Samhain: pronounced 'Sow-inn' 31st October / 1st November

Samhain is the most important date in the pagan calendar, for most pagans it marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new, although there are some traditions of paganism that have Imbolc as the start of the new year.

Samhain has been celebrated in Britain going well back into Celtic history. Modern pagans also celebrate this time as a festival of the dead, but not as the early Christian church portrayed it as something morbid, but as a celebration of life and death. For pagans death is not something to be feared, but is viewed as a natural progression of life. Old age is valued and respected for its wisdom. Samhain is a time when we remember our loved ones who have already passed over, we remember that they live on in the spirit world. Samhain is the time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is at its thinnest and so the most likely time for spirits to be seen on earth.

After their invasion of Britain, the Romans added parts of the Celtic traditions into their own harvest celebration. The Romans honoured 'Pomona' the Goddess of the fruits of trees, then later the Christians tried to conceal it in the guise of All Saints day (or All Hallows Eve) when Christians would remember their Christian saints. The early Christians, in their attempt to eliminate the 'threat' of opposing religious theisms, incorporated their special religious dates into the Christian calendar.

One of the many injustices carried out by early Christian church was to associate Halloween with Samhain, and then portray Samhain as a Celtic Death God. Most stories about the origin of Halloween correctly state that Halloween has its origins in ancient Celtic history and is based on the "Feast of Samhain". However many contemporary Christian authors that have critical views of Halloween, Paganism, Druidism, Wicca, etc, state that Samhain was named after the Celtic 'God of the Dead'. In fact no such God ever existed. Unfortunately, as is the way with the media and the Christian anti-pagan propaganda machine, this inaccurate misconception is both highly contagious and threatens the capacity of understanding and tolerance.