The Keeper's Path

Several months ago, I received an email from someone asking questions about Samhain for a Religious Studies course lesson they were doing on Wicca.

Now that the season is upon us, I am going to share those questions and my answers here.

I am including the text of our original email exchange as well.

Here are my questions:

1. Do you usually celebrate Samhain alone or with friends/family?
2. What food(s) do you eat on this sabbat?
3. Do you personally feel closer to the deceased on Samhain?
4. Do you celebrate both Samhain and Halloween as separate occasions, or as the same thing?
5. Do you believe in the literal existence of ghosts and spirits?
6. Are there differences between the celebrations of Samhain in Wiccan and Celtic pagan traditions?
7. What significance does Samhain pose to you personally?
8. What is the overall mood of this sabbat, in your opinion?
9. What do you think of the idea that Samhain in Wicca is an appropriation of Celtic pagan beliefs and practices?
10. Has your celebration of Samhain ever resulted in disapproval from people in your life?
11. What kind of object(s) do you prepare in advance for this occasion?
12. Do you believe that Samhain is the most ‘important’ sabbat?
13. How do Wiccan practitioners celebrate Samhain in different ways?
14. In what ways has your perception of this sabbat changed?
15. In what ways has the overall celebration of Samhain changed in Wicca?

Hello! Thank you for reaching out to me about this. I’d love to help you out with your project. So, here are my answers to your questions. Great questions, too, by the way! Of course, I can only speak for myself where the personal impressions and practices are concerned. It’s difficult to answer questions posed as being toward Wiccans in general, because it’s such a varied and independent system. I do think many, if not most, Wiccans will probably agree with a lot of what I’m saying here though. Please let me know if I can clarify anything for you. I tried to be as thorough as possible, figuring you could edit it down to specifics if needed.
-Lady Serpent

1. Do you usually celebrate Samhain alone or with friends/family?
   
   I do both. Alone, I will light candles on my ancestor altar shrine, leave offerings, and do some meditation or ritual work and then journal my experiences afterward to keep a record. As a coven high priestess, I organize the ritual for our group sabbat. Every now and then there is a public gathering that I might attend if it’s held on an available date.
   
   
2. What food(s) do you eat on this sabbat?
   
   Traditional foods are soups and stews, often with root vegetables (grown underground like carrots, potatoes, turnips, beets). Fruits like apples, cranberries, pomegranates, and breads that feature corn as a key ingredient rather than wheat or grain. For my coven, we like to each bring a dish to our after ritual meal that is inspired by our ancestral heritage in honor of those we are descended from. We’ve been lucky to have a mix of Irish, German, Mediterranean, French, and Creole food on our sabbat feast table. Either solo or as a coven, we will prepare a dish of food and leave a favorite beverage as an offering to our ancestors. Some of my coveners would also have what’s called a Dumb Supper at home with their family with many of the same foods, but a dish is set at the table for the departed and everyone eats together.
   
   
   
   
3. Do you personally feel closer to the deceased on Samhain?
   
   In many ways, yes. There’s a distinct feel to Samhain seasonal energy that makes it easier to commune with or connect with the deceased, but it’s not the only time of year this is done. It’s just a special time of recognition for it, if that makes sense.
   
   
4. Do you celebrate both Samhain and Halloween as separate occasions, or as the same thing?
   
   I generally consider them the same thing, but if I’m specifically referencing ritual or religious practice, I’ll use Samhain for that. In this way, Halloween is the part that’s for spooky fun and trick-or-treat or costume parties and haunted houses.
   
   
5. Do you believe in the literal existence of ghosts and spirits?
   
   Absolutely. One of my most impactful Samhain experiences was with my coven in ritual in the forest where I got the very strong scent of my father’s particular blend of aftershave and his own musk. No one at the gathering was wearing anything like that, and it wasn’t in any of the oils or incense that was used. I’ve also experienced intense dreams with both my mother and father communicating with me. One dream with my mother was interesting because we were talking together, having coffee, and she told me it was time for me to wake up because I needed to go to work. I told her I didn’t want to, and just like when I was a kid and had to wake up for school, she said, “No, you need to get up. NOW!” So, I woke up. I then realized that the alarm I had set on my phone to wake didn’t go off because the battery had died. I didn’t charge it the night before. So, thanks, mom!
   
   
   
6. Are there differences between the celebrations of Samhain in Wiccan and Celtic pagan traditions?
   
   This is a complex question, so please bear with me. Generally speaking, there probably aren’t any significant differences because there is more than one way for any group of Pagans (Wiccan or otherwise) to celebrate and hold rituals for the sabbat and they all share the same premise and themes. It really would come down to if the particular flavor of Wicca you’re talking about pulls a lot from Gaelic Celt (Irish/Scottish) influence or if it maintains more of an English Wicca backbone.
   
