BRATTLEBORO — Halloween (also known as Samhain, meaning “summer's end”) is an old tradition that most people don't know much about. It has become a time of the year for people to dress up, go to parties and eat candy.
Most people practice some form of Halloween, but few know the meaning behind what they do.
Samhain comes from the time when people practiced seasonal rites, or sabbats. This time of the year is when the world seems to die - the leaves fall, and everything gets cold and ready for winter.
In the old times, Nov. 1 was the Celtic New Year, following the “death” of the world outside. Oct. 31 is the day that is between years, and so belongs to neither the year before or the next year. It is a day outside of time, which makes it possible to view any other time.
Because of this, it is a day where the veils between the worlds are the thinnest, and spirits are easier to communicate with and see. This is why Halloween is associated with ghosts and spirits.
* * *
The candy that we give and get on Halloween stems from the tradition of leaving food for friends and family who passed away; jack o'lanterns were used to light the way for the spirits.
The image of the witch that we see on Halloween (green face, pointed hat, warts, broom, etc.) is what the Crone Goddess has become in our time.
The Crone represents the elderly, wise old woman, the healer and priestess of the old days. In the days when pagans were being converted to the new religion (Christianity), the image of the old priestess in charge of matriarchal tribes was changed to a less respectable one, so people stopped following her.
The wart on the face of the traditional witch costume stems back to the days of the Inquisition, when people were identified as witches (and worthy of hanging) because of a wart or mole. It was a way of identifying a witch in an old book for the Inquisitors called the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch's Hammer.)
I have read (and can't remember where for the life of me) that the green face represented what the accused witches looked like when tortured with poison. The black, pointed hat with the rim represented a witch who was to be put to death. (A rimless, cone-shaped hat can represent power and energy.)
The distorted image of the witch has lived on (unfortunately) in books; Halloween decorations and people dressing up like this. It is such a sad transformation from an old wise healer to what the witch looked like once the Inquisition was over.
* * *
Halloween is the best Sabbat ever for witches because it was the holiday that couldn't be taken away (or replaced) from the pagans back in the day. It remained throughout the years and is practiced by almost every culture on some level.
So, this time of the year always bothers me on some level.
As a witch, it is the most spiritual holiday of the year. On one hand, it's kind of cool that people at large practice this holiday, but it always bothers me that people don't know why they are celebrating.