Samhain is an ancient Celtic holiday and is the inspiration behind our modern Halloween. I have always loved Halloween and revelled in it's tendency towards irreverence, mischief-making and frolic. When I was a kid, Halloween was a time to delight in my innate youthful exuberance and dress up, dance in the streets and simply enjoy being alive.
But it wasn't until I started to research the historical roots of Halloween that I gained an appreciation for my ancestor's ancient wisdom and the awesome power of ritual. Unlike our modern and superficial Halloween, Samhain was a solemn holiday to the Celts who participated in rituals designed to facilitate introspection and self-evaluation. It was also a time to honor our ancestors and much time and effort went into erecting altars and elaborate feasts in homage and celebration of our forebears and departed relatives.
Unfortunately, ritual and ceremony is something I feel is absent from most Americans lives. We are normally too busy with other priorities-- too distracted and self-absorbed to evaluate ourselves and take stock of our lives. Samhain is the perfect time to reflect on the positive and negative attributes that make us who we are. In the Celtic ideology, if we make an honest assessment of ourselves at the end of every year we can strive to be better people in the New Year.
Anyway, I took some time out last night to reflect on the past year. The weather was appropriately gusty and rainy as I lite a candle and reflected on my ancestors and those who had passed on recently. I thought about the past year and reflected on the good and bad things that have happened. I tried to make an honest assessment of my behavior and determined that in the coming year I need to foster unselfishness, patience and responsibility. Perhaps, more importantly, I need to feel gratitude for the simple things in life: having my husband by my side, good friends and ample opportunity to grow as an artist, writer and as an individual
Happy Celtic New Year to everyone!
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