Happy Halloween or should I say Samhain : an informative thread on a very dear and ancient festivity
Please do read so you can educate yourself

in this thread I will be discussing the origins of samhain, how it then got known as Halloween, how it's celebrated, misconceptions and how you as a non pagan/witch/Wiccan can be respectful about it !

Okay so first of all what exactly is Halloween ? Well Halloween is a holiday that is celebrated on the 31st of October, and some celebrate it into the 1st and/or 2nd of November ! Now Halloween was never originally called Halloween. So let's get into it's origins

Halloween was originally known as Samhain (sow-in) IT is Celtic in orgin. The Celts are my ancestors and this holiday meant alot to them and was very important. Samhain marked the end of summer, harvest and the beginning of winter.

It was and still is believed that the 'veil' between the worlds of the living and the dead (so spirits) was at its thinnest.
On October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that spirits would return to earth due to the veil being at its thinnest.

On this day the Celts believed spirits would come and cause havoc. But they also believed that this was the best time for predictions and prophecy's to take place as these were very important for the long winter ahead and for the new year.

So the Celts held these really huge bonfires, these were normally made by druids and they were very sacred to the event for alot of the sacrifices to the gods were made. This is also wear the dressing up part we know came in, the Celts would dress up mostly for protection.

I'm not really gonna go into this part but due to Christian and Catholic invasion into Celtic lands alot of the original holiday was lost due to this there was alot of their influence and whole bunch of historical things happened and boom it became all hallows Eve --> Halloween.

Now let's get into misconceptions about Halloween. 1)It's the devil's birthday
FALSE it is not Satan's birthday because Satan is a Christian figure and paganism existed before Christianity therefore it's impossible for it to be the devil's birthday

The whole thing with it being known as that was thanks TO alot of lying and manipulation to get people to stop celebrating a pagan holiday. Please stop telling people it's Satan's birthday it isn't, be doesn't exist to us he is a Christian belief.

2) It's evil
This ties into the Satan thing but it's not evil, there's nothing evil about wanting to honor your ancestors and those who have come before, there is nothing evil about celebrating a cultural festival just because spirits is included doesn't mean it's bad

Yes bad spirits can come through and yes some people might work with them and demons but that doesn't represent all of us, it's Samhain of course theses gonna be spirits and you need to be careful and protect yourself against them and other negative energies.

Now alot of non Celtic pagans, witches and wiccans also celebrate Samhain. Alot of the ways of celebrating blend in together as there are common ways to celebrate amongst all of these beliefs (also side note witchcraft is not a religion it is a spiritual practice)

Some of the ways to celebrate include :
A dumb supper (meaning silent ) this is rather traditional and basically means to have a dinner in complete silence from start to finish as a sign of respect and acknowledgement towards those who have passed

2) leaving a plate out at dinner for loved ones to come join you. This is also very common in Samhain traditions.When you have your dinner you leave as many seats open with plates of food on them as offerings for your loved ones.

3) a ritual. This is also very common and many witches, wiccans and pagans do rituals on Samhain to celebrate and honor

4) nature walks
Rather self explanatory, you go out into the natural world and you have a nice old walk around, taking in the change of season, accepting that things are coming to a close and preparing yourself for the new year ahead. It's honestly just to embrace nature

5) burning letters/notes
This tradition is a lovely one honestly I do it every Samhain
IT where you can either write a letter of forgiveness, a letter to your ancestors or write down things you want to let go of and when done you take them and burn them as a way of release.

For example this Samhain I did a nature walk, I made my own smudge sticks, I meditated, I wrote a letter and wrote things that I wanna let go of and burnt them, I had a huge bonfire, I saged I did a tarot reading and I listened to Celtic music.

Ways you as a non pagan,witch or Wiccan can be respectful :
Educate yourself on the practices and origin, ask pagans, witches and wiccans about it, don't ask rude questions and make us feel bad cause you refuse to educate yourself. Stop making us feel evil and guilty.

Samhain Is a very important holiday to me as it literally is mine and everyone else's who is Celtic or has Celtic ancestry. But it's not just ours, it's for everyone who wants to partake in it and honor it. It's a time where I feel the closest to my ancestors and my heritage-

And as a pagan who leans more towards Norse paganism so asatru it's also a time where I can honor Odin, the Norse gods and my Scandinavian ancestry (it's my own journey so I can blend things in) but Samhain Is pagan and it will always be pagan.

Thank you for reading I hope you have better insight into the holiday, if you have any questions I am here to answer. Please no hate, if you don't like it move along I am not gonna entertain you. But thank you to those of you who are respectful.

Happy Samhain to all my pagans, witches and wiccans I hope you are having a great day and I hope you are keeping safe especially thing samhain. To all of you, I hope you are keeping safe and I am sending all my positive energy your way. Blessed Be )O(