Celtic New Year. The ancient astrologers had calculated that November 1st was the exact half way point between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice (winter solstice was midwinter – the return of the sun).
There is some debate over whether the Celtic New Year started at Samhain or at winter solstice but, as their days always began at sunset, when darkness came, it seems significant that the New Year should start at Samhain, when the winter darkness begins
The astrologers also believed that this time was a kind of no-mans land and signified a thinning of the ‘veil’ between those who lived on the earthly plane and those on the spiritual and in other realms! Therefore, the doorways to and from these other worlds opened up for a time!
When Samhain was approaching, the earth was beginning to draw it’s energy within, preparing for sleep and regeneration, the vegetation was dying and the cold, dark winter months and baron lands lay ahead. And so communities would work together harvesting and storing crops, berries and herbs, bringing cattle out of the open fields and into the sheltered barns & homes. They would sacrifice animals to their Gods, in order to give thanks for the food & to gain protection, then prepare and preserve the meats to sustain them through the long winter months.
The climax of the harvesting would be to hold a feast at the sunset of October the 31st, the first day of November – Samhain and the start of the New Year!
The feast was known as ‘The Feast of the Dead’ (‘Fleadh nan Mairbh’) and, in tune with the sleeping earth, it was a time for reflection of the year just passed, introspection & to commemorate those loved ones that had