Samhain

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Samhain is probably the most celebrated and most controversial of the witch’s holidays. Samhain is sometimes referred to as “THE Great Sabbat” and perhaps the most important of the four High Holidays (Nichols, 1988). This holiday is known to many in the Wiccan world as the time of year when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is the thinnest. Laurie Cabot (1989) writes that originally Samhain was the Celtic feast of the dead and celebrated to honor the Aryan Lord of Death known as Samana. Over time, this celebration developed into festivals to celebrate the spirit world, rather than any one deity. It was also to mark the “ongoing cooperation between that world and our own of denser matter.” Offerings to ancestors is also an important Samhain tradition; in modern times it is to reflect on those who have passed and honoring any important aspect of their teaching, life, relationship, etc. However in ancient times, offerings were made with the belief that unhappy or disgruntled ancestors would take advantage of a thin veil and come to our world to do harm t...

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