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Fellow Pagans/Wiccans, how will you be celebrating Samhain this year...if you are?

I just figured out that I'm celebrating Samhain on Halloween this year, because it's on a Saturday. Samhain is usually the 1rst or 2nd day of November. Samhain in Gaelic literally means "November." I'm trying to craft ideas on how to celebrate them both at the same time. ANy ideas? (Please, if you're a non-pagan or religious fundamentalist reading this, and you only have something stupid to say, please do not respond to this.)

Samhain/Samhainn is NOT the 1st or 2nd November, these are All Saint's and All Soul's day in the Catholic Faith. Feast Days. In terms of Western Christian theology, All Saint's Day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven. Specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls' Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.

Samhain in modern times has come to be celebrated on the 31st October by Wiccans, and those of some other neo-pagan paths and general pagan spirituality.

No, Samhain/Samhainn ACTUALLY means "Summers end". The word is used in Scots and Irish Gaelic to signify the month November.

November means "ninth month" but we use it to signify the month we do.

Right, now we've got THAT straight. Celebrate Samhain. Well think about why you want to do that, what does the season mean to you. What does the Celtic myth cycle mean to you. The clocks going back, the nights really and truly drawing in.....think about other mythic cycles at this time of year, one of the other posters mentioned Persephone - think about that.

For me - a time of 'letting go' - ideas that didn't work out (yet), challenges I've met along the way, hopes/dreams not materialised (yet), people whose presence in my life has come to a natural ending - and of course the people who have gone before me to the Summerlands

To me Samhain is about remembrance of those that have gone, and to the acknowledgment of the mystery that there is no death.

The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos or All Souls' Day) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day which occurs on November 1st and All Souls' Day which occurs on November 2nd. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Many people feel that this time of year is a good time to acknowledge the sacrifices made by our ancestors, without whom we wouldn't be, to celebrate their life, and to acknowledge their passing, and the turning of the wheel of life. As we sink into the dark half of the year, the Lord of Death and Resurrection (nothing to do with Christianity) reigns until the solstice and the lengthening days once again.

Some people set a place at the dinner table, a "dumb supper" for any passing spirits to enjoy, don't eat the food, dispose of it in a separate bag from your normal household waste. It's a time for giving thanks for the harvests both physical and emotional, for looking at rest and inward vision, plans and ideas for the next Spring....

What am I doing? Our coven is going away for the weekend. Private coven ritual on the Friday night, which is a big event, sombre and emotional. On the Saturday we have others coming to join us, an open ritual, followed by a party of lights and fellowship.

As an aside, the Hindu faith has Diwali (Festival of Lights) at this time of year, go and have a look at that as well.

"Regardless of the mythological explanation one prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple - and some not so simple - joys of life." Times of India editorial

Whatever you do, and it doesn't have to be complicated, do it sincerely and give thanks for that which you have gained during the past year, and for those who have gone before us, and gave us birth.

Blessed Be
H