How do Wiccan or Pagan practitioners refer to October 31? Is it still a holiday for Celtic Pagans? (Please forgive and correct if I get anything wrong...)
Also, I've seen a couple posts about the offensive way some people celebrate Halloween. Given the Catholic church's influence on the holiday and culture over the years, what would be an inoffensive, appropriate way for non-pagans to mark the holiday?
oct. 31 is the pagan sabbat Samhain (it's pronounced "SOW - an", but don't ask me why ~ it still confuses me). i've never known anyone who was too offended by the way it's commonly celebrated, but what's always been offensive to me is merely the way it was 'taken over' as a christian holiday (as most of our sabbats were). let me give you a little bit of history...
samhain is the pagan 'new years'. it is the last of the three harvesting sabbats, effectivly representing the earth's 'death' and the beginning of a new cycle. it is the time when the 'wall' (for lack of a better word) between the living and the passed is the thinnest, and thus the day we honor our loved ones who have died. one simple thing i always do is put an extra place setting out for dinner that evening. it's said to be an invitation for passed spirits to join the family for a meal.
as far as decorating goes, i know there's lots of witches and black cats and such to go around. i'm sure there are those that take offense, so if that's what's concerning you just try to keep your decor more 'natural' looking (ie ~ pumpkins, corn stalks, full moons...anything that leans more towards 'fall harvesting' than 'trick or treating')
i hope i was able to help ~ if you have any other questions i'd be glad to elaborate further (in case you couldn't tell, i love to teach people about the history of paganism. it keeps me in touch with my roots, and it's not something i get to talk about very often in my day-to-day life, so thank YOU for asking about it!)
Thank you for the thoughtful reply.
Yes, the medieval Catholic church is notorious for assimilating "festivals" (for want of a better term to include all religions) and turning them into feasts and holy days. So many of the symbols people think of Christian have their roots in paganism.
I would love to learn more. I love the idea of putting out a plate for those that have passed-a day of remembrance. What are some of your other sabbats? It's my understanding that they coincide with the equinoxes(sp).
Id like to point out that there was good reason for assimilating Christan holidays with other festivals and rites. Christians were heavily persecuted, it was even illegal, punishable by death, to be one. It wasn't so much to take over and say the traditional celebration was wrong, at least not at first, it was to be able to celebrate Christan rites without being found out.
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Quoting LesHug:
Id like to point out that there was good reason for assimilating Christan holidays with other festivals and rites. Christians were heavily persecuted, it was even illegal, punishable by death, to be one. It wasn't so much to take over and say the traditional celebration was wrong, at least not at first, it was to be able to celebrate Christan rites without being found out.
I had never hear that.. I had always understood it to be a political move by the church after it had become the official church of the Roman empire in the 4th century AD. After the Emporer Constantine banned paganism, the church assimilated their holidays in an effort to gain converts. Effectively saying... you can still practice your religion, just say your christian.
Thanks!
Also, for many pagans, they do not ACTUALLY celebrate Samhain on Oct. 31st. Traditionally, from historical evidence, it is actually the date that falls halfway between the autumnal and yule equinoxes. Which is what the group that I was involved with practiced.
Remember, in ancient times they did not have a calendar... but tracking the number of days between equinoxes would have been easy.
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Quoting Bike_Mom:
Quoting LesHug:
Id like to point out that there was good reason for assimilating Christan holidays with other festivals and rites. Christians were heavily persecuted, it was even illegal, punishable by death, to be one. It wasn't so much to take over and say the traditional celebration was wrong, at least not at first, it was to be able to celebrate Christan rites without being found out.
I had never hear that.. I had always understood it to be a political move by the church after it had become the official church of the Roman empire in the 4th century AD. After the Emporer Constantine banned paganism, the church assimilated their holidays in an effort to gain converts. Effectively saying... you can still practice your religion, just say your christian.
Thanks!
That's been my understanding. It was to make the Pagans more "at home" with Christianity. They took the holidays and made up Christian "roots" for them so that the Pagans would say "Oh, hey, we still have Yule if we move over here, so I guess it's ok. We just have to call it "Christmas."
Halloween is considered an "evil" holiday, still, because it was never given Christian roots. If they had taken it and said "October 31 is the day Jesus rebuked the Devil on the mountaintop, so we celebrate it," then there wouldn't be NEARLY as much hooplah over it today as there is now.
This is SO un-PC of me, but I plan on putting out Jack-o-lanterns, putting up my animatronic skeleton-in-a-cage, my cauldron candy bowl, my jack-o-lantern welcome mat, my witchy window clings and my spidery cobwebs and dressing my kids up and taking them around to get candy.
Some people may be offended by that. But it's what we like to do, and if you try to please EVERYONE, you'll end up pleasing NO ONE. (Ever hear the fable about the 2 men and the donkey?)
Hey, Jess
I'm Pagan and I will be celebrating in much the same fashion as you. Don't worry about offending anybody. The evil witch thing can be bothersome at times, but all and all no harm done.
I never embraced the Pagan Sabbath of Samhain for some reason, but instead prefer the rite of spooky scary fun. I just love seeing everyday people embracing and giving voice to the darker aspects of their souls. It's very important to have this outlet. Paganism embraces duality and understands that even in a "good" person there are dark parts as well as bright spots in a "bad" person. (I'm using the terms good and bad, very loosley, just to illistrate a point)
I find our current Halloween practices more Pagan than Christian, so I say have at it and have fun. If I was keeping score (which I'm not) I'd say score one for Pagans, zero for the Christians. I mean it's just hysterical seeing everybody dressed up as evil spirits, zombies and witches. I love it.
Quoting BigMommaJesca:
This is SO un-PC of me, but I plan on putting out Jack-o-lanterns, putting up my animatronic skeleton-in-a-cage, my cauldron candy bowl, my jack-o-lantern welcome mat, my witchy window clings and my spidery cobwebs and dressing my kids up and taking them around to get candy.
Some people may be offended by that. But it's what we like to do, and if you try to please EVERYONE, you'll end up pleasing NO ONE. (Ever hear the fable about the 2 men and the donkey?)
Quoting Bike_Mom:
Thank you for the thoughtful reply.
Yes, the medieval Catholic church is notorious for assimilating "festivals" (for want of a better term to include all religions) and turning them into feasts and holy days. So many of the symbols people think of Christian have their roots in paganism.
I would love to learn more. I love the idea of putting out a plate for those that have passed-a day of remembrance. What are some of your other sabbats?
the eight wiccan sabbats:
yule ~ winter solstice --> dec. 21: the official 'rebirth' of the earth, longest night, shortest day
imbolc --> feb. 2 :the first of the three 'fertility' celebrations
ostara ~ spring equinox --> mar. 21: second 'fertility' celebration
beltane--> may 1: final 'fert.' celebration
midsummer ~ summer solstice--> june 21: the earth is at it's peak of life - longest day, shortest night
lughnassadh --> aug. 1 : first of the three 'harvest' celebrations
mabon ~ autumn equinox --> sept. 21 : second 'harvest' celebration
samhain --> oct. 31 : final 'harvest, end of life cycle
Quoting AprilMay1313:I find our current Halloween practices more Pagan than Christian, so I say have at it and have fun. If I was keeping score (which I'm not) I'd say score one for Pagans, zero for the Christians. I mean it's just hysterical seeing everybody dressed up as evil spirits, zombies and witches. I love it.
I don't know about "zero" for the Christians. After all, around Yule, you see PLENTY of signs claiming "Jesus is the reason for the season." I'd say you'd have to give Christianity a point for that one.
- Bike_Mom
on Sep. 21, 2008 at 8:47 PM