October 2019 - Samhain
Yes! It’s Samhain!!! Samhain (Sah-wen) the Celtic festival that gave birth to Halloween. For the ancient Celts Samhain marked the end of the harvest season, the beginning of winter, and the beginning of their new year. It was a time of feasting and bonfires. It was also a time of gatherings. It was when accounts – personal, financial, legal – were settled. Important weddings and many important moments in the legendary Irish history happened at Samhain. It was also a time when the veil between the spirit world and the mortal world was at its thinnest point – a liminal time. Food would be left of the door step to feed the wandering spirits of the ancestors who wandered home because they could. People dressed up in masks and costumes in case any evil spirits were out to get them – they would be thrown off by the disguise (mumming and guising!). And faces were carved into turnips to scare off evil spirits. These were...