   Also, nowadays, Wiccan practice can be so eclectic as to pull from all sorts of Pagan traditions. There are Wiccan systems built from Saxon, Germanic, Italian, Slavic, etc. mythos.
   
   In my personal history, I’ve been with Wiccan systems and traditions that were British (English & Welsh), Celtic, Germanic, Druidic, Greco-Roman, or generalized Celtic European in practice. So the sabbat observances can vary based on the cultural influence a particular group decides to go with.
   
   The reason the sabbat is widely referred to in Wicca as Samhain is because two English Witches, Janet and Stewart Farrar, in the 1970s were practicing Traditional British Witchcraft (Alexandrian Tradition) and when they moved to Ireland, were looking for a way to connect with the land and seasonal practices in their new home. In their book Eight Sabbats for Witches we find the first linking of the older name and practices of Halloween as Witches did it, with the Celtic trappings of Samhain. They started calling the sabbat Samhain, and because the Farrars were widely respected teachers and leaders in the Witchcraft community, this became the popular way to view the holiday, and has been since.
   
   Prior to the Farrars, Wiccans just called it Halloween, or [All] Hallow’s Eve. You’ll see this if you read books written by Gerald Gardner and his descendants prior to the Farrars’ publication in 1981. There was no difference originally.
   
   
7. What significance does Samhain pose to you personally?
   
   It’s a time of remembrance, of deep inner reflection, of taking stock of my life as it’s been through the previous year, preparation for going into the dark time of the year, sharing memories with loved ones about our beloved dead.
   
   
8. What is the overall mood of this sabbat, in your opinion?
   
   Solemn, sacred, intense, nostalgic, and it can be emotionally heavy – especially if there has been a significant death close to the sabbat. This is why the fun and festivities of Halloween with the parties and costumes is a really good balance. Both sides are appropriate, and it helps to keep one mindful to accept the sad and the happy together.
   
   
9. What do you think of the idea that Samhain in Wicca is an appropriation of Celtic pagan beliefs and practices?
   
   I think it’s a ridiculous sentiment. Prior to Wicca coming out to the public in the mid 20th century, there were no “Celtic Pagan” beliefs or practices to speak of. I mean, there were the traditional folklore things going on in Ireland, Scotland, England and such, and at the start of the 1900s, Druidry began to get a foothold in the British Isles as something called The Ancient Druid Order. But it wasn’t Celtic-focused religious practice quite yet.
   
   In the 1940’s and 50’s, The Ancient Druid Order attracted two figures who would act as catalysts for the explosion of interest in paganism that we are experiencing today: Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols. They both joined the Order and later Gardner became the key figure to promote the religion of Wicca, or Witchcraft, while Nichols developed Druidism by focusing its concerns on Celtic lore and mythology. Together they elaborated an eightfold cycle of observances which now lies at the foundations of both Wiccan and Druid practice.
   
   So, way back at the start of the practices, Wicca and Druidry were already hand-in-hand with the sabbats, and then Celtic Reconstructionism kind of grew out of the resurgence in focusing on Druidry, as the Druids were the priestly caste of the Celts. But the practice as a separate Pagan system didn’t really start to take off until maybe the early 2000s (sixty or so years after Wicca got going). It might have been a little before that, it was when the internet started to get more traction and widespread communication and information could be more easily achieved. Prior to the mid 1990s, everything was books, and there weren’t any books about Celtic pagan practices other than what Wiccan authors had put out there. You might have been able to find a book or two talking about Celtic paganism but to get ahold of something to teach you how to practice it was practically impossible. So, to consider it cultural appropriation really sounds disingenuous.
   
   As I mentioned in question #6, because of the Farrars’ influence, there really is no recognizable difference in how Wiccans and other Celtic (Gaelic-based) pagans would celebrate, because they literally took Halloween back to the old Pagan roots of Samhain and that’s why Wiccans use that name for it. Then, decades later as Celtic paganism (Reconstructionism) really got going, it drew on the practices that had already been established through Wicca and specifically the framing that the Farrars put on it as Samhain.
   
   There likely wouldn’t BE a resurgence and renewed interest in Celtic Pagan beliefs or practices as there are now if Wicca hadn’t happened first and pulled that angle of it out of the dark, because for whatever reason, the popularity of Wicca took off when it started to go public, while Druidry just sort of hung back.
   
