Samhain, pronounced sah-win is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. The Celtic roots of Halloween, it is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, which is nearly halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. To most modern Pagans, while death is still the central theme of the festival this does not mean it is a morbid event. For Pagans, death is not a thing to be feared. Old age is valued for its wisdom and dying is accepted as a part of life as necessary and welcome as birth. While Pagans, like people of other faiths, always honour and show respect for their dead, this is particularly marked at Samhain. Loved ones who have recently died are remembered and their spirits often invited to join the living in the celebratory feast. It is also a time at which those born during the past year are formally welcomed into the community. As well as feasting, Pagans often celebrate Samhain with traditional games such as apple-dooking. Death also symbolises endings and Samhain is therefore not only a time for reflecting on mortality, but also on the passing of relationships, jobs and other significant changes in life. A time for taking stock of the past and coming to terms with it, in order to move on and look forward to the future.
The sentiment behind this Celtic festival shares much with the Chinese Medicine understanding that this is a period of letting go. What can you let go of before we move into Winter? What is weighing you down? What have you no further need for in life?
“Sometimes you can’t have what is in front of you if you are not willing to let go what is behind you”
– James Van Praagh