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Our ancestors lived a long time ago,
they are nearer timewise
to the collective wisdom than later generations.
They know much more. They establish ,enforce and keep the rules
for the following generations and they are consulted.
That is all.
There is nothing mistifying in that.
Among other things,
Samhain is the beginning of the Winter Half of the Celtic Year
and is known as the Day Between Years.
The day before Samhain is the last day of the old year
and the day after Samhain is the first day of the new year.
Being between years it is considered a very magical time
when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past,
present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination.
Samhain, from 31 October to 2 November is a time of no-time.
Ancient Celtic society, like all early societies
was highly structured and organised, everyone knew their place.
To allow that order to be psychologically comfortable
the Celts knew that there had to be a time
when order and structure were abolished,when chaos could reign.
Samhain, was such a time.
Time was abolished for the three days of this festival
and people did crazy things.
Men dressed as women and women as men.
Farmers' gates were unhinged and left in ditches.
Horses were moved to different fields
and children would knock on neighbours' doors
for food and treats in a way that we still find today,
in the custom of trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en.
But behind this apparent lunacy, lay a deeper meaning.
The Druids knew that these three days had a special quality about them.
The veil between this world and the world of the Ancestors
was drawn aside on these nights, and for those who were prepared,
journeys could be made in safety to the 'other side'.
As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellance
for peering into the future.
The reason for this has to do with the Celtic view of time.
In a culture that uses a linear concept of time, like our modern one,
New Year's Eve is simply a milestone on a very long road
that stretches in a straight line from birth to death.
Thus, the New Year's festival is a part of time.
The ancient Celtic view of time,however, is cyclical. And in this
framework, Samhain represents a point outside of time,
when the the natural order of the universe disolves back into primordial
chaos, preparatory to re-establishing itself in a new order.
Thus, Samhain is a night that exists outside of time and hence
it may be used to view any other point in time.
The Druid rites, therefore, were concerned with making contact
with the spirits of the departed, who were seen as sources of
guidance and inspiration rather than as sources of dread.
The dead are honoured and feasted, not as the dead,
but as the living spirits of loved ones and of guardians
who hold the root-wisdom of the clan.
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