Tonight and tomorrow is when most modern Pagans celebrate Samhain. Samhain is the start of winter and the new year according to the old Celtic calendar. This is a time when the ancestors are honored, divinations are performed, and festivals are held in honor of the gods. It is a time of the final harvest before the long winter ahead. It is perhaps the best-known and most widely celebrated of all the modern Pagan holidays.
Ancestor Altar
During this season, other celebrations and festivals are also being held such as Velu Laiks (“the time of spirits”) by Baltic Pagans, Álfablót or the Scandanavian Sacrifice to the Elves, Winter Nights by Asatru, Foundation Night in Ekklesía Antínoou, Fete Gede by Vodou practitioners, Día de los Muertos for followers of Santeria and several indigenous religions in Mexico and Latin America, Diwali for Hindus (October 23 this year) and the astrological Samhain on November 6th for some Witches and Druids. Finally, in the Southern Hemisphere, many Pagans are currently celebrating Beltane.
We pray to those whose names are gratefully remembered. This includes people we were directly related to by blood, and also anyone we cared for who has passed on. These prayers remind us of the sacredness and impermanence of life. It reminds us of the strengths these people had, the challenges they faced, and the courage they roused up. They urge us to have these things too as we face the new day. – Lilith Dorsey, Voodoo Universe
The Crone is the guardian of the crossroads, and this is Her time. As we journey through our lives we come to many crossroads; we have so many choices, so many roads not taken. How do we choose? How do we know we’ve made the right choice? – Nicole Kapise-Perkins, Walking the Ancient Paths of Witches & Pagans
There’s something spooky and marvelous about Samhain-time, something that was expressed by the Celts and by more modern peoples afterwards … There’s an irrepressible spirit in the air this time of year. It lived with our pagan forbearers and lives within us. – Jason Mankey, Raise the Horns
Samhain is also a time when some communities acknowledge the Mighty Dead.
The Mighty Dead are said to be those practitioners of our religion who are on the Other Side now, but who still take great interest in the activities of Witches on this side of the Veil. They have pledged to watch, to help and to teach. It is those Mighty Dead who stand behind us, or with us, in circle so frequently. – M. Macha Nightmare
![[Photo Credit: Kabir Bakie via Wikimedia Commons]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/512px-July_Full_Moon-500x333.jpg)
[Photo Credit: Kabir Bakie via Wikimedia Commons]
And, finally, in the spirit of Alley Valkyrie’s latest article, we also take a moment to remember the forgotten dead.
On the whole … the ancient feast of Winter’s Eve has regained its ancient character, as a dual time of fun and festivity, and of confrontation of the fears and discomforts inherent in life, and embodied especially in northern latitudes by the season of cold and dark. – Ronald Hutton, The Guardian
So as we approach Samhain we honor the cycle of death, rebirth, and new life; and we honor the memory of those who have passed through the veil. We honor too the gift of life, that most precious of gifts, and we seek to drink of the cup of the wine of life to the full so that no precious drop is ever wasted. – Vivianne Crowley, Greening the Spirit
May you all have a blessed Samhain. May peace fall upon you and your beloved dead during this season. Let this be a new cycle of quiet joy and renewed blessings for all of you.
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Although the romantic idea is often uncritically repeated, there is no evidence that Samhain was historically the Celtic New Year. While its designation as that is older than Aidan Kelly’s invention of Mabon for the autumn equinox, it is an invention nevertheless. Or at least a misunderstanding by Victorian folklorists. See http://caeraustralis.com.au/CNYnotsamhain.htm and especially the section called “A New Orthodoxy Concerning Samhain”.
I wonder if they’re confusing it with the Hindu Diwali, which is, I believe, the equivalent of the New Year. Also too, you have the Jewish New Year occurring in the fall, so I wonder if the Victorian folklorists decided that for the Celts, a celebration at that time period must have been a “new year” for them as well.
Heather, I would like to thank you for giving me the quote and blessing to carry into this Witch’s New Year. “Let this be a new cycle of quiet joy and renewed blessings…”
Thank you for your insightful article. Storm_and_Raven
Thank you for including Stan Modrzyk in the recitation.