A bit of history of the Summer Solstice

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and the shortest night. In the Northern Hemisphere it takes place between June 20 and 22, depending on the year. (The reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere, where the longest day of the year occurs between December 20 and 22.) Humans may have observed the summer solstice as early as the Stone Age. Cultures around the world still celebrate the day with feasts, bonfires, picnics and songs.

According to some ancient Greek calendars, the summer solstice marked the start of the New Year. The summer solstice also marked the one-month countdown to the opening of the Olympic games.

Kronia, a festival celebrating Cronus, the god of agriculture, was also held around this time. The Greeks’ strict social code was temporarily turned on its head during Kronia, with slaves participating in the merriment as equals or even being served by their masters.

In the days leading up to the summer solstice, the ancient Romans celebrated Vestalia, a religious festival in honor of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. During Vestalia, married women could enter the temple of Vesta and leave offerings to the goddess in exchange for blessings for their families.

In ancient China, the summer solstice was associated with “yin,” the feminine force. Festivities celebrated Earth, femininity, and the “yin” force.

Before Christianity, ancient Northern and Central European pagans (including Germanic, Celtic and Slavic groups) welcomed Midsummer with bonfires. It was thought that bonfires would boost the sun’s energy for the rest of the growing season and guarantee a good harvest for the fall.

Bonfires also were associated with magic. It was believed that bonfires could help banish demons and evil spirits and lead maidens to their future husbands. Magic was thought to be strongest during the summer solstice.

Midsummer was a crucial time of year for the Vikings, who would meet to discuss legal matters and resolve disputes around the summer solstice.

Many Native American tribes took part in solstice rituals, some of which are still practiced today. The Sioux, for instance, performed a ceremonial sun dance around a tree while wearing symbolic colors.

Some scholars believe that Wyoming’s Bighorn Medicine Wheel, an arrangement of stones built several hundred years ago by Plains Indians that aligns with the summer solstice sunrise and sunset, was the site of that culture’s annual sun dance.


In agrarian times, Midsummer celebrations in Sweden were held to welcome summertime and the season of fertility. In some areas people dressed up as ‘green men’, clad in ferns. They also decorated their houses and farm tools with foliage, and raised tall, leafy maypoles to dance around, probably as early as the 1500s. Midsummer was primarily an occasion for young people, but it was also celebrated in the industrial communities of central Sweden, where all mill employees were given a feast of pickled herring, beer and schnapps. It was not until the 1900s, however, that this became the most Swedish of all traditional festivities.

Ever since the 6th century AD, Midsummer bonfires have been lit around Europe. In Sweden, they were mainly found in the southern part of the country. Young people also liked to visit holy springs, where they drank the healing water and amused themselves with games and dancing. These visits were a reminder of how John the Baptist baptised Christ in the River Jordan.

Midsummer Night is the lightest of the year and was long considered a magical night, as it was the best time for telling people’s futures. Girls ate salted porridge so that their future husbands might bring water to them in their dreams, to quench their thirst. You could also discover treasures, for example by studying how moonbeams fell.

Also that night, it was said, water was turned into wine and ferns into flowers. Many plants acquired healing powers on that one night of the year.

Interested in learning about some of the history behind Litha? 

Many cultures have honored gods and goddesses of the sun, so let's look at some of the Deities of the Summer Solstice. There's also a seasonal legend of the battle between the Oak King and the Holly King.

There's a ton of solar magic and myths and legend out there, and many cultures have worshiped the sun as part of religious practice throughout time. In Native American spirituality, the Sun Dance is an important part of ritual.

The summer solstice is also associated with festivals such as the Vestalia, in ancient Rome, and with ancient structures like the stone circles found all over the world.

The Roman Festival Vestalia

The Roman celebration of Vestalia was held each year in June, near the time of Litha, the summer solstice. This festival honored Vesta, the Roman goddess who guarded virginity. She was sacred to women, and alongside Juno was considered a protector of marriage.

The Vestal Virgins

The Vestalia was celebrated from June 7 to June 15, and was a time in which the inner sanctum of the Vestal Temple was opened for all women to visit and make offerings to the goddess.

