Wheel Of The Year: 
Enchanted Samhain

We come to it at last, the Great Spirit Night mystics await all year.  Pronounced SOW-in, the name means, literally, "End of Summer."  It is the day that Witch's consider their New Year and the third and final Harvest.  Now comes the "other half" of the year: the half of dark winter.  Known also as Hallowmas, Hallo'een and All Hallows Eve, it is celebrated on October 31st, with the following day, November 1st being All Souls Day. 

Samhain is one of two "spirit-nights" each year, the other being Beltane.  It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended and the Veil Between The Worlds thins and finally on the night of Samhain itself, is lifted.  Thus, communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is done more easily at this time; fortunes are cast more easily at this time and it is also easier to peer forwards and backwards in time.

The day is also one to honor loved ones who have gone beyond the veil, and to this end many Pagans honor the old traditions of erecting an ancestral altar and partaking of a Silent Supper.  An ancestral altar can be made using any flat surface: a table, side-board, TV-tray or ledge.  On it one would place photographs of deceased family and friends; items and mementos that are associated with them and any items of honor, or gifts (such as food, crystals, flowers, some of their favorite items, etc.)  Candles are of course an essential element and it is also common to find candles in the shape of skeletons to depict the bones of those who have died, or cauldron candles, to depict the "belly of the Goddess" which is the origin of life and reminds us of the inevitable rebirth after physical death.  The Silent Supper consists of laying an empty place-setting (plate, cup, napkin, silverware) for our dearly departed.  The gesture is that as we partake of sustenance, so too do we offer it to them, that they may join us in spirit on that night.  Extra chairs were set at the table, and at the hearth as well.

In ancient cultures, it was general practice to leave food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead."  Eventually the poor would knock on the doors of homes begging for food.  Later, when the practice of making Soul Cakes became popular (for the feast of All Souls Day on November 1), the poor would come to beg for these.  This paved the way for modern-day candy-giving.

Single candles were lit and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home.  Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide for them.

As it was believed that all manner of spirits walked freely on the night of Samhain, including ones whose energies or intentions were dark and dangerous, our ancestors took to hollowing out turnips and sometimes potatoes.  They would then carve them to look like faces - or protective spirits - as this was seen as a way of invoking protection on Samhain, the night of magic and chaos.  It was believed too, that on this night the Wee Folk became very active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans.  Traveling after dark was not advised.  People dressed in white (like ghosts) wore disguises made or straw or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits.

Animals were slaughtered and their meats put up for the coming winter months; any crops not harvested by Samhain were considered taboo and were left in the fields as offerings.  Bonfires were built and stones marked with people's names were thrown into the fire.  The stones were retrieved next morning and the condition of the stones told the fortune of the person for the coming year.  Hearth fires were also lit from the village bonfire, the ashes of which were spread over the harvested fields to protect and bless the land.

Divination and magical workings for Protection are traditional and common on this night, as well as casting spells to increase one's psychic abilities and magical strength.

It is easy to see how the modern name for this day was derived:  SOW-in became HALLO'een; HALLO'een became All Hallows Eve, which in turn became Halloween.  Today, Halloween is celebrated as a major holiday associated with merchandising.  The original practice of dressing up to scare or ward off spirits, has morphed into children donning costumes for their annual night of revelry after dark.  And, the practice of begging for soul cakes has become a child's dream come true: free candy given out during Halloween Trick or Treating.

Glancing Back ...
Mabon

Mabon is the modern name given to the third and final harvest festival of the year.  In times ancient through to our own times, the festival was celebrated to coincide, and in honor of, the Autumn Equinox, which occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on September 21st (or the 22nd or 23rd, depending on the calendar and planetary precession that year).  Also called Harvest Home and sometimes the Feast of The Ingathering, Mabon is the second of three harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas and followed by Samhain.

Interestingly, the name Mabon has only been applied to this festival quite recently after it was invented by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s as part of a religious studies project.  In Gardnerian Wicca, this harvest festival was known simply as the Autumnal Equinox, and many Pagans still refer to it as such.  It is interesting to note that many British Pagans do not use the name Mabon, regarding it an unauthentic.  Traditionally, the entire month of September was considered a holy month.

Modern day Mabon is a celebration of the harvest and a celebration of balance.  On the Autumnal Equinox, the night and day are of equal length, twelve hours of each.  Thus, the day is one of complete balance.  In keeping with this prevailing energy, the day of the Autumnal Equinox represents an ideal opportunity for us to invite balance into our lives.  and this happens just two days a day (the next Equinox occurs in the Spring). 

The modern symbology and meaning of Mabon then, is balance and the bittersweet celebration of bounty and abundance, even in the midst of waning light.  For after the Autumnal Equinox, daylight decreases each day and the nights grow longer, hence what the Native Americans called the long nights time of winter. 

Traditional activities on this day are meditation, gathering of family and friends, feasting.  It is both traditional and appropriate to gather loved ones around a table laden with good foods made from the bounty of the harvest, and to offer prayers of gratitude for all that the Earth gives us, all that we have in our lives.  Meditation and introspective thinking is especially good at this time as the prevailing energy of balance allows us to observe with honesty the areas in our lives that are out of balance, or could use some balancing. 

Decorations for Mabon are festive and incorporate the traditional colors, flowers and produce of the season.  Reds, cranberries and burgundies; greens, golds and yellows; oranges, browns and earth-tones.  Grapevine wreaths may be adorned with sunflowers, pinecones, acorns, gourds and mini-pumpkins.  Pots of mums may be used to dress up a front door-step or to add a bit of gaiety to your table or front hall.  A harvest display upon a mantle or window sill is especially nice, and lovely ones can be made from Autumn leaves, gourds, chestnuts, small pumpkins and ears of Indian corn.