Tonight is Hallow'een or All Hallows Eve. It is the night before All Souls Day in the Christian Church Calendar, but this holy day was placed beside a much older celebration of the Festival of Samhain in the Celtic calendar. It began the winter half of the year. It was believed that the Cailleach, the aspect of the Goddess who appeared as an old woman, hit the ground with her hammer, making it iron hard until Imbolc. On Samhain night, the gates of the otherworld were open, allowing communion with the ancestors. Spirits were said to roam this night. Food was put out to feed the spirits and some would carve out turnips and put candles in them to keep the spirits from entering their homes. The pumpkin was not a gourd grown in Ireland and is abundant in America.
This marks the New Year of the Celtic Calendar.
Happy Celtic New Year!
(Information provided from "The Celtic Book of Days" - Caitlín Matthews
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