The Vestales, or Vestal Virgins, guarded a sacred flame at the temple, and swore thirty-year vows of chastity. One of the best known Vestales was Rhea Silvia, who broke her vows and conceived twins Romulus and Remus with the god Mars.

It was considered a great honor to be chosen as one of the Vestales, and was a privilege reserved for young girls of patrician birth. Unlike the other Roman priesthoods, the Vestal Virgins was the only group that was exclusive to women.

M. Horatius Piscinus of Patheos writes,

"Historians have since considered the Vestal Virgins to represent the daughters of the king, while the Salii, or leaping priests of Mars, were thought to represent the king’s sons. The participation of all of the City’s matrons, led by the flamenica Dialis, would indicate that Vesta’s hearth, and Her temple, was connected to all of the homes of individual Romans and not just that of the king’s Regia. The welfare of the City, and the welfare of every Roman’s home, resided within the wives of Roman families."

The worship of Vesta in celebration was a complex one. Unlike many Roman deities, she was not typically portrayed in statuary. Instead, the flame of the hearth represented her at the family altar. Likewise, in a town or village, the perpetual flame stood in the stead of the goddess herself.

Worshiping Vesta

For the celebration of Vestalia, the Vestales made a sacred cake, using water carried in consecrated jugs from a holy spring.

The water was never permitted to come into contact with the earth between the spring and the cake, which also included sacred salt and ritually prepared brine as ingredients. The hard-baked cakes were then cut into slices and offered to Vesta.

During the eight days of the Vestalia, only women were permitted to enter Vesta's temple for worship. When they arrived, they removed their shoes and made offerings to the goddess. At the end of Vestalia, the Vestalescleaned the temple from top to bottom, sweeping the floors of dust and debris, and carrying it away for disposal in the Tiber river. Ovid tells us that the last day of Vestalia, the Ides of June, became a holiday for people who worked with grain, such as millers and bakers. They took the day off and hung flower garlands and small loaves of bread from their millstones and shop stalls.

Vesta for Modern Pagans

Today, if you'd like to honor Vesta during the time of the Vestalia, bake a cake as an offering, decorate your home with flowers, and do a ritual cleansing the week before Litha. You can do a ritual cleansing with a Litha blessing besom.

Much like the Greek goddess Hestia, Vesta watches over domesticity and the family, and was traditionally honored with the first offering at any sacrifice made in the home.

On a public level, Vesta's flame was never allowed to burn out, so light a fire in her honor. Keep it in a place where it can safely burn overnight.

When you're working on any sort of domestic, home-focused project, such as needle arts, cooking, or cleaning, honor Vesta with prayers, songs, or hymns

Lecture: The Legend of the Holly King and the Oak King

In many Celtic-based traditions of neopaganism, there is the enduring legend of the battle between the Oak King and the Holly King. These two mighty rulers fight for supremacy as the Wheel of the Year turns each season. At the Winter Solstice, or Yule, the Oak King conquers the Holly King, and then reigns until Midsummer, or Litha. Once the Summer Solstice arrives, the Holly King returns to do battle with the old king, and defeats him.

In the legends of some belief systems, the dates of these events are shifted; the battle takes place at the Equinoxes, so that the Oak King is at his strongest during Midsummer, or Litha, and the Holly King is dominant during Yule. From a folkloric and agricultural standpoint, this interpretation seems to make more sense.

In some Wiccan traditions, the Oak King and the Holly King are seen as dual aspects of the Horned God. Each of these twin aspects rules for half the year, battles for the favor of the Goddess, and then retires to nurse his wounds for the next six months, until it is time for him to reign once more.

Franco over at WitchVox says that the Oak and Holly Kings represent the light and the darkness throughout the year. At the winter solstice we mark "the rebirth of the Sun or the Oak King. On this day the light is reborn and we celebrate the renewal of the light of the year. Oops!

Are we not forgetting someone? Why do we deck the halls with boughs of Holly? This day is the Holly King’s day - the Dark Lord reigns. He is the god of transformation and one who brings us to birth new ways. Why do you think we make “New Year’s Resolutions”? We want to shed our old ways and give way to the new!"

