There is something special in October’s air, and I don’t mean the snow flurries that have threatened and are on their way this week. There is something in the cool October breeze that speaks to a deep, ancient, part of us as humans. It was celebrated in the ancient Celtic holy day called Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which marks the end of the harvest and start of a new year.
Samhain was a holiday so powerful that early Christianity could not squelch it, so in the 7th Century, Pope Boniface IV adapted it. He created “All Saints Day,” which kept the basic premise of honoring our ancestors, but baptized it as a Christian holiday to honor the saints who have passed. Mexico’s Day of the Dead comes out of this tradition. All Hallows’ Eve, known as Halloween, is the night prior to All Saints’ Day.
Regardless of what you call it, there is something about this time of year that is truly special. Samhain, the much older Pagan holiday which inhabits October 31 on the calendar, was, and is, a time to ponder endings and beginnings, death and birth. In agrarian societies it was a time when fires would burn to prepare the land for next year’s planting and animals were slaughtered for Winter food. It’s the perfect time to examine one’s life and make a new start, by calling on the wisdom of our ancestors to guide and strengthen us in this task.
Ancient humans believed that at this time the veil between living and dead becomes the thinnest. It is the time when we best can feel their presence. It’s not ghoulish, or gory, but a respectful, awe-filled experience of gratitude for the lives of those who came before us.
This year I planted a spruce tree to honor my late father. I am spending some time each day to consider all the things my grandmother, father, and other family members who have passed on, have taught me. These musings chase away the clutter of anxious thoughts about the current state of the world. Some of the individuals whose lives I remember, lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. That helps me put things into perspective.
So after your doorbell stops ringing with children begging for candy, take a moment to quietly light a candle and feel true gratitude for the many good people who have passed on, whose lives enriched yours with the things they taught you, and the examples they set. For all we know, their spirits may gather to sit beside you at that little flame and offer you their blessings.
Happy Samhain. Blessed Be.