Information AboutSamhain |
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:''For information on the band, see Samhain (band) . Samhain () is the word for November in Irish , and in Scottish Gaelic is spelt '''Samhuinn'''. The same word was used for the first month of the ancient Celtic Calendar , and in particular the first three nights of this month, the festival marking the beginning of the Winter Season . Elements of the festival are continued in the traditions of All Souls Day and Halloween . The name is also used for one of the Sabbats in the Neo-Pagan Wheel Of The Year . ETYMOLOGY
(the vocalism of ''gam'' "winter" is influenced by ''sam'', Thurneysen ''KZ'' 61:253). It appears, therefore, that for some reason already in Proto-Celtic the first month of the summer season was named "wintry", and the first month of the winter half-year "summery", possibly by Ellipsis , " at the end of summer/winter", so that ''samfuin'' would be a restitution of the original meaning after all. This interpretation would either invalidate the "assembly" explanation given above, or push back the time of the re-interpretation by popular etymology to very early times indeed. ''Bealtaine'', ''Lúnasa'' and ''Samhain'' are still today the names of the months of May, August and November in the Irish Language . Similarly, Lùnasdal and Samhain are the modern Scots Gaelic names for August and November. ANCIENT CELTS see also Celtic Calendar . The Celtic calendar divided the Year into two halves, the "dark" half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation), and the "light half", beginning with the Giamonios (the April/May lunation). The entire year appears to have been considered as beginning with the "dark" half, so that the beginning of Samonios may be considered the Celtic New Year's day. All months began at full moon, and the celebration of New Year took place during the "three nights of Samonios" ( Gaulish ''trinux samo[nii ''), the full moon of nearest 1st November. Likewise, the beginning of the summer season was celebrated at the full moon nearest 1st May (see Beltane ). The full moons marking the middle of each half-year may also have been specific festivals, the Coligny calendar marks the mid-summer one (see Lughnasadh ), but omits the mid-winter one (see Imbolc ). Note that the seasons are not oriented at the solar year, viz. Solstice and Equinox , but that the mid-summer festival would be considerable later than summer solstice, around 1 August . It appears that the calendar was designed to align the lunations with the agricultural cycle of vegetation, and that the actual movements of the Sun were less important. In medieval Ireland, ''samain'' remained the principal festival, celebrated with a great assembly at the royal court in Tara , lasting for three days, consistent with the Gaulish testimony. CELTIC FOLKLORE The Samhain celebration survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, the Féile Na Marbh , the "festival of the dead" took place on Samhain. Samhain Eve, in Irish and Scots Gaelic, ''Oidhche Shamhna'', is one of the principal Festival s of the Celtic calendar, and is thought to fall on or around the 31st Of October . It represents the final Harvest . In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still "Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna". Bonfire s played a large part in the festivities. Even into Christian times, villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames, cattle having a prominent place in the pre-Christian Gaelic world. The English word ' Bonfire ' derives from these "bone fires," but the Gaelic has no such parallel. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. According to Irish mythology, during that night the great Shield of Scathach was lowered, allowing the barriers between the worlds to fade and the forces of chaos to invade the realms of order, the material world conjoining with the world of the dead. At this time the spirits of the dead and those yet to be born walked amongst the living. The dead could return to the places where they had lived and food and entertainment were provided in their honour. In the three days preceding Samhain, the Sun God Lugh , maimed at Lughnassadh ( August 1 ), dies by the hand of his ''Tánaiste'' (counterpart or heir), the Lord Of Misrule . Lugh traverses the boundaries of the worlds on the first day of Samhain. His Tanist is a miser and, though shining brightly in the winter skies, he gives no warmth and does not temper the breath of the Crone, Cailleach Bheare , the north Wind . In parts of western Brittany Samhain is still heralded by the baking of ''kornigou'', cakes baked in the shape of Antlers to commemorate the God of winter shedding his " Cuckold " horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld . The Romans identified Samhain with their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria . This, however, was observed in the days leading up to May 13. With Christianization , the festival in November (not the Roman festival in May) became All Hallows' Day on November 1 st followed by All Souls' Day , on November 2 nd, after which the night of October 31 was called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the Secular Holiday known as Halloween . NEO-PAGANISM see also Wheel Of The Year . In some types of Neopaganism , particularly those influenced by Wicca , Samhain is one of the eight solar holidays or Sabbats . It is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere on October 31 or November 1 and in the southern hemisphere on May 1 . The holiday, with Beltane , is one of the most popular among Neopagans, and public Samhain rituals invariably attract large gatherings. It is the last of the Harvest festivals (after Lammas and Mabon ); in some traditions it symbolizes the death of the old god. Among the sabbats, it is preceded by Mabon and followed by Yule . From an astrological perspective, the setting of Pleiades , the winter Star s, heralds the supremacy of night over day and the start of the dark half of the year that is ruled by the realms of the Moon . POP CULTURE REFERENCES
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