Often, these two entities are portrayed in familiar ways - the Holly King frequently appears as a woodsy version of Santa Claus. He dresses in red, wears a sprig of holly in his tangled hair, and is sometimes depicted driving a team of eight stags. The Oak King is portrayed as a fertility god, and occasionally appears as the Green Man or other lord of the forest.

HOLLY VS. IVY

The symbolism of the holly and the ivy is something that has appeared for centuries; in particular, their roles as representations of opposite seasons has been recognized for a long time. 

In Green Groweth the Holly, King Henry VIII of England wrote:

Green grows the holly, so doth the ivy.
Though winter blasts blow never so high, green grows the holly.
As the holly grows green and never changing hue,
So I am, ever hath been, unto my lady true.
As the holly groweth green with ivy all alone
When flowers cannot be seen and greenwood leaves be gone

Of course, The Holly and the Ivy is one of the best known Christmas carols, which states, "The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown, of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown."

THE BATTLE OF TWO KINGS IN MYTH AND FOLKLORE

Both Robert Graves and Sir James George Frazer wrote about this battle.

Graves said in his work The White Goddess that the conflict between the Oak and Holly Kings echoes that of a number of other archetypical pairings. For instance, the fights between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and between Lugh and Balor in Celtic legend, are similar in type, in which one figure must die for the other to triumph.

Frazer wrote, in The Golden Bough, of the killing of the King of the Wood, or the tree spirit. He says, "His life must therefore have been held very precious by his worshipers, and was probably hedged in by a system of elaborate precautions or taboos like those by which, in so many places, the life of the man-god has been guarded against the malignant influence of demons and sorcerers. But we have seen that the very value attached to the life of the man-god necessitates his violent death as the only means of preserving it from the inevitable decay of age.

The same reasoning would apply to the King of the Wood; he, too, had to be killed in order that the divine spirit, incarnate in him, might be transferred in its integrity to his successor. The rule that he held office till a stronger should slay him might be supposed to secure both the preservation of his divine life in full vigour and its transference to a suitable successor as soon as that vigour began to be impaired. For so long as he could maintain his position by the strong hand, it might be inferred that his natural force was not abated; whereas his defeat and death at the hands of another proved that his strength was beginning to fail and that it was time his divine life should be lodged in a less dilapidated tabernacle."

Ultimately, while these two beings do battle all year long, they are two essential parts of a whole. Despite being enemies, without one, the other would no longer exist.

A history of Samhain

Samhain (pronounced /ˈsɑːwɪn/ SAH-win or /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/ SOW-in, Irish pronunciation: [sˠəuɪnʲ]) is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from 31 October to 1 November, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset. This is about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasadh. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Similar festivals are held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall), Kalan Goañv (in Brittany), and Samaín (in Galicia).

Samhain is believed to have Celtic pagan origins and there is evidence it has been an important date since ancient times. Some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise around the time of Samhain. It is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. As at Bealtaine, special bonfires were lit. These were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers and there were rituals involving them. Like Bealtaine, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into our world. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink were left outside for them. The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Mummingand guising were part of the festival, and involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating, and disguising oneself from, the Aos Sí. Divination rituals and games were also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples. In the late 19th century, Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer suggested that it was the "Celtic New Year", and this view has been repeated by some other scholars.

In the 9th century AD, Western Christianity shifted the date of All Saints' Day to 1 November, while 2 November later became All Souls' Day. Over time, Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' merged to create the modern Halloween. Historians have used the name 'Samhain' to refer to Gaelic 'Halloween' customs up until the 19th century.

Since the later 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed Samhain, or something based on it, as a religious holiday. Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere often celebrate Samhain at the other end of the year (about 1 May).

Etymology

In Modern Irish the name is Samhain [ˈsˠaunʲ], in Scottish Gaelic Samhainn/Samhuinn [ˈsaũ.iɲ], and in Manx Gaelic Sauin. These are also the names of November in each language, shortened from Mí na Samhna (Irish), Mì na Samhna (Scottish Gaelic) and Mee Houney (Manx). The night of 31 October (Halloween) is Oíche Shamhna (Irish), Oidhche Shamhna(Scottish Gaelic) and Oie Houney (Manx), all meaning "Samhain night". 1 November, or the whole festival, may be called Lá Samhna (Irish), Là Samhna (Scottish Gaelic) and Laa Houney (Manx), all meaning "Samhain day".

