Jump to content

Samhain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 83.198.111.205 (talk) at 14:18, 27 October 2006 (→‎External links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Samhain
Observed byGaels, Neopagans, Wiccans
TypePagan
CelebrationsTraditional first day of winter in Ireland
Beginsevening October 31
EndsNovember 1
DateNovember 1
Related toHallowe'en, All Saints Day, Sabbats
This article is about the Celtic holiday. For the band, see Samhain (band).

Samhain (IPA: [ˈsawənʲ]) is the word for November in the Irish language. The Scottish Gaelic spelling is Samhuinn. The same word was used for a month in the Celtic calendar, and in particular the first three nights of this month, the festival marking the ending of the summer season, and the end of the harvest. Elements of the festival may continue in the traditions of All Souls' Day and Halloween. The name is also used for one of the sabbat feasts in the Wiccan wheel of the year.

Etymology

Irish samhain is from Old Irish samain, samuin, samfuin, referring to 1 November (lathe na samna, "samhain day"), and the festival and royal assembly at that date in medieval Ireland (oenaig na samna, "samhain night"). Its meaning is glossed as "summer's end", and the frequent spelling with f suggests analysis by popular etymology as sam "summer" and fuin "sunset, end". Old Irish sam "summer" is from PIE *semo- , cognates are Welsh haf, Breton hañv, Old Norse language sumar all meaning "summer", and Sanskrit sáma "season".

W. Stokes in KZ 40:245 (1907) suggests an etymology from Proto-Celtic *samani with a meaning "assembly", cognate to Sanskrit sámana, Gothic samana). Compare to this cetemain "1 May, beltane", related to Middle Welsh kyntefin "1 May, calan haf, May" from *kintu-samino- "beginning of summer" (G. Murphy in Early Irish Lyrics 52), mehefin "June, middle of summer". J. Vendryes in Lexique Étymologique de l'Irlandais Ancien (1959) concludes that these words containing *semo- "summer" are unrelated to samain, remarking that furthermore 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 derived from *samo- "summer" (alongside samrad < *samo-roto-). Irish samain would be etymologically unrelated to "summer", and derive from "assembly". But note that the name of the month is of Proto-Celtic age, c.f. Gaulish SAMON[IOS] from the Coligny calendar, and the association with "summer" by popular etymology may therefore in principle date to even pre-Insular Celtic times.

Confusingly, Gaulish Samonios (October/November lunation) corresponds to GIAMONIOS, the seventh month (the April/May lunation) and the beginning of the summer season. Giamonios, the beginning of the summer season, is clearly related to the word for winter, PIE *g'hei-men- (Latin hiems, Slavic zima, Greek kheimon, Hittite gimmanza), c. f. Old Irish gem-adaig "winter's night" (the vocalism of gam "winter" is influenced by sam, Thurneysen KZ 61:253). It appears, therefore, that for some reason already in Proto-Celtic the first month of the summer season was named "wintry", and the first month of the winter half-year "summery", possibly by ellipsis, "[month at the end] of summer/winter", so that samfuin would be a restitution of the original meaning after all. This interpretation would either invalidate the "assembly" explanation given above, or push back the time of the re-interpretation by popular etymology to very early times indeed.

Bealtaine, Lúnasa and Samhain are still today the names of the months of May, August and November in the Irish language. Similarly, Lùnasdal and Samhain are the modern Scots Gaelic names for August and November.

Ancient Celts

see also Celtic calendar.

The Gaulish calendar may have divided the year into two halves, the "dark" half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation), and the "light half", beginning with the Giamonios (the April/May lunation). The entire year appears to have been considered as beginning with the "dark" half, so that the beginning of Samonios may be considered the Celtic New Year's day. All months began at full moon, and the celebration of New Year took place during the "three nights of Samonios" (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]), the full moon of nearest the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. The full moons marking the middle of each half-year may also have been specific festivals, the Coligny calendar marks the mid-summer one (see Lughnasadh), but omits the mid-winter one (see Imbolc). Note that the seasons are not oriented at the solar year, viz. solstice and equinox, but that the mid-summer festival would be considerably later than summer solstice, around 1 August. It appears that the calendar was designed to align the lunations with the agricultural cycle of vegetation, and that the actual movements of the Sun were less important.

