The gate of the year

Samhain feast (November 1)

Detail of the Coligny Calendar, an engraved bronze tablet, dating to the II century A.D., containing an ancient Celtic calendar. The object was discovered in 1897 and now is housed in the Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilization (Musée Gallo-Romain), Lyon, France. In the picture, the upper part of the tablet shows the inscription MID SAM (“month of Sam[onios]”), the Gaulish month corresponding to the Irish Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic year.
Samhain was the most important Celtic festival, was celebrated on November 1, marked the beginning of winter and was the equivalent of a New Year ceremony. For the Celts, as each day began at sunset of the preceding evening, so each year began with winter, more precisely with the period between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. This period indicated a particular moment in the cycle of economic activities: the cattle was brought down from the higher summer pastures to protected winter pastures, and was the moment for the killing of pigs. Evidence from Irish mythological texts suggests that Samhain was the occasion for collective consumption of alcoholic beverages and for an outbreak of elation, probably drinking beer brewed with the cereals of the crop just harvested. Situated at the end of the harvest period, the festival was at the same time a celebration of abundance and wealth and a ritual of propitiation to turn away the dangers for the year to come.
Samhain was regarded as the moment in which the gates separating the visible world from the invisible realm were opened, the fairies and the dead could get through the barrier between the worlds and become visible to everyone. It was believed that the fairies, in this occasion, could kidnap easily human victims and carry them to the Otherworld, and it was customary, to defend oneself from this danger, to carry a piece of iron or a pinch of salt, or turn one’s clothing inside out. During the night, the fairies dwelling inside the artificial earth mounds, built during Prehistoric ages, poured forth in great hordes, forming a Wild Hunt roving over the countryside and kidnapping people they encountered on their road. The dead could also came out of their world at this time and visit the homes of the living. A “dumb supper” was prepared in each house, with the favourite foods of the departed, and it was expected, with a certain apprehension, their visit. Though many regarded the deceased’s visit as benevolent, it could also entail the stealing away of some of the survivors, that the dead desired to carry with them in the Otherworld. Those born on Samhain were believed to possess divinatory skills, and, if they were born “with a caul” (a piece of membrane covering the child’s head), they were reputed to have spiritual powers and were particularly respected and feared (Monaghan 2004).

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Samhain feast (November 1) Detail of the Coligny Calendar, an engraved bronze tablet, dating to the II century A.D., containing an ancient Celtic calendar. The object was discovered in 1897 and now is housed in the Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilization (Musée Gallo-Romain), Lyon, France. In the picture, the upper part of the tablet shows the inscription MID SAM (“month of Sam[onios]”), the Gaulish month corresponding to the Irish Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic year. Samhain was the most important Celtic festival, was celebrated on November 1, marked the beginning of winter and was the equivalent of a New Year ceremony. For the Celts, as each day began at sunset of the preceding evening, so each year began with winter, more precisely with the period between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. This period indicated a particular moment in the cycle of economic activities: the cattle was brought down from the higher summer pastures to protected winter pastures, and was the moment for the killing of pigs. Evidence from Irish mythological texts suggests that Samhain was the occasion for collective consumption of alcoholic beverages and for an outbreak of elation, probably drinking beer brewed with the cereals of the crop just harvested. Situated at the end of the harvest period, the festival was at the same time a celebration of abundance and wealth and a ritual of propitiation to turn away the dangers for the year to come. Samhain was regarded as the moment in which the gates separating the visible world from the invisible realm were opened, the fairies and the dead could get through the barrier between the worlds and become visible to everyone. It was believed that the fairies, in this occasion, could kidnap easily human victims and carry them to the Otherworld, and it was customary, to defend oneself from this danger, to carry a piece of iron or a pinch of salt, or turn one’s clothing inside out. During the night, the fairies dwelling inside the artificial earth mounds, built during Prehistoric ages, poured forth in great hordes, forming a Wild Hunt roving over the countryside and kidnapping people they encountered on their road. The dead could also came out of their world at this time and visit the homes of the living. A “dumb supper” was prepared in each house, with the favourite foods of the departed, and it was expected, with a certain apprehension, their visit. Though many regarded the deceased’s visit as benevolent, it could also entail the stealing away of some of the survivors, that the dead desired to carry with them in the Otherworld. Those born on Samhain were believed to possess divinatory skills, and, if they were born “with a caul” (a piece of membrane covering the child’s head), they were reputed to have spiritual powers and were particularly respected and feared (Monaghan 2004). [Image: http://celtesl2info.canalblog.com/archives/2008/02/29/8135612.html]