These names all come from the Old Irish samain, samuin or samfuin [ˈsaṽɨnʲ] all referring to 1 November (latha na samna: 'samhain day'), and the festival and royal assembly held on that date in medieval Ireland (oenach na samna: 'samhain assembly'). Its meaning is glossed as 'summer's end', and the frequent spelling with f suggests analysis by popular etymology as sam ('summer') and fuin ('end'). The Old Irish sam is from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *semo-; cognates include Welsh haf, Breton hañv, English summer and Old Norse sumar, all meaning 'summer', and the Sanskrit sáma ('season').

In 1907, Whitley Stokes suggested an etymology from Proto-Celtic *samani ('assembly'), cognate to Sanskrit sámana, and Gothic samana. J. Vendryes concludes that samain is unrelated to *semo- ('summer'), remarking that the Celtic 'end of summer' was in July, not November, as evidenced by Welsh gorffennaf ('July'). We would therefore be dealing with an Insular Celtic word for 'assembly', *samani or *samoni, and a word for 'summer', saminos (from *samo-: 'summer') alongside samrad, *samo-roto-.

Coligny calendar

The Gaulish month name SAMON[IOS] "(pertaining to) Summer" on the Coligny calendar is likely related to the word Samhain. A festival of some kind may have been held during the 'three nights of Samonios' (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]). The Gaulish calendar seems to have split the year into two-halves: the first beginning with the month SAMON[IOS] and the second beginning with the month GIAMONIOS, which is related to the word for winter, PIE *g'hei-men- (Latin hiems, Latvian ziema, Lithuanian žiema, Slavic zima, Greek kheimon, Hittite gimmanza), cf. Old Irish gem-adaig ('winter's night'). Samonios may represent the beginning of the summer season and Giamonios (the seventh month) the beginning of the winter season. The lunations marking the middle of each half-year may also have been marked by festivals.

History

Samain or Samuin was the name of the feis or festival marking the beginning of winter in Gaelic Ireland. It is attested in some of the earliest Old Irish literature, from the 10th century onward. It was one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain (~1 November), Imbolc (~1 February), Bealtaine (~1 May) and Lughnasadh (~1 August). Samhain and Bealtaine, at the witherward side of the year from each other, are thought to have been the most important. Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion that 1 May and 1 November are of little importance to European crop-growers, but of great importance to herdsmen. It is at the beginning of summer that cattle are driven to the upland summer pastures and the beginning of winter that they are led back. Thus, Frazer suggests that halving the year at 1 May and 1 November dates from a time when the Celts were mainly a pastoral people, dependent on their herds.

Some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise around the times of Samhain and Imbolc. These include the Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall) at the Hill of Tara, and Cairn L at Slieve na Calliagh.

In medieval Ireland the festival marked the end of the season for trade and warfare and was a time for tribal gatherings. These gatherings are a popular setting for early Irish tales.

In Irish mythology

Irish mythology was originally a spoken tradition, but much of it was eventually written down in the Middle Ages by Christian monks, who Christianized it to some extent. Nevertheless, these tales may shed some light on what Samhain meant and how it was marked in ancient Ireland.

Irish mythology tells us that Samhain was one of the four seasonal festivals of the year, and the 10th-century tale Tochmarc Emire ('The Wooing of Emer') lists Samhain as the first of these four "quarter days". The tales say it was marked by great gatherings where they held meetings, feasted, drank alcohol, and held contests.

According to Irish mythology, Samhain (like Bealtaine) was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; but while Bealtaine was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead". The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn says that the sídhe (fairy mounds or portals to the Otherworld) "were always open at Samhain". It tells us that the High King of Ireland hosted a great gathering at Tara each Samhain. Each year the fire-breather Aillen emerges from the Otherworld and burns down the palace of Tara after lulling everyone to sleep with his music. One Samhain, the young Fionn mac Cumhaill is able to stay awake and slays Aillen with a magical spear, for which he is made leader of the fianna. Acallam na Senórach ('Colloquy of the Elders') tells how three female werewolves emerge from the cave of Cruachan (an Otherworld portal) each Samhain and kill livestock. When Cas Corach plays his harp, they take on human form, and the fianna warrior Caílte then slays them with a spear.

