Nature Spiral
Samhain
Posted by Organik Mum (Victoria, Australia) on 31 October 2007 in Miscellaneous.
Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow’s Eve. Hallow E’en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. A night of glowing jack-o’-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and séances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A spirit night. Halloween, also became a day of divination, with a host of magical beliefs.
Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features that harken back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices cider associated with the day.
Today Halloween is becoming once again an adult holiday or masquerade, like mardi Gras. Men and women in every disguise imaginable are taking to the streets of big American cities and parading past grinningly carved, candlelit jack o'lanterns, re- enacting customs with a lengthy pedigree. Their masked antics challenge, mock, tease, and appease the dread forces of the night, of the soul, and of the otherworld that becomes our world on this night of reversible possibilities, inverted roles, and transcendency. In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of a holy and magic evening.
Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday has become the jack-o’- lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o’- lantern of choice.)
Information from: www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html
Obviously this relates more to the Northern Hemisphere. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, while our dates are the same, our seasons aren't. However, being born and raised in Australia, I've Scottish blood running through my veins. ;)
I created a little something for our boys in the spirit of the occasion for this magical sacred night.. that I thought I'd share here.
Hope you all have a wonderful evening.
Thanks for stopping by my visual journal! Any comments written, are greatly appreciated.
I take photos because I enjoy it, I find it relaxing, it's a creative outlet and because I can't draw! lol I have no style to speak of. If something catches my eye, I'll photograph it, as I perceive it. I'm experimental if I do any PP work to a photo, as this is part of the creative process for me. So as you can see, I have no aspirations to be a Master Photographer. I take photos simply because I enjoy it. If you're interested there are more bits and pieces here.
