My husband and I are Pagan. I’ve been in the Craft since 1980, and we celebrate the 8 Sabbats (pagan holidays) that are traditional among many “denominations” of paganism. My first 8 published books were magickal nonfiction. One of them, long out of print, was called Dancing With the Sun, which discussed those eight holidays, plus a few others.
So, Halloween traditions are based on Samhain, the Festival of the Dead, which takes place from sundown on October 31st through November 1st. Samhain (pronounced sow-een or sow-ehn), is the festival when we celebrate the dark of the year, the ancestors who have gone before us. It’s the third harvest, the harvest of meat, and is considered the Pagan new year. This is the time when the Veil between the worlds of spirit, faerie, and mortalkind is thinnest.
In our tradition, the way we (my husband, friends, and I) celebrate is with a focus on honoring the ancestors we choose to remember, be they blood linked or people we care about who were friends or influences, animals we’ve loved and lost, and we honor the Lord of Fire and the Lady of Ice–death incarnate. For without death, there would be no life. We believe in the Eternal Return, the transitions from life to death, then to life again (i.e.: reincarnation).
Each year, we set out a plate of food for the dead with delicacies they liked. We cast a Circle and call on the Lord of Fire and the Lady of Ice. Then, we hold a roll call for the dead–we list off those we are remembering. After that, we hold a ten-to-fifteen minute silent meditation, where we listen for any messages from either the gods, our guides, or our ancestors. After the meditation is over (I ring a bell to begin it, and to end it), we talk over what we felt/saw.
Then, we share our dinner with the dead, so to speak, and after that, we bid farewell to them and open the Circle. Samhain is a solemn tradition, although at times it can be funny–several times during the meditation I’ve heard several of my ancestors laughing, and teacups clinking, as though they’re having a party! And several times I’ve seen spirits come through–once the spirit of a stray kitten climbed in my lap, and I helped her over to the other side so she wouldn’t be lost.
With every one of the eight festivals, when we celebrate we are ‘turning the Wheel’ (the Wheel of the year), and marking mileposts in our lives. Do you have special holiday traditions during the autumn?
Blessed Samhain to you,
Yasmine