Samhain
Samhain pronounced 'sow'inn') is a very important তারিখ in the Pagan calendar for it marks the Feast of the Dead. Many Pagans also celebrate it as the old Celtic New বছর (although some mark this at Imbolc). It is also celebrated দ্বারা non-Pagans who call this festival Halloween.
Samhain has been celebrated in Britain for centuries and has its origin in Pagan Celtic traditions. It was the time of বছর when the veils between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be at their thinnest: when the spirits of the dead could most readily mingle with the living once again. Later, when the festival was adopted দ্বারা Christians, they celebrated it as All Hallows' Eve, followed দ্বারা All Saints Day, though it still retained elements of remembering and honouring the dead.
To most modern Pagans, while death is still the central theme of the festival this does not mean it is a morbid event. For Pagans, death is not a thing to be feared. Old age is valued for its wisdom and dying is accepted as a part of life as necessary and welcome as birth. While Pagans, like people of other faiths, always honour and প্রদর্শনী respect for their dead, this is particularly marked at Samhain. Loved ones who have recently died are remembered and their spirits often invited to যোগদান the living in the celebratory feast. It is also a time at which those born during the past বছর are formally welcomed into the community. As well as feasting, Pagans often celebrate Samahin with traditional games such as apple-dooking.
Death also symbolises endings and Samhain is therefore not only a time for reflecting on mortality, but also on the passing of relationships, jobs and other significant changes in life. A time for taking stock of the past and coming to terms with it, in order to সরানো on and look অগ্রবর্তী to the future.
Ancient Celtic celebrations
Not only did the Celts believe the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead dissolved on this night, they thought that the presence of the spirits helped their priests to make predictions about the future.
To celebrate Samhain the Druids built huge sacred bonfires. People brought harvest খাবার and sacrificed জন্তু জানোয়ার to share a communal ডিনার in celebration of the festival.
During the celebration the Celts wore costumes - usually animal heads and skins. They would also try and tell each other's fortunes.
After the festival they re-lit the fires in their homes from the sacred bonfire to help protect them, as well as keep them warm during the winter months.
