Samhain is the Celtic New Year?

[LadyCelt]

Is Samhain the Celtic New Year? Do they celebrate it on November first or Octoboer 31rst?

Waht do they do to celebrate (the Celts/Druids etc) taht may be different than other rituals?


Also, what exactly does Sahain mean and is it true it is a night of living dead etc?

Is Samhain the Celtic New Year? Do they celebrate it on November first or Octoboer 31rst?

Waht do they do to celebrate (the Celts/Druids etc) taht may be different than other rituals?


Also, what exactly does Sahain mean and is it true it is a night of living dead etc?

Is November 1rst a feast of all saints in Catholocism and is it related?

thanks

thanks

[Eventide]

this was not a copyright violation per se...but I deleted it for the sake of peace.

[LadyCelt]

thank you for the help.

[Morgandria]

I don't celebrate Samhain on either of the "traditional" dates. Those dates are out of sync with the astrological calendar, with the skies. Instead, I mark Samhain at 15° Scorpio - which this year is November 8th.

[Ron]

"Celtic" New Year
In Welsh Myths, one has reason to believe that the new year would have been celebrated at the Winter Solstice, if at all.

However I think that other "Celtic" artifacts would suggest that 15° Scorpio/Samhain/All Hallow's Eve would be the date of celebration.

My SO and I celebrate it at the Winter Solstice, because, in our hearts, that is when we feel it is. However we do recognize a constant birth, deahth and rebirth cycle -- easily picking one day to mandatorily celebrate the whole process.

I would not be too concerned about what the "Celtic" new year is, since there were many different cultural groups buried within the giant "Celtic group", all of which had differing beliefs & traditions. It's like trying to put Hindism and Chr-stianity in the same category. Such a term is so broad that we're pretty much talking about the entire "religious/spiritual" group of people. :rolleyes: Why not just talk about all the men in the Universe as celebrating the "Masculine New Year"? It's sort of a generalization that would be very difficult to make -- if you catch my drift.

"Samhain"
If you ever really want to know something, or learn about something, wikipedia.org is always an excellent place to start. Click here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain) for a complete etymology of the word "Samhain" which explains where it comes from, and possibly what it means.

Chr-stendom: All Saints Day
The Roman-Catholic Church's festum omnium sanctorum is on November 1st, sure. The Eastern Othodox Church (which encompasses mainly Eastern Europe) venerates All Saint's Day much closer to Easter (they use a different calendar, so I cannot give an exact Gregorian date (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_Calendar). For more information about All Saints, click here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints). Whether or not there is a relation between All Saints and the modern Heathen/Pagan/Traditional Witchcraft/NeoWiccae celebrations occuring around Samhain is debatable. However, some argue that the Chr-stian Church plagurized Pagan holy-days many centuries ago, as a way of making it easier to convert to Chr-stianity. Others, like me, think that the traditions were assimulated into Chr-stian tradition as the newcomers joined Chr-stendom.

In Closing...
All of these topics have been the focus of a lot of debates on MW. I would ask that you consider the Search feature. ;) In fact, why not try to run up a research project for youself, using MW and Wikipedia as your resources?

:)

In Love & Grace.

[Eventide]

I won't know your grammar Ron but since I can't send you a pm I put this here. What you did was rude and I don't especially like it. And I see you've done some of your own plagurism as well.

[Astara Seague]

my understanding is that it is the Pagan new year, :achug: the veil between spirit realm and earthly realm is the thinest that night, our ancestors can pass freely between the two that night,
some covens actually allow the High Preist to take over rule of the coven until Beltane when the High preistess takes it back,
it is a time for celebrating the past and divining the future

[Agaliha]

If you go to yahoo.com and put "samhain" all your answers are right there. Yahoo also has a Paga Sabbat directory with links as well.
HERE (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Samhain&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8) --Yahoo search results, 2,690,000 to be exact
AND HERE (http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion_and_Spirituality/Faiths_and_Practices/Paganism/Sabbats/Samhain/) -- Yahoo's directory with 13 links and sites.

Here are some threads about Samahain on MW as well and a whole Circle of Teaching Class about the Wheel of the Year.
HERE (http://www.mysticwicks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97) -- Wheel of the Year class
AND HERE (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=56212)--- lesson: Samain

Also to get better suited sites try searching:
1. Samhain history
2. Samhain mythlogy/lore
3. Samhain Pagan or Wiccan Sabbat

All the information to your answers is there, LadyCelt.
Within less than 5 minutes I found most of the answers to your questions (I know them all though, because I researched, read and learned all about the Sabbats on my own).

Good luck with your reading and learning!

[Isil Darkmoon]

I won't know your grammar Ron but since I can't send you a pm I put this here. What you did was rude and I don't especially like it. And I see you've done some of your own plagurism as well.
ADMIN MODE:

If you have issues with other users, please privately bring this to the attention of one of the admins. Keep it OFF the boards.