26/10/2021
With Halloween just around the corner you or your kids may be celebrating this tradition by dressing up in scary costumes or watching a creepy movie. But do you know the holiday’s origins? The roots of Halloween can be traced back to Samhain (pronounced Sow-in or Sah-won) Samhain is an annual celebration that originated with my ancestors, the ancient Celts.
The Celts celebrated eight festivals throughout the year - each festival marked a turning point in natures cycle, a bringing in of each new season while saying goodbye to the old one. Samhain was held October 31 to November 1, and it represented the start of winter and the end of the harvest year. It was seen as a beginning of darker days, longer nights, and reaping whatever crops and livestock had been grown in the year just gone.
It is often called The Festival of the Dead because on this night the Celts believed that the veil between the living and the dead was lifted, and that you could communicate with your ancestors - you could ask them to intercede for you, or to show you the way. The Druids would open the festival with the words ‘Awen’. Awen means “we open ourselves to spirit” which you will hear in the first line of my song.
Here’s my take on it..I hope you enjoy it as you celebrate Samhain.
To listen to it on YouTube go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsh1iyq52LI or on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/60p4hgLIi5x7KEbItNgn0r?si=vYUaFrq1RuKEJCkblYpzjQ&utm_source=copy-link
Christine Weir · Song · 2021