Some tales may suggest that offerings or sacrifices were made at Samhain. In the Lebor Gabála Érenn (or 'Book of Invasions'), each Samhain the people of Nemed had to give two-thirds of their children, their corn and their milk to the monstrous Fomorians. The Fomorians seem to represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature; personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight and drought. This tribute paid by Nemed's people may represent a "sacrifice offered at the beginning of winter, when the powers of darkness and blight are in the ascendant". According to the later Dindsenchas and the Annals of the Four Masters—which were written by Christian monks—Samhain in ancient Ireland was associated with a god or idol called Crom Cruach. The texts claim that a first-born child would be sacrificed at the stone idol of Crom Cruach in Magh Slécht. They say that King Tigernmas, and three-fourths of his people, died while worshiping Crom Cruach there one Samhain.

The legendary kings Diarmait mac Cerbaill and Muirchertach mac Ercae each die a threefold death on Samhain, which involves wounding, burning and drowning, and of which they are forewarned. In the tale Togail Bruidne Dá Derga ('The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel'), king Conaire Mór also meets his death on Samhain after breaking his geasa(prohibitions or taboos). He is warned of his impending doom by three undead horsemen who are messengers of Donn, god of the dead. The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn tells how each Samhain the men of Ireland went to woo a beautiful maiden who lives in the fairy mound on Brí Eile (Croghan Hill). It says that each year someone would be killed "to mark the occasion", by persons unknown. Some academics suggest that these tales recall human sacrifice, and argue that several ancient Irish bog bodies (such as Old Croghan Man) appear to have been kings who were ritually killed, some of them around the time of Samhain.

In the Echtra Neraí ('The Adventure of Nera'), King Ailill of Connacht sets his retinue a test of bravery on Samhain night. He offers a prize to whoever can make it to a gallows and tie a band around a hanged man's ankle. Each challenger is thwarted by demons and runs back to the king's hall in fear. However, Nera succeeds, and the dead man then asks for a drink. Nera carries him on his back and they stop at three houses. They enter the third, where the dead man drinks and spits it on the householders, killing them. Returning, Nera sees a fairy host burning the king's hall and slaughtering those inside. He follows the host through a portal into the Otherworld. Nera learns that what he saw was only a vision of what will happen the next Samhain unless something is done. He is able to return to the hall and warns the king.

The tale Aided Chrimthainn maic Fidaig ('The Killing of Crimthann mac Fidaig') tells how Mongfind kills her brother, king Crimthann of Munster, so that one of her sons might become king. Mongfind offers Crimthann a poisoned drink at a feast, but he asks her to drink from it first. Having no other choice but to drink the poison, she dies on Samhain eve. The Middle Irish writer notes that Samhain is also called Féile Moingfhinne (the Festival of Mongfind or Mongfhionn), and that "women and the rabble make petitions to her" at Samhain.

Many other events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. The invasion of Ulster that makes up the main action of the Táin Bó Cúailnge ('Cattle Raid of Cooley') begins on Samhain. As cattle-raiding typically was a summer activity, the invasion during this off-season surprised the Ulstermen. The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh also begins on Samhain. The Morrígan and The Dagda meet and have sex before the battle against the Fomorians; in this way the Morrígan acts as a sovereignty figure and gives the victory to the Dagda's people, the Tuatha Dé Danann. In Aislinge Óengusa ('The Dream of Óengus') it is when he and his bride-to-be switch from bird to human form, and in Tochmarc Étaíne('The Wooing of Étaín') it is the day on which Óengus claims the kingship of Brú na Bóinne.

Several sites in Ireland are especially linked to Samhain. Each Samhain a host of otherworldly beings was said to emerge from Oweynagat("cave of the cats"), at Rathcroghan in County Roscommon. The Hill of Ward (or Tlachtga) in County Meath is thought to have been the site of a great Samhain gathering and bonfire; the Iron Age ringfort is said to have been where the goddess or druid Tlachtga gave birth to triplets and where she later died.

