The gate of the year

Samhain feast (November 1)

Irish tradition associated the feast of Samhain with the Oweynagat Cave (“the Cave of the Cats”), near Cruachan, the ancient capital of the province of Connacht, a narrow entrance that opens into a great underground chamber. Through this opening it was believed that the war goddess, Mórrígan, drove her Otherworldly cattle into the cave each sunset. When, on Samhain, the veils separating this world from the Otherworld were thin or abolished, ghostly visions and apparitions could manifest themselves to those who came to pass near the cave, known in the documents, until the XVIII century, as the “Hell-mouth of Ireland”.
With the passing of time, the celebration of Samhain has been Christianized, becoming the All Saints’ Day, and, in popular tradition, it has been transformed into the children’s holyday of Halloween, which, with its costumed children and their pranks, has been transferred by the Irish in the United States, and from here it has been diffused all through the world.

[Image: http://mythicmysteriesmiscellany.devhub.com/blog/498816-oweynagat/]




Seasonal Cycles

Back

Samhain feast (November 1) Irish tradition associated the feast of Samhain with the Oweynagat Cave (“the Cave of the Cats”), near Cruachan, the ancient capital of the province of Connacht, a narrow entrance that opens into a great underground chamber. Through this opening it was believed that the war goddess, Mórrígan, drove her Otherworldly cattle into the cave each sunset. When, on Samhain, the veils separating this world from the Otherworld were thin or abolished, ghostly visions and apparitions could manifest themselves to those who came to pass near the cave, known in the documents, until the XVIII century, as the “Hell-mouth of Ireland”. With the passing of time, the celebration of Samhain has been Christianized, becoming the All Saints’ Day, and, in popular tradition, it has been transformed into the children’s holyday of Halloween, which, with its costumed children and their pranks, has been transferred by the Irish in the United States, and from here it has been diffused all through the world. [Image: http://mythicmysteriesmiscellany.devhub.com/blog/498816-oweynagat/]