ALL HALLOWS EVE & SAMHAIN
To Hallow out… to enter the Tomb is to enter the Womb…. It is the time to honor the dark, death, los muertos, the ancestors, the roots.
The origin of this holy day was signaled, for our Northern hemisphere ancestors when the sun and moon moved into Scorpio (solar holy day = sun at 15 degrees Scorpio; lunar holy day when new moon is in Scorpio), and the coinciding death of nature occurs.
The harvest is done. The Earth releases her final exhale and begins to nestle into her cozy winter bed, as darkness grows longer every day.
My Celtic ancestors call this holy time “Samhain” pronounced sau-wen, meaning summers end. Death and Birth are part of the same Great Mysterious portal, and so Samhain, the death of the year, is also honored as the “new” year. It is the tomb of the year that’s passed and the womb of the one that is yet to be born in spring. What is now called Halloween is calendar Samhain, that is celebrated every year on October 31st. Before this day, there are rituals and releasing practices to be done to truly honor and put your year to rest, forgive, let go, and focus your power on giving death to the old to create space and fertile soil for the seeds you wish to bring forth into the new year.
My Mexican ancestors call this holy time Dia de Los Muertos, and Dia de Todos Santos (All Saints Day), celebrated November 1-2. It is in honoring our well ancestors that we honor life. A life fully lived undoubtedly encounters grief for our losses. We release what we have lost, grieve it, and also celebrate those who came before us, at this time of year. Death is honored as another part of life in the the life/death/renewal cycle and their spirits rejoice in their remembrance.
Setting up an ancestor altar (an “ofrenda”) for Dia de Los Muertos creates a welcoming place for our ancestors to come join us in spirit, as we celebrate them. Since we live far away from their actual graves, we set out their photos and other sacred items, food and drink, to create an “ofrenda” at home. In the dark mornings, I light candles on the altar and sit with them in silence. In the evenings, our family says their names, as far back on the family tree as we can, and tells stories about our departed loved ones. We allow tears to flow for those we’ve recently lost, and place items that help purify and enliven their spirits journey. The altar is a special place of communion, and while nothing replaces a warm human embrace or the sound of someone’s laughter, the lineage stays alive through these practices.
If you would like to learn more about the powerful ancient practices of Samhain, ancestor altars, feasting the ancestors through ofrenda, and All Hallows Eve rituals focused on letting go of old stories that no longer serve you or your lineages (hallowing out) please join me next Sunday 6pm (Cavitt Jr. High parking lot 5:45pm, Granite Bay- walk out to nature spot by lake), under the Samhain moon as she waxes to full.
