Samhain rituals. Many people are finding comfort in the blending of new and old, making this holiday one worth celebrating.
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