In The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (1996), Ronald Hutton writes: "No doubt there were [pagan] religious observances as well, but none of the tales ever portrays any". The only historic reference to pagan religious rites is in the work of Geoffrey Keating (died 1644), but his source is unknown. Hutton says it may be that no religious rites are mentioned because, centuries after Christianization, the writers had no record of them. Hutton suggests Samhain may not have been particularly associated with the supernatural. He says that the gatherings of royalty and warriors on Samhain may simply have been an ideal setting for such tales, in the same way that many Arthurian tales are set at courtly gatherings at Christmas or Pentecost.

Historic customs

Samhain was one of the four main festivals of the Gaelic calendar, marking the end of the harvest and beginning of winter. Samhain customs are mentioned in several medieval texts. In Serglige Con Culainn ('Cúchulainn's Sickbed'), it is said that the festival of the Ulaid at Samhain lasted a week: Samhain itself, and the three days before and after. It involved great gatherings at which they held meetings, feasted, drank alcohol, and held contests. The Togail Bruidne Dá Derga notes that bonfires were lit at Samhain and stones cast into the fires. It is mentioned in Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, which was written in the early 1600s but draws on earlier medieval sources, some of which are unknown. He claims that the feis of Tara was held for a week every third Samhain, when the nobles and ollams of Ireland met to lay down and renew the laws, and to feast. He also claims that the druids lit a sacred bonfire at Tlachtga and made sacrifices to the gods, sometimes by burning them in the fire. He adds that all other fires were doused and then re-lit from this bonfire.

Traditionally, Samhain was a time to take stock of the herds and food supplies. Cattle were brought down to the winter pastures after six months in the higher summer pastures. It was also the time to choose which animals would need to be slaughtered for the winter. This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock because it is when meat will keep since the freeze has come and also since summer grass is gone and free foraging is no longer possible. It is thought that some of the rituals associated with the slaughter have been transferred to other winter holidays. On St. Martin's Day (11 November) in Ireland, an animal – usually a rooster, goose or sheep – would be slaughtered and some of its blood sprinkled on the threshold of the house. It was offered to Saint Martin, who may have taken the place of a god or gods, and it was then eaten as part of a feast. This custom was common in parts of Ireland until the 19th century, and was found in some other parts of Europe. At New Year in the Hebrides, a man dressed in a cowhide would circle the township sunwise. A bit of the hide would be burnt and everyone would breathe in the smoke. These customs were meant to keep away bad luck, and similar customs were found in other Celtic regions.

As at Bealtaine, bonfires were lit on hilltops at Samhain and there were rituals involving them. However, by the modern era, they only seem to have been common in parts of the Scottish Highlands, on the Isle of Man, in north and mid Wales, and in parts of Ulster. F. Marian McNeill says that a force-fire (or need-fire) was the traditional way of lighting them, but notes that this method gradually died out. Likewise, only certain kinds of wood were traditionally used, but later records show that many kinds of flammable material were burnt. It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. They may also have served to symbolically "burn up and destroy all harmful influences". Accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries suggest that the fires (as well as their smoke and ashes) were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers. In Moray, boys asked for bonfire fuel from each house in the village. When the fire was lit, "one after another of the youths laid himself down on the ground as near to the fire as possible so as not to be burned, and in such a position as to let the smoke roll over him. The others ran through the smoke and jumped over him". When the bonfire burnt down, they scattered the ashes, vying with each other who should scatter them most. Sometimes, two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people – sometimes with their livestock – would walk between them as a cleansing ritual. The bones of slaughtered cattle were said to have been cast upon bonfires. In the pre-Christian Gaelic world, cattle were the main form of wealth and were the center of agricultural and pastoral life.

People also took flames from the bonfire back to their homes. In parts of Scotland, torches of burning fir or turf were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. In some places, people doused their hearth fires on Samhain night. Each family then solemnly re-lit its hearth from the communal bonfire, thus bonding the community together.The 17th century writer Geoffrey Keating claimed that this was an ancient tradition, instituted by the druids. Dousing the old fire and bringing in the new may have been a way of banishing evil, which was done at New Year festivals in many countries.

