Halloween!

The Celts believed that the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead became blurred on the night of October 31, when they celebrated Samhain, the time when one year would die and a new year would be born.

To commemorate the event, the Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic gods. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, usually with skulls and animal skins, and tried to tell each other's fortunes.

There is no doubt in the world that the bountiful and generous Autumn, which gave us fruits, corn, and numerous crops, for the past three months, has come to an end, and that we have now come to the threatening, troubling brink, the season of cold and hardship . It is not surprising then, that at this time of the year the human being thinks about the mortality of his race, and about his own mysterious destiny as a living being, living in a worldly domain, limited by the gates of time and the space, constantly attracted by the Utopian vision of the other world, a world not limited by the constraints of space or time, but existing as a magnet, to draw us constantly towards eternity. From all that, one would understand that the seasons are there to give us an opportunity to think about the different periods of human life.

In Spring, we see nature waking up from the peaceful, sleepy sleep of Winter. In the beginning of Spring, we have only to notice a cold, wild desert, waking from a cold, long sleep, the frozen flesh, through which the unquenchable flame of life is successfully borne through dark, mortal portals, to a living light the bright sun. That is just the beginning, as from that point on, every plant and flower flourishes and grows until the country is covered with crops, and with colors of every type.

Blooming of Life

That renewed life continues to grow and ripen through the bright, lrestful days of Summer, until all of nature is overflowing, with crops and fruits, until the branches are bowing to the ground with the weight of ripe fruit and perfect flowers, but each day stretches its finger towards the coming Harvest, and a hawk's eye is kept on matters, and in the ripe, fruitful days of the Autumn is performed the reaping, the harvesting, the gathering, and the stacking, so that we have a sufficiently large store of food stored for the Winter.

Féile na Samhna gives a festive start to the season of decay and death. In the old days, eating blackberries was taboo from Halloween onwards. Spades, shovels, scythes, sickles, and other farming implements were put aside, as they would not be needed again until after St. Bridget’s s Day. Bit by bit, leaves, flowers, and vegetation of all kinds decay and decompose, until in the end, only bare limbs and veins, are visible between us and the light.

Silence

A complete silence falls on the stirring, soulful music of the birds, and around us we see only our old friends, the robins, wrens and sparrows, but even in the case of those same birds, their music loses its spirit, the challenge, and the vitality, which they contain during the seasons of growth, flourishing and maturity. This is also the season when humanity is tormented with its stinging, painful cold, a cold that goes to our very core. But, above all, this is the season that reminds humanity that it does not have a permanent city in this Valley of Tears, as they can see how flora and fauna; leaves and flowers all wither and die; yes, and how the weather affects all living beings, slowing them down, silencing them, and weakening them, and even, how nature (itself) is not let sleep during this whole season by some petty folk, so that they can survive far into the future.. But, if Winter is the season of death and sleep, it is also the season of life and hope, as we understand that it will not be long before the creatures of nature will be revived again, in the glorious, colorful resurrection of Spring. Patience and hope is what we need during the Winter season, or as the old saying goes, 'God's grace comes with patience' and 'patience gets strength'.