30 Days of Witchcraft ~30-Day Challenge ~ Day 24 Samhain

 

For day 24 of our 30 Days of witchcraft "Write Your Craft" challenge. The next in this series is another Wheel of the Year sabbat, Samhain. Now, in October we'll do another "30 Days of" challenge all about Samhain, so today we'll do those basics like we did Lugdnasadh & Mabon.

First things first, Samhain is not pronounced "Sam-Hayn". 

It is /ˈsaʊ.wɛn/ in English. Roughly, SOW-ehn or SOW-in.  Samhain is usually pronounced in its Irish version. So the correct pronunciation of Samhain in Irish is Sau-ihn. Sauin or "sown" if you prefer the hastily said, clipped version. Its becausee, in Irish, "mh" when said together do not produce their own sounds. It's more "wuh" in old Gaelic dialects. So,  "Sauin".

Ok, we can say it. What is it?

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of the colder days of the "darker half" of the year. Held approximately halfway between autumn equinox and winter solstice, it is celebrated starting at sunset the night of October 31 and ends the evening of November 1, as the Celtic day began at Sunset.

Early literature says Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some of the literature also associates Samhain with bonfires and sacrifices. However, the festival was not recorded in detail until the early modern era.

Correspondences for this Sabbat

Deities (across all pantheons)

• Hekate
• Hermes
• Hades
• Persephone
• Cernunnos
• Dionysus
• Aradia
• Arwan
• Baba yaga
• Cerridwen
• Demeter
• Inari
• Kali-ma
• Lillith
• Thoth

Colors

• Black
• Orange
• Purple
• Red
• Brown
• Yellow

Stones

• Obsidian
• Bloodstone
• Onyx
• Jet
• Fluorite
• Smoky quartz
• Howlite

Herbs, Plants, & Spices

• Bay
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Ginger
• Pumpkin
• Sunflowers
• Rosemary
• Mugwort
• Myrrh
• Sage
• Marigolds
• Chrysanthemums
• Apples, branches, and blossoms
• Pomegranates
• Rowan trees

Food and Drink

• Pumpkins and squashes
• Apples
• Pears
• Greens
• Pomegranates
• Blackberries
• Cider
• Venison

Animals

• Bats
• Cats, especially black
• Owls
• Spiders

Spells

• Rituals for Ancestors
• Rituals for Descendants
• Past Life

Ways to Celebrate this Sabbat

• Carve pumpkins to protect your home and family

• Host a dumb supper

• Make a besom

• Make door wreaths and other decorations

• Toast pumpkin seeds

• Hold a bonfire

• Set up an ancestor altar

• Visit a cemetery and leave flowers for passed loved ones or even strangers

• Play Samhain divination games like apple bobbing or discovering the first letter of your true love’s name with an apple peel

Details for all of this and more in October!