The bonfires were also used in divination rituals. In 18th century Ochtertyre, a ring of stones—one for each person—was laid round the fire, perhaps on a layer of ashes. Everyone then ran round it with a torch, "exulting". In the morning, the stones were examined and if any was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year. A similar custom was observed in north Wales and in Brittany. James Frazer says that this may come from "an older custom of actually burning them" (i.e. human sacrifice) or may have always been symbolic. Divination has likely been a part of the festival since ancient times, and it has survived in some rural areas. At household festivities throughout the Gaelic regions and Wales, there were many rituals intended to divine the future of those gathered, especially with regard to death and marriage. Apples and hazelnuts were often used in these divination rituals or games. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom. One of the most common games was apple bobbing. Another involved hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod was spun round and everyone took turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth. Apples were peeled in one long strip, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape was said to form the first letter of the future spouse's name. Two hazelnuts were roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desired. If the nuts jumped away from the heat, it was a bad sign, but if the nuts roasted quietly it foretold a good match. Items were hidden in food—usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or sowans—and portions of it served out at random. A person's future was foretold by the item they happened to find; for example a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth. A salty oatmeal bannock was baked; the person ate it in three bites and then went to bed in silence without anything to drink. This was said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst. Egg whites were dropped in water, and the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from the number of birds or the direction they flew.

As noted earlier, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the aos sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into our world. Many scholars see the aos sí as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. At Samhain, it was believed that the aos síneeded to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. As such, offerings of food and drink would be left outside for the aos sí. Portions of the crops might also be left in the ground for them. One custom—described a "blatant example" of a "pagan rite surviving into the Christian epoch"—was observed in the Outer Hebrides until the early 19th century. On 31 October, the locals would go down to the shore. One man would wade into the water up to his waist, where he would pour out a cup of ale and ask 'Seonaidh' ('Shoney'), whom he called "god of the sea", to bestow blessings on them. People also took special care not to offend the aos sí and sought to ward-off any who were out to cause mischief. They stayed near to home or, if forced to walk in the darkness, turned their clothing inside-out or carried iron or salt to keep them at bay. The dead were also honored at Samhain. The beginning of winter may have been seen as the most fitting time to do so, as it was a time of 'dying' in nature. The souls of the dead were thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world. James Frazer suggests "It was perhaps a natural thought that the approach of winter should drive the poor, shivering, hungry ghosts from the bare fields and the leafless woodlands to the shelter of the cottage". However, the souls of thankful kin could return to bestow blessings just as easily as that of a wronged person could return to wreak revenge.

Mumming and guising was a part of Samhain from at least the 16th century and was recorded in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Mann and Wales. It involved people going from house to house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting songs or verses in exchange for food. It is suggested that it evolved from a tradition whereby people impersonated the aos sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. Impersonating these spirits or souls was also believed to protect oneself from them. S. V. Peddle suggests the guisers "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune". McNeill suggests that the ancient festival included people in masks or costumes representing these spirits and that the modern custom came from this. In Ireland, costumes were sometimes worn by those who went about before nightfall collecting for a Samhain feast.

In parts of southern Ireland during the 19th century, the guisers included a hobby horse known as the Láir Bhán (white mare). A man covered in a white sheet and carrying a decorated horse skull (representing the Láir Bhán) would lead a group of youths, blowing on cow horns, from farm to farm. At each they recited verses, some of which "savoured strongly of paganism", and the farmer was expected to donate food. If the farmer donated food he could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. This is akin to the Mari Lwyd (grey mare) procession in Wales, which takes place at Midwinter. In Wales the white horse is often seen as an omen of death. In some places, young people cross-dressed. In Scotland, young men went house-to-house with masked, veiled, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed. This was common in the 16th century in the Scottish countryside and persisted into the 20th. It is suggested that the blackened faces comes from using the bonfire's ashes for protection. Elsewhere in Europe, costumes, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".

Hutton writes: "When imitating malignant spirits it was a very short step from guising to playing pranks". Playing pranks at Samhain is recorded in the Scottish Highlands as far back as 1736 and was also common in Ireland, which led to Samhain being nicknamed "Mischief Night" in some parts. Wearing costumes at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century, as did the custom of playing pranks, though there had been mumming at other festivals. At the time of mass transatlantic Irish and Scottish immigration, which popularised Halloween in North America, Halloween in Ireland and Scotland had a strong tradition of guising and pranks. Trick-or-treating may have come from the custom of going door-to-door collecting food for Samhain feasts, fuel for Samhain bonfires and/or offerings for the aos sí. Alternatively, it may have come from the All Saints/All Souls custom of collecting soul cakes.

