About Samhain

I am pagan, and Halloween is a special holiday for pagans. However, what it means and how we celebrate it may not necessarily be how one would expect.

Samhain occurs on October 31, otherwise known as Halloween! This is when pagans say goodbye to the God for a short time, as he prepares himself to be reborn to the Goddess at Yule, the Winter Solstice, or Christmas time. To understand more about this circle, or the Wheel of the Year, go to my pagan grove HERE.

. Historically, this is when animals were slaughtered to lay aside meat for the coming winter. This is probably how pagans have gotten the stereotype of sacrifices. However, Samhain has become more of a time of reflection and honoring of the loved ones that have passed during the year. It is believed that the world between this world and the next is at its thinnest on this night, therefore allowing us better access to our lost loved ones.

This holiday is not about raising the dead or anything of the sort. No sacrifices of any sort take place or anything even like the media and popular culture like to represent!! It is very much a family holiday. We have lots of things we do as a family that are a part of this holiday. At dusk we light tea lights and place them on the window sill of every window in the house. It is believed that this will bring good luck and ward off evil and negative energies. It is also time to honor lost friends and family and to think of them and the things they gave to your life. This is a night that I always think of my grandfather and what he meant to me. We eat together, typical autumn meal, being thankful for what we have and then we go trick or treating, although this is the smallest part of our evening.