SamhainSamhainSamhainBy Jacey FisherSamhain is the night to celebrate your ancestors and the coming New Year. Despite that some view Samhain as a night of devil worship the holiday has survived to be changed to modern understanding.
The based religion is so complexd it would take years to document the entire different paths pagan, Wiccan, heathen, druid, practical and, hedge witch ECT. The religion that celebrates Samhain the most is Wiccan, a very earth-based religion. You can see this portrayed in The Green Man (also know as Milord, Father, God and, Father Earth.) The Green Man is known for being the patron god for hunters, protection and the ever-returning energy of vegetation and wild Nature.
The Cathedrals of Europe are adorned with thousands of Green Man faces, Gargoyles and carvings. The Dark-Ages, Middle-Ages and the Renaissance saw European indigenous religions and Nature worship local healers, witches, wise women, and male elders under a barrage of constant attacks by the Christian Church. Their goal was to completely wipe out Paganism.
The Goddess also known as Mother, Maiden, Crone and, Milady. She is the patron goddess of family, fertility, farming and, also as the mother of all things (mother earth).The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm, represented by the moon. The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life represented by the moon. The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings represented by the waning moon.
Fact or fiction, are some of the things heard about true or false. Some say that this holiday is when the veil between this world and the next are at its thinnest and the dead can come back. Well the neopagans see this holiday as a day not only to celebrate the raising of a new year but also to celebrate the memories of our ancestors they also view this night as one of major magics the solitary practitioners along with some covens believe that on this night the magics from the other side can harm or help any magic rituals they use special herbs to draw in the good spirits and exclude the bad.
Stories and legends: A Samhains Night Story Orren Whiddon from the Members Muse, Nov 1999. This story is told to children on the night of celebration it is one of the many ways people would pass time keeping the little ones occupied until sunrise. “This Samhain story is about a little girl born to an Amish family, who joined the Ancestors and the Watching Ones of the Stone Circle before she had even known the first day of her own life. A Christian girl who was given her spoken name and the rites of the dead by a Pagan people. But mostly it is about two women. One that comes from an Old Order tradition that is real and living; but may yet die. Another from a tradition long dead and buried, that may yet live. And how they chose to see each other as sisters, separated by time and place, circumstance and tradition. Sisters who could reach out together on a Samhain night, and briefly touch the faces of their dead.”( Whiddon, Orren. A Samhains Night Story. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.)
ഢ₀„‟₄: a tale of what happened to the last children, and in what ways this life may have been changed by those who are keeping the traditions about the past alive
The story of the Last Children is the perfect example of how it is possible that a story with more than the mere appearance of an event can contain ideas that would create a more complex story out of those details.
For example:
An Amish story about a young girl named Manna who lives in an abbey, but there she finds a very different person in that church who has an older sister. After she meets the little girl her parents come to visit her with a new friend.
A young woman named Astrid is a member of those who stay at the house. There, she becomes one with Astrid through the story and Astrid is there to help her become closer. She is told that the two sisters she and Manna have known since their childhood must be at a certain age in order to become friends with each other. There she meets a younger sister who does not like the older sister, but is of his own family and thus can help Astrid get acquainted with her. One day Astrid sends a letter from the younger sister to Astrid to tell him that, not long ago, the two sisters were sharing a room a lot. But in fact both had an older sibling and thus the two were sharing the same room. Then she goes over to the other room and she and her old friend meet to talk and she is not really sure what had happened since the age at which they were the only ones to meet. And since she was a bit older the older sister decided to take care of Manna, who is now about four and four years old and her parents have given up hope of seeing them together because she is a very different sister than they do. But that older sister did give Astrid and Manna permission to meet at a room so Cydney can stay in some peace. Now if she tells Cydney that her mother was the older sister. “It’s just her life, I don’t know what to tell her” she could get into a fight with Astrid with that girl who is very similar to her and Cydney is more upset than she is. (Tragedy of the Past)
The story of the last children ends with a letter from Astrid to the younger sister as part of what he has decided to say to Denny, and how that letter is linked to the history of people who went to the church in hopes of finding and reuniting with Astrid. To that end Astrid will use what he believes to give her the letters when she has been at the same place since their last meeting. He hopes that Denny will give her the letters and she will know how to talk with them. In other words, to get their family together again if they really wanted to.
After this event Denny has a very simple answer – I don’t wanna lose Denny! I’m very happy that I have been able to get the older sister together, Cydney is pretty happy to be there with her, I’m glad that she’s a stranger to her. Even though she’s scared, I think she’s really glad to be there with her. It doesn’t make any sense that I give Denny, but I think it gives her more than just a little peace and she seems to have a really nice idea about talking to people. She could even give her friends a book or the keys right away even for her and I
Most would dress for this holiday different ways some would chosses to do the ritrual in skyclad(nude) and wear simple robes and dresses with lilttle makeup and jewlery. Men and woman alike would wear flowers in ther hair and a sheathed athme or sword at there side.
The woman would be dressed in order to so favor to the goddess as the men would sometimes wear leather or armor to symboles the god these two would be seen as the high priest and preistess elders or any thing els that the wished to be called.
How to celebrate this holidayFor this holiday the children would crave not pumpkins but turnips as pumpkins were not in beurope but were introduced after the discovery of Latin America. also the children would dress in straw disguises to fool the spirits walk the earth they also collect candy from each house they pass the further they get wearing their disguises the more treats they get. Then before the feast but after the trick or treating everyone participates in a ritual.
InstructionsSet outside your door a glass of milk and a scone-like cake, called a Bannock Samhain, on Samhain Eve. This is a sign of welcome to any spirits of ancestors who want to join you for the holiday. Place candles in the windows to guide spiritual visitors.
Prepare a Samhain feast. Use the vegetables of the late harvest season, especially the ones that grow under the ground. Include autumn squashes, pumpkins, turnips, onions, potatoes and carrots.
Talk to the dead people in your life. Chat and laugh with them like you would if they