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 some of the traditions that grow into trick or treating and pumpkin carving.


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Jack O’Lantern

There are many different versions of this story. Generally, it involves a deal with the Devil by a man named Jack. Jack promises his soul for extra time on Earth but is able to outwit the Devil and extend his stay.
            The story generally winds up with Jack unable to enter heaven but contractually prevented from entering hell. So instead, Jack carries an ember from hell (usually in a hollowed our turnip or rutabaga) as he wanders the world for eternity.

            The name was then transposed to the carved turnips used to ward-off evil spirits on Samhain. Then when the Irish and Brits made it to North America and found the much more practical pumpkins and gourds, the tradition was transferred to the large hallowed out luminaries that we know today.


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