Reviving traditions: Samhain

Kai dressed as Chad Gray, frontman for heavy metal band Mudvayne.

A common argument I hear this time of year is how white folks or Americans in general have no culture. I’ve also heard in the same vein that Halloween is a meaningless holiday, usually said by a devout Christian when comparing the holiday to others like Christmas or Easter. This statement is ignorant to the history of modern-day Halloween, which gets its name from the Catholic holiday All Hallows Eve, and that holiday was a rebranding of the Celtic festival and holiday Samhain or Sauin. Samhain (pronounced SOW-ehn) is a Gaelic word that translates to Summer’s End.

“Say It With Your Chest”

This blog is just my personal opinion based on things I’ve read over the years. Some of what I say may sound critical of groups like Christianity - and in fairness, it is. I have no issue with Christians as people. Further down I briefly mention Christian-nationalism, and to be clear this is a political movement that appropriates the Bible to push a narrative (You bet yer ass I’m against THAT).

The Meaning Behind Samhain

You are likely familiar with the Latin holiday Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, as it is known in English. Dia de los Muertos is a beautiful and vibrant celebration of the life cycle, featuring colorful sugar skulls, candy, art, and so much more. It honors the dead and welcomes them as the veil between their world and ours is thinnest at the end of October and beginning of November.

Samhain is the Celtic version. Food offerings were left outside for spirits passing through, a practice which later evolved into the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating. People dressed up as spirits to confuse and ward off entities. It was a celebration of the end of the harvest season and embracing the winter season.

Lost in Translation and to Capitalism

My opinion of nearly all modern holidays celebrated here in America is the same, I think they are cheap, hollow versions of what the original holiday once honored, and I blame capitalism and American consumerism for it becoming this way.

I’m aware that what I’m about to say will age me, but when I was growing up, there were still kids that made their costumes by hand. It was falling out of fashion (pun) but these days? A holiday about remembering the dead and honoring spirits is relegated to a trip to Wal-Mart and Spirit Halloween for cheap, mass-produced cookie cutter costumes and copious amounts of plastic wrapped candy. Little kids still enjoy it, but it’s a shell of what it once was.

If I really want to go on a tangent I can talk about how people don’t even wait for it to get dark before they start trick-or-treating anymore, but that’s besides the point.

Embracing Tradition…no, the Traditions Before That

At present, the phrase ‘embracing tradition’ sounds like a dog whistle for Christian-nationalism. For transparency, I am absolutely not talking about Christian traditions, I am talking about the ones before Christianity was practiced. The word tradition is often associated with conservatism here in America, but for some reason upholding or honoring our pre-Christian Gaelic heritage is lumped together with all things “woo-woo” and New-Age. We aren’t talking about tarot card Tik-Tok readings, Samhain started about 2,000 years ago.

Before Christianity bastardized just about every modern holiday you can imagine (and yes, this includes the Christian favorites: Christmas and Easter) these holy days had different names, meaning and lore, and different belief systems or religions associated with them.

For those who don’t know, I am a pagan. To be more specific, I practice a modern form of Celtic/Gaelic paganism that draws from Druidic and Witchcraft traditions. I wasn’t raised this way. My ancestry includes Gaelic heritage; I have Irish ancestry, and in 2021 I started learning more about these alternative and historical beliefs and traditions because I was interested in reconnecting with that lost ancestry. By 2023 or so I stopped identifying as a Christian and embraced tradition and my roots!

The Best of Both Worlds

I grew up celebrating Halloween and see no reason to stop. I’ve added a few practices to reincorporate Samhain, though. For me this looks like dressing up to take my friend’s children trick-or-treating and then coming home to sit beside a fire, providing light for the spirits as they make their way, and remembering those who have passed on. It also includes dancing outside at night as time moves into November, welcoming change, and leaving a small bowl of food outside as an offering - all of which I plan to do tonight!

So the next time someone mentions Halloween as being a meaningless holiday, you can inform them of it’s history, and if they try to give you a bunch of nonsense about it being anti-Christian, you can inform them that it was technically invented by the Catholic church.

No tricks, all treats and well wishes from me to you! Happy Halloween and blessed be.

Here’s How You Can Celebrate Samhain

1) Remember ancestors that have passed: set up an altar with the photos of loved ones, or mementos that symbolize them, eat supper in silence (called dumb supper, with dumb meaning silent in this situation), tell stories and memories of those whose memory you are honoring.

2) Harness the energy of this transitional period: this is the witches’ New Year, cleanse and bless your home, re-dedicate yourself on your spiritual path, write out goals and perform an analysis to see where you fall short in your personal growth. Let go of old pain and harmful habits and plan for the future.

3) Engage in symbolic ritual: light a fire or candle to provide light to spirits and warmth against the cold, walk or sit with nature, carve faces into vegetables to ward off spirits (this is the origin of pumpkin carving!)

4) Have fun: have a feast of all the best fall foods, wear costumes to ward of spirits, decorate with symbols of the season.

There see? Paganism ain’t spooky. ;)