In medieval Ireland, samain remained the principal festival, celebrated with a great assembly at the royal court in Tara, lasting for three days, consistent with the Gaulish testimony.

The popular literature over the last century or so has given birth to the near universal assumption[citation needed] that Samhain, now associated with Halloween, was the "Celtic New Year". A number of sources including both the work of scholarly historians and Neopagan writers have begun to place this assertion under the microscope. In his exhaustive study of the folk calendar of the British Isles Stations of the Sun (Oxford University Press, 1996), the historian Ronald Hutton points out that there are no references earlier than the 18th century in either church or civic records which attest to this usage. Although it may be generally correct to refer to Samhain as "Summer's End", this point of descent into the year's darkness may need better proof for us to cite this "end" as also being a "beginning". On the other hand, there is a huge volume of proof[citation needed] of the western world as having begun their calendars either at the end of December, or around March 25th, at various periods back through and before Medieval times.

Celtic folklore

The Samhain celebrations have survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the harvest and the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, the Féile na Marbh, the "festival of the dead" took place on Samhain.

Samhain Eve, in Irish and Scots Gaelic, Oidhche Shamhna, is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, and is thought to fall on or around the 31st of October. It represents the final harvest. In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still "Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna". It is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night.

Traditionally, Samhain was time to take stock of the herds and grain supplies, and decide which animals would need to be slaughtered in order for the people and livestock to survive the winter. This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock.

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas of the Celtic nations and the diaspora. Villagers were said to have cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames, cattle having a prominent place in the pre-Christian Gaelic world. Victorian sources claimed the English word 'bonfire' derives from these "bone fires" but the Gaelic has no such parallel. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

Divination, usually involving apples and nuts, is a common folkloric practice that has also survived in rural areas. The most common uses were to determine the name of one's future spouse, and the location of one's future home. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from the direction the birds flew.

In parts of western Brittany, Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou, cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld. The Romans identified Samhain with their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria. This, however, was observed in the days leading up to May 13. With Christianization, the festival in November (not the Roman festival in May) became All Hallows' Day on November 1st followed by All Souls' Day, on November 2nd. Over time, the night of October 31 came to be called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.

Neopaganism

see also Wheel of the Year.

Samhain is one of the eight annual holidays referred to as Sabbats observed by modern day Wiccans, and by other Neopagans who base their traditions on Wicca. Its date is not universally agreed upon, as many Neopagan movements have no binding structure upon which all agree. It is most often observed on October 31 and/or November 1 in the Northern Hemisphere. Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to 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.

According to Celtic and Wiccan lore, Samhain is a time when the "veil" that separates the world of the living and the world of the dead becomes thinner, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is also the time of the year when Ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored, and sometimes entreated for luck. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the Goddesses and Gods who are associated with the dead in their particular tradition.

Samhain in Celtic Irish legend

The Ulster Cycle is peppered with references to Samhain. Many of the adventures and campaigns undertaken by the characters therein begin at the Samhain Night feast. One such tale is the Echtrae Nera (Nerai, Nerae) or Adventure of Nera, concerning one Nera from Connacht who undergoes a test of bravery put forth by King Ailill. The prize is the king's own gold-hilted sword. The terms hold that a man must leave the warmth and safety of the hall and pass through the night to a gallows where two prisoners had been hung the day before, tie a twig around one man's ankle, and return. Others had been thwarted by the demons and spirits that harassed them as they attempted the task, quickly coming back to Ailill's hall in shame. Nera goes on to complete the task and eventually infiltrates the sídhe where he remains trapped until the end of the world. Taking etymology into consideration, it is interesting to note that the word for summer expressed in the Echtrae Nera is samraid.

Pop culture references

References

  • Carmichael, Alexander (1992). Carmina Gadelica. Lindisfarne Press. ISBN 0-940262-50-9.
  • Danaher, Kevin (1962). The Year in Ireland. Irish Books & Media. ISBN 0-937702-13-7.
  • MacKillop, James (1998). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280120-1.
  • McNeill, F. Marian (1959). The Silver Bough, Vol. 1 -4. William MacLellan, Glasgow.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samhain&oldid=84049811"