Ways to Celebrate Samhain as our Ancestors did.
One might as well have an appropriate costume… A Samhain ceremony on Glastonbury Tor on November 4, 2017 in Somerset, England. Getty Images.
As requested and promised, I have updated our previous article in time for the astronomical Samhain festival starting on the 7th of November. Since our Samhain holiday has not truly begun yet in an astronomical sense, I thought these suggestions for celebrating Samhain in a Heathen fashion merited their own article as well.
Samhain has been celebrated throughout our Heathen European world from ancient times everywhere European tribes have lived in one form or another, from Spain and Italy, to Germany and Norway, to Wales and Lithuania. I call our festival Samhain because the Celtic tradition of Heathen Halloween has proven to be particularly vigorous in its survival.
- Go souling rather than “trick or treating”. Sing a lovely Heathen song or recite verses rather than just saying “trick or treat”. Take a minute to talk to the people whose houses you visit. Offer them good wishes and ask if they have had loved ones who have recently departed so that you can join them in wishing them well and so that the worthy dead may be remembered.
- Set up an ancestor altar with pictures of your loved ones, especially those who have recently died. Meditate on good memories you have of them, and what they achieved in their lives that you admire and wish to emulate. Tell them things you wish you could have told them while alive. Share good news and ask for their blessings in your undertakings.
- Provide homemade soul cakes, cookies, or other appropriate toys or treats to European ancestry children and other European heritage Samhain visitors, living and dead. If they are not familiar with the meaning of our ways, and why a real homemade soul cake is better, explain it to them. Apples and nuts are also a good choice as treats, because they honor the Goddesses Idunn and Pomona and are foods traditionally left with our folk as grave goods. They have a strong spiritual aspect, as does honey, because like the soul, it is imperishable.
- Do not tolerate nonsense about White Europeans appropriating costumes of other cultures. Consider taking a few moments to make a complaint about this to those who are intruding upon our sacred festival due to their envy and hatred of our folk. Samhain is a European holiday. People of other races are not even invited, and attempts to tell us what to wear and dictate to us about our own religious holidays are not just outrageously rude and disrespectful but true cultural appropriation.
- Consider making your own costume or at least partially making it. Heathen costumes are far more interesting than the cookie cutter costumes that are pushed today and dressing up for Samhain is much more engaging when it is a creative exercise. It’s okay for us to use our imagination. It has not been outlawed by our (((Communist Regime))) yet. (-;
- Clean and organize your house or apartment and leave candles in the window as a beacon to the spirits. You can be doing other things you wish to do, but wait and watch for the Spirits of your Ancestors and other loved ones to come, keeping an eye and ear out for them.
- Have a supper with the Spirits. Be sure to set a beautiful Samhain decorated table with e
xtra plates for the visiting Ancestors. In addition to regular fare, and soul cakes or cookies, old fashioned feasts including pomegranates, and red wine, grape juice or spiced apple juice are traditional choices. Please leave some soul cakes out for spirits with no families.
Photographer: Irina Kuznetsova
Taken in Donegal, Ireland - Invite a völva or family member who is gifted at rune reading to read the runes. On this night of all nights the ancestors might have something in particular they wish to impart to you or advise you to do, or even warn you about, and this is a time when they are better able to communicate with us than usual.
- Play traditional games and divination games, such as bobbing for apples, or, if you are a girl, leaving wildflowers under pillows or looking in mirrors to dream of or glimpse one’s future husband. There are many wonderful customs our people once enjoyed that we can practice again from making a Celtic bambrake cake with divination charms to telling ghost stories by a bonfire.
- Do some genealogical work on a family tree to learn more about your ancestors and their accomplishments and help younger family members learn about them.
- Consider celebrating at least some of our ancient rites, such as the rune reading or the supper for the Dead, on the actual astronomical dates for our festival which occurs beginning on the 7th of November this year. Our festival lasts three nights and is followed by the Celtic New Year. For more about the New Year ritual see the article on Nerthus linked at the end of this article.
- In honor of the age old traditions of the reunion of Njord and Nerthus, Hades and Persephone, and of the Dagda and the Morrigan at this holy time of year, try to make romantic matches between your tribal members so that your clan can continue.
- Take time to honor the Gods and Spirits of the Earth, and of the Harvest, and the Underworld by visiting a sacred mound, or ancient site connected to your ancestral tribe, or a cemetery where you can commune with your loved ones. Make a libation with wine over the graves of the relatives you visit to renew their life force and revitalize the connection between their realm and ours. Make a ritual offering to the Landvættir, the spirits and deities who inhabit your lands, asking for their protection. Honor and make a special offering to the Gods of the Afterlife, such as Hel.
- Remember that traditionally this is a time when the Spirits communicate with us through Nature either with or without our trying to initiate it, so it is a good time to pay attention and sharpen one’s senses. Scottish women of old would select a hazelnut to represent each love prospect and toss them in the fire on Samhain Eve. The nut that just popped could not be taken seriously, but the one that smoldered and burned to ashes was considered likely to be a future husband. From the movement of a stone after a Samhain fire, to the sound of the whispering of one’s name in the wind near an ancient Yew tree, both of which mean that death is coming, there are many ancient customs and traditions through which we can gain some insight into our tribal past and future at this sacred time. One can seek insight from our guardians spirits, Ancestors, or Gods, and receive omens and signs, divination from Nature, in response. At times we also can connect with unconscious knowledge we already have. Our ancient customs, and rituals give us a framework in our quest for wisdom and Nature itself can show us the right path when we seek it.
A Russian corn doll which honors the journey of the Earth Goddess to the Underworld… and thanks her for her abundant blessings.
For a video rede and ritual about our Samhain festival and its history, watch below, and look at the previous article for links to 4 hours of radio on this topic.
May we honor the sacred spirits and may your ancestors visit and help you make your dearest wishes come true… and may all of your Samhain gifts, insights, and blessings not be false and sugar coated… but real. (-;
Waes Hael!
Odinia
