In the old Celtic calendar Halloween - or more correctly Samhain - was actually the beginning of the New Year, and the preparation for the coming hardship of winter. All the animals that were not breeding stock were slaughtered, and their meat salted and stored for the dark months. As one of the most important celebrations of the year, a great feast was held, and bonfires were lit throughout the countryside.
These quarters were again divided by the solstices and equinoxes, which were known as the four Albans.
Alban Arthuan or the light of Arthur
Alban Eiler or the light of Earth
Alban Heruin or the light of the Shore
Alban Elved or the light of the Water
The festival was also a time when fertility played an important factor in the future well-being of a community. Animals were mated, and good breeding stock selected. This fertility aspect is reflected in legends passed down from the Celts. In Irish mythology the god Dhaghda made love to the Morrigan on Samhain eve, while she straddled the river Unius, in a symbolic union of the god of light and the goddess of death as the year turns towards darkness.
The Celts were fascinated by magical 'in-between' places, such as shorelines, fords, doorways, etc. These places were neither in one state or another... thus they were places of power. The shore is neither dry land, nor is it the sea, yet it is the meeting place of both. If one were to view the land as representative of our solid, material world, and the sea as representative of the spirit world, we can see that the shore is a meeting place between one world and another.
There may have been a more sinister side to the festival in Celtic times, and Caesar mentions human sacrifices during the four festivals of the year. Although Roman propaganda accounts can now be seen as biased, there is no smoke without fire, and evidence suggests ritual human sacrifice was practiced in the past. There is a tradition of the death of the sacrificial king at Samhain, and some of the darker customs of Halloween may disguise older practices. In some parts of Scotland, white stones marked to represent those present were thrown into the halloween fire, these had to be retrieved later, or evil was supposed td that November the 1st should be known as All Saints' Day (this happened in 835AD), and All Souls' Day was moved to the 2nd of November.
Thus the 31st of October became All Saints' Eve, or all Hallows' Eve, with older customs and beliefs surviving until the present day.The Halloween pumpkin originates from the custom of using lanterns to ward off the evil spirits, which were thought to wander through the thin veil into our world
The Celtic year was divided into two halves, the dark and the light. Samhain was the beginning of the dark half, with its counterpart, Beltane beginning the light half. Between these two 'doors' or portals fell Imbolc, on February 1, and Lughnasadh or Lammas, celebrated on August 1, quartering the Celtic year. These quarters were again divided by the solstices and equinoxes, which were known as the four Albans
Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the ancient Celtic festival called "Samhain;" meaning Summer's End. Samhain was the first day of winter, and the end of one pastoral year. It was the time when the night became longer than the day, the last apples were picked, and the year began again with its dark winter half. Also called Samhiunn or Hallowe'en, this festival is sometimes called Trinoux Samonia or three nights at the end of summer. Farmers today are at their busiest with the mating of stock and preparing for the winter, this season being the start of the faming year when new life begins with the mating of their animals, ready for spring and another year.
