Samhain is a festival held at the end of the harvest season. It represents the final harvest and the time to store crops for the winter. Samhain is the Wiccan New Year. This is the night when the veils between the two worlds are their thinnest and spirits of life and death are celebrated side by side. Samhain is a holiday of divination and a time of the dead. There is a tradition of placing candles to help guide the spirits on their earthly travels. Samhain is a time of reflection, of looking back over the past year, and coming to terms with the one phenomenon of life over which we have no control which is death. We celebrate the year passed and the year to come by lighting bonfires and performing rituals to honor those who have gone before. We offer bread and wine to the God and Goddess as a thanks for their guidance throughout the passed year and in advance for the year to come. At Samhain, we say a temporary farewell to the God because he will be reborn of the Goddess at Yule. Herbs:
Pumpkin, apple, nuts, thistle, chrysanthemum, broom, oak leaves & sage
Incense:
Apple, nutmeg, sage & mint
Color:
Black & Orange
Decorations:
Jack-o-lanterns, photos of deceased loved ones, apples, fall leaves, autumn flowers & squash
Foods:
Apples, nuts, cider, mulled wine, pumpkin dishes, cranberry muffins, herbal tea