The "traditional illumination for guisers or pranksters abroad on the night in some places was provided by turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces". They were also set on windowsills. By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits or supernatural beings, or were used to ward off evil spirits.^[76][80][81] These were common in parts of Ireland and the Scotland into the 20th century. They were also found in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.

Celtic Revival

During the late 19th and early 20th century Celtic Revival, there was an upswell of interest in Samhain and the other Celtic festivals. Sir John Rhysput forth that it had been the "Celtic New Year". He inferred it from contemporary folklore in Ireland and Wales, which he felt was "full of Hallowe'en customs associated with new beginnings". He visited Mann and found that the Manx sometimes called 31 October "New Year's Night" or Hog-unnaa. The Tochmarc Emire, written in the Middle Ages, reckoned the year around the four festivals at the beginning of the seasons, and put Samhain at the beginning of those. However, Hutton says that the evidence for it being the Celtic or Gaelic New Year's Day is flimsy. Rhys's theory was popularised by Sir James George Frazer, though at times he did acknowledge that the evidence is inconclusive. Frazer also put forth that Samhain had been the pagan Celtic festival of the dead and that it had been Christianized as All Saints and All Souls. Since then, Samhain has been popularly seen as the Celtic New Year and an ancient festival of the dead. The calendar of the Celtic League, for example, begins and ends at Samhain.

Related festivals

In the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, Samhain is known as the 'calends of winter'. The Brythonic lands of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany held festivals on 31 October similar to the Gaelic one. In Wales it is Calan Gaeaf, in Cornwall it is Allantide or Kalan Gwav and in Brittany it is Kalan Goañv.

The Manx celebrate Hop-tu-Naa on 31 October, which is a celebration of the original New Year's Eve. The term is Manx Gaelic in origin, possibly from Shogh ta'n Oie, meaning "this is the night". Traditionally, children carve turnips rather than pumpkins and carry them around the neighborhood singing traditional songs relating to hop-tu-naa.

All Saints' Day

The Roman Catholic holy day of All Saints (or All Hallows) was introduced in the year 609, but was originally celebrated on 13 May. In 835, Louis the Pious switched it to 1 November in the Carolingian Empire, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV. However, from the testimony of Pseudo-Bede, it is known that churches in what are now England and Germany were already celebrating All Saints on 1 November at the beginning of the 8th century. Thus, Louis merely made official the custom of celebrating it on 1 November. James Frazer suggests that 1 November was chosen because it was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead (Samhain) – the Celts had influenced their English neighbours, and English missionaries had influenced the Germans. However, Ronald Hutton points out that, according to Óengus of Tallaght (d. ca. 824), the 7th/8th century church in Ireland celebrated All Saints on 20 April. He suggests that the 1 November date was a Germanic rather than a Celtic idea.

Over time, the night of 31 October came to be called All Hallows' Eve (or All Hallows' Even). Samhain influenced All Hallows' Eve and vice versa, and the two eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.

Celtic Reconstructionism

Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans emphasise historical accuracy. They base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore as well as research into the beliefs of the polytheistic Celts.

Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans (or CRs) often celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Some follow the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of purification. For CRs, it is a time when the dead are especially honoured. Though CRs make offerings at all times of the year, Samhain is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors. This may involve making a small shrine. Often there will be a meal, where a place for the dead is set at the table and they are invited to join. Traditional tales may be told and traditional songs, poems and dances performed. A western-facing door or window may be opened and a candle left burning on the windowsill to guide the dead home. Divination for the coming year is often done, whether in all solemnity or as games for the children. The more mystically inclined may also see this as a time for deeply communing with their deities, especially those seen as being particularly linked with this festival.

Wicca

Wiccans celebrate a variation of Samhain as one of the yearly Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. It is deemed by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four "greater Sabbats". Samhain is seen by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have died, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the dead are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility.

Wiccans believe that at Samhain the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the whole year, making it easier to communicate with those who have left this world.