Exploring The Wiccan Wheel of the Year: Samhain (8/8)

[ t h r e a d ]

The last instalment in our series focusing on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year! Have a look on our profile for the previous seven posts that dive deep into the traditions of each festival

The Wheel of the Year represents the Wiccan and Neopagan term for the annual cycle, consisting of eight festivals (Sabbats), all spaced relatively evenly in accordance to the Earths seasons.

Of the eight Sabbats, there are four ‘Greater Sabbats’ and four ‘Lesser Sabbats.’ The passing of time is seen as cyclical, which is why the imagery focuses on a wheel.

Despite being a relatively modern system, the festivals derive from older historic Celtic, Pagan and Germanic traditions and celebrations.

Samhain - Greater Sabbat of the Dead: 31st of October to 1st November

Regarded as the most important of the Greater Sabbats, Samhain is usually held on the 31st of October and is used as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on and involves paying respect to ancestors, friends, loved ones and pets who have died.

Unlike the later Sabbats, Samhain is regarded as a festival of darkness, and marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

Many consider it to be the Old Celtic New Year, and non Pagans simply call it Halloween.

It is one of the 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 thin veil between the worlds is lifted.

Originally known as the "Feast of the Dead" this sabbat was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead".

Today a lot of practitioners still carry out that tradition. Single candles were lit and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home.

Extra chairs were set to the table and around the hearth for the unseen guest.

Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide for them.

[End of thread]

Hope you found it interesting x