I
IanCorrigan
Guest
Hello all.
We’re coming up to the season in which Paganism, Wicca and Witchcraft all receive a lot of media attention of widely varying quality. I though I’d try a thread in which to discuss such matters.
I’m one of the Pagan members around here. I hang because I enjoy religion discussion, and because Paganism is sometimes a topic. I’m a 30-year participant in the North American Neopagan scene, and know it pretty well, so I try to provide accurate perspectives from inside that religious movement.
‘Halloween’ is, of course, a folk occasion based on various customs concerning the dead. Literally the name refers to ‘all hallows eve’, and ‘hallows’ means ‘saints’ in anglo-irish vernacular. Nov 1st is the feast of all saints in the roman calendar, but Irish custom considered days to begin at the previous sunset, and so the evening of our calendar date 10/31 became ‘all saints eve’.
The Irish word “Samhain” probably comes from old Celtic roots meaning ‘end of summer’. The Celts divided the year into two big seasons, summer and winter, with spring and fall as subsets. Samhain is the name of the month of November in modern Irish, and the first of each month was a Pagan holy day in the Roman calendar. Thus, Samhain is the holy day of November. It is evidenced not only in Irish vernacular literature but in the famous ‘coligny calendar’, one of the few roman-style bronze calendars we have in a Celtic context.
In Irish literature we find Samhain as a day associated with the otherworld beings - the ‘fairy’ folk - and with human interaction with them. The medieval ‘fairy’ beliefs probably combine earlier ancestor worship with reverence for the less-than-divine (but still powerful) non-human beings of the spirit world.
The focus on the spirits of the Dead may actually filter in from the Christian ‘all-saints’ customs, or the date of all-saints may refect an attempt by the RCC to assimilate pre-christian holy day customsinto its calendar. In any case the current Neopagan holy day of Samhain focuses on the relationship between humans and the Ancestors and/or the Dead.
Pagan customs in this season can include divination to discern what messages the Dead may have for us; the creation of Ancestor Altars bearing pics and mementos of the Dead, and which receive offerings of food and drink; sometimes those who have died over the previous year are remembered.
Do I have to say it?.. Pagans don’t offer animal or blood sacrifices to anyone, ever. We may lay out a feast of food and drink for the dead, and ask us to join them, but we are no more likely to butcher the cow ritually than any other American.
So if you should happen to see a group of your neighbors heading into the woods in robes, carrying some things, or happen to glimpse them in their homes, please remember that it’s almost certainly just some Neopagans, seeking the divine in our own way, and presenting no danger or harm to anyone or anything.
Samhain Blessings
Ian
We’re coming up to the season in which Paganism, Wicca and Witchcraft all receive a lot of media attention of widely varying quality. I though I’d try a thread in which to discuss such matters.
I’m one of the Pagan members around here. I hang because I enjoy religion discussion, and because Paganism is sometimes a topic. I’m a 30-year participant in the North American Neopagan scene, and know it pretty well, so I try to provide accurate perspectives from inside that religious movement.
‘Halloween’ is, of course, a folk occasion based on various customs concerning the dead. Literally the name refers to ‘all hallows eve’, and ‘hallows’ means ‘saints’ in anglo-irish vernacular. Nov 1st is the feast of all saints in the roman calendar, but Irish custom considered days to begin at the previous sunset, and so the evening of our calendar date 10/31 became ‘all saints eve’.
The Irish word “Samhain” probably comes from old Celtic roots meaning ‘end of summer’. The Celts divided the year into two big seasons, summer and winter, with spring and fall as subsets. Samhain is the name of the month of November in modern Irish, and the first of each month was a Pagan holy day in the Roman calendar. Thus, Samhain is the holy day of November. It is evidenced not only in Irish vernacular literature but in the famous ‘coligny calendar’, one of the few roman-style bronze calendars we have in a Celtic context.
In Irish literature we find Samhain as a day associated with the otherworld beings - the ‘fairy’ folk - and with human interaction with them. The medieval ‘fairy’ beliefs probably combine earlier ancestor worship with reverence for the less-than-divine (but still powerful) non-human beings of the spirit world.
The focus on the spirits of the Dead may actually filter in from the Christian ‘all-saints’ customs, or the date of all-saints may refect an attempt by the RCC to assimilate pre-christian holy day customsinto its calendar. In any case the current Neopagan holy day of Samhain focuses on the relationship between humans and the Ancestors and/or the Dead.
Pagan customs in this season can include divination to discern what messages the Dead may have for us; the creation of Ancestor Altars bearing pics and mementos of the Dead, and which receive offerings of food and drink; sometimes those who have died over the previous year are remembered.
Do I have to say it?.. Pagans don’t offer animal or blood sacrifices to anyone, ever. We may lay out a feast of food and drink for the dead, and ask us to join them, but we are no more likely to butcher the cow ritually than any other American.
So if you should happen to see a group of your neighbors heading into the woods in robes, carrying some things, or happen to glimpse them in their homes, please remember that it’s almost certainly just some Neopagans, seeking the divine in our own way, and presenting no danger or harm to anyone or anything.
Samhain Blessings
Ian
