Photo by Dennis Dow, Woodland Park Zoo

Happy Halloween

Here in our community some folks are bashing Halloween as a Pagan Holiday and they’re altering the evening to be more Christian. Halloween however was created by early Christians to honor the Saints of the Church for All Saints Day. The evening before that day was known as All-Hallows Eve, which was set aside to honor relatives who had passed on and left this physical world. It’s a Christian Holiday, no need to make it more Christian than it already is.

This evening celebration evolved over time has  become the secular evening of Halloween where children get to play dress up and adults get to scare each other in haunted houses.

Merry Samhain – The Celtic New Year

Pagans celebrate a holiday called Samhain. Whither you use the Gaelic pronunciation “Sow-en”, “Sow-ween”, Sah-ween” or the Americanized version “Sam-hain” (yes that is an acceptable pronunciation), it’s still the biggest holiday on the Pagan Calendar.

Samhain, dates back to the ancient Celts who lived 2,000 years ago. Early Pagans set their calendar to the change of the seasons and this is the perfect example of that. The Celtic word Samhain means “summer’s end” and it’s a celebration of the Celtic New Year.

Contrary to what some believe, is not a celebration of a Celtic god of the dead. It is the time when the veil of forgetfulness is lifted between the physical world and the spiritual world. Where the dead are honored and communication with spirit can take place more than any other time of the year.

For pagans it’s a time of celebration, but it’s also a time of reverence and deep spiritual reflection for the past and the future year to come.

Pagans follow a lunar calendar. Our holidays begin when the sunsets on October 31st and it will end at sunset on November 1st.

You can learn more about The History Of Samhain And Evolution of Halloween here on Springwolf Reflections 🐾.

© 2013 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Spring’s Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.