   
10. Has your celebration of Samhain ever resulted in disapproval from people in your life?
    
    On a personal level like with friends/family that had any significant impact, not really. For those that know me personally, and had known me personally before I became Wiccan, it didn’t really matter to them and so it didn’t matter to me. It was just, “Oh, she’s a Wiccan now? Okay.” It was met with the belief it was a phase by my family, likely because I started to study it as a teenager, and that’s when people are notorious for experimenting with different things. Except my experiment stuck! I was already an ordained priestess by the time I met my boyfriend’s (now husband’s family), so while I didn’t hide the fact I was Wiccan, I didn’t put it out there unnecessarily to them either. They would of course prefer if I were Christian, but since they know what kind of person I am, it hasn’t been an issue. The more significant disapproval I’ve had is from employers who would make snarky comments when I requested the days off around Samhain, and they’d ask why, and I’d tell them, “For Halloween”. If they knew of my beliefs, I’d just get a weird look. I only had one coworker who tried to make it difficult for me. I just explained that I had my choice of personal time to request off and could use it as I so choose. I also reminded them that I was one of only a very few people who were willing to work on Christmas, and so my supervisor made them shut up after that conversation.
    
    
11. What kind of object(s) do you prepare in advance for this occasion?
    
    Specifically for Samhain: Stuff for a bonfire; divination/scrying tools (tarot, mirrors, crystal ball); incense and oil (each sabbat gets a special blend for the ritual). I’ve also had my coven decorate masks (like the little ‘bandit-style’ ones that just go around your eyes), we’ve also done consecrated face paint in ritual, and the specialized sabbat feast/foods.
    
    
12. Do you believe that Samhain is the most ‘important’ sabbat?
    
    Definitely one of them. Speaking for myself and my tradition, Samhain (Nov. 1) and Beltaine (May 1) are both equal in importance. But together, they are more important than the other two major sabbats (Imbolc Feb.1 and Lughnassadh Aug. 1), then the solstices and equinoxes are like minor holidays.
    
    I’d say it’s maybe like this: Samhain/Beltaine – Like Christmas; Imbolc/Lughnassadh – Like Thanksgiving; Solstices/Equinoxes – Like Independence Day or Valentine’s Day.
    
    
13. How do Wiccan practitioners celebrate Samhain in different ways?
    
    In as many different ways as there are Wiccans. I once worked in an eclectic Wiccan coven that focused on the story of Demeter, Persephone, and Hades for Samhain because the seasonal theme fit that story – the earth was heading into winter as Persephone journeyed to the Underworld.
    
    When I worked with a primarily Germanic/Celtic Wiccan coven, we honored the Veiled Lady as the Goddess and the Hooded Lord as the God, or the goddess Morrighan and the god Lugh.
    
    One of the regular parts of the ritual for my coven is we pass around a goblet of pomegranate or cranberry juice as we sit in a circle (usually around the bonfire). We will then share a memory of someone we want to honor, inviting them to come and be with us if they choose. We then take a drink from the cup, say, “We make ____ welcome.” or, “Hail, _____.” It’s up to the person sharing the memory if they want to invite the departed to the ritual or just share their memory and we give them honor with the “hail” and pass the cup to the next person.
    
    The overall theme is the same: focus on the Otherworld, remembrance of our departed, and often a focus on divination. Among different individual Wiccans or groups like covens, any practice they come up with to align with those experiences is valid for them and respected as such.
    
    
14. In what ways has your perception of this sabbat changed?
    
    I think over the years it’s become more meaningful. When I first started out, it was kind of like a surface-level understanding. My parents died when I was young, but I didn’t have the deeper knowledge to understand how the essence of Samhain could help me to really ‘get them’.
    
    I made the connection with the practices and the ideals, but I was still young. The ideas of having loved ones who pass on was not as in-your-face until I really got into the personal experience of it. I’m approaching 50 years old, so I’ve seen aunts and uncles I grew up with die. I’ve seen two of my best friends die from cancer and heart disease. So, having a sabbat that really brings up and makes you deal with death on a deeper level has been very insightful and full of impact for me.
    
    
15. In what ways has the overall celebration of Samhain changed in Wicca?
    
    I’m not sure what you’re looking for here, so if I am off track with my answer, please let me know what you need. I think as Wicca has become more popular and mainstream, there’s less of the fear of it being evil, outside of all but the most hard-core members of other religions. But, they see anything that’s not their religion as evil, so… What are you gonna do, right?
    
    I’ve noticed there’s a huge increase in television specials that try to educate people about the “Truth of Witchcraft” and the “Origins of Halloween in Celtic Paganism” that happen every year around that time. Sometimes the information is not entirely accurate, but that’s to be expected because it’s easier to hear something and repeat it than it is to hear something and actually try to research it. More Wiccans seem to be getting more comfortable with openly celebrating it than maybe thirty years ago, but that really seems to vary on individual location around the country. Some areas are still strongly against anything non-Christian being practiced.

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I’m always happy to answer questions and offer suggestions, so I share these here on my blog as a way to provide more information to people who might wonder about similar sorts of things and are seeking information and answers.