Meaning of Samhain...

[Guest]

Hi all, Just wanted to share..after all, as my mom has raised me, education is the key to overcoming ignorance and biggotry..SAMHAIN: Among the Irish and Scottish Celts, this festival was celebrated from the eve of October 30 to the eve of November1. It marked the end of one Celtic year and the beginning of a new one. Samhain is a Celtic name and is pronounced SOW-en. The ow in the word rhymes with how. Samhain was also known as Calan Gaeaf in Wales and Ancester Night or Feast of the Dead in Britain and the Viking settlements. It has its counterparts in cultures around the world. The veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is very thin on this night, making it possible for communications between the two. This also makes it an excellent time for divinations. Wearing costumes at Samhain--or Halloween--symbolizes the souls of the dead, who are abroad and visiting their family and descendents on this night. The Celts also believed that if any person was murdered, badly wronged, or due justice that had not come in life, those souls could exact their revenge on Samhain. Bobbing for apples symbolized the apples of eternal life found on Mananna'n mac Lir's sacred isle.Enjoy your night..everyone. Have a safe one. Irregardless of your beliefs of the meaning of this night. Peace, light & eternal love..Gillian)0(

[Guest]

Thanks Gillian. The meaning behind Halloween has been so distorted over the years and has become nothing more than a Hallmark holiday and an excuse to play pranks on unsuspecting nieghbors. I mean, if you ask any child why we celebrate Halloween, they'll tell you it's all about the candy and dressing up. Ask a teen and they'll say it's about pranks and scaring the bejeezers out of people. The adults think it's about taking your kid door to door and being annoyed by the doorbell all night. The reason for this is that the *real* meaning behind the holiday is seen as a pagan tradition and the definition of a pagan is misunderstood and thought of as an evil or Satanic person. So people consiquently think it's a bad thing(this is also why, IMO, people think of the holiday as scary). I don't see there being anything wrong with taking a day to reflect on the lives of people you love who have passed no matter what religion you are. In other countries, they take these holidays seriously and we define them as "cultural". But here if you do anything more than trick or treat, you are looked at funny and people think you're strange. I think Halloween is the only holiday that can be celebrated by ALL religions.

[Guest]

If you were naked outside, they probably wouldn't care... ...at least the men wouldn't LOL. I am facinated by religion and tradition. When I was 16, I started reading and researching the various religions around the world, now 10 years later I still have many more to go. I've developed, I think, a real understanding of people and how culture and environment has influenced them over the ages. Even Satanism is misunderstood by the general population. There are extremists in every religion. In Satanism, it's those wierdo's who sacrifice living creatures and really go to the "evil" side of the religion. But most real Satanists don't do those things. It is a very selfish religion, IMO, but not necessarily evil. In Islamic religions, the terrorists are the extremists. In Christianity, it's those people like that pastor(I forgot his name)who wants to erect that statue of the poor Shepard boy saying he went to heck. All of these people twist the meanings of their religious texts in favor of their own personal beliefs. These people make a bad name for the rest of us no matter what your religion is. Besides extremists, denominations also distort text to their own liking. Now, not all Christians are Catholics but all Catholics are Christian. You can replace the word "Catholics" in my last sentence with Baptist, Evangelical, Lutheran, Protestant, etc. Each denomination interprets the Bible in slightly different ways. Paganism is another general term for nature based religions and also has denominations like Wicca or Druidism(Wicca has their own sub-denominations and is a huge religion). Again, each denomination has differences in their beliefs. All religions are supposed to be peaceful. I haven't, yet, run into one that isn't.I was first raised Catholic, then Lutheran, back to Catholic, then I went to a Protestant church for awhile. All of this had me slightly confused which sparked my interest in religion. While studying, I discovered many things about Christianity that I didn't like and some interpretations of the bible were distubing to me so I decided to start researching pagan religions. I was going to message boards on the net and finding that there is the same amount of misunderstanding about Christian religion to Paganism as there is about Pagans to Christians. From there I did Eastern religions like Buddism, Hinduism, and Islamic religions. After that was Native North American(America and Mexico). Through all this I have returned to a Christian path but I interpret the bible myself and don't let any denomination sway me from the true meaning of the texts as I see it for myself. I won't go into how I came to this decision but I do think that everyone should take the time to really think about why you are what religion you are and why you celebrate the things you celebrate.I feel just as comfortable in a church on Sunday as I do at a Samhain ritual. Both are positive experiences that are enjoyed by everyone present. We should celebrate our differences.

[murex]

several times I'v been confronted by ppl standing on corners & shouting thru loud speakers about Gods way.... then they have the ones that walk around talking to everyone.... & on several occasions I'v had them approach me & tell me I was going to he ll unless I changed my ways.... I then asked them if their God loved me & they always said yes & then I told them that their God & my God might be the same but my God has a Lady by his side makeing sure everything is in balance & if they chose for me to be the way I am it's for a reason & that I do not fear he ll for it's a place they did not creat & that it was only a place made up to scare ppl into doing what others "thought" was right.... they would then start yelling at me & condemning me.... LOL.... & here I was being nice & not even yelling at them.... these r just my views & I don't mean to offend anyone by them.... I only dislike ppl that give me a reason to.... but that doesn't mean I'm gonna bash their heads in.... actually I'm quite the opposite.... I'm nice to them anyways ~Zeke

[murex]

it's ok.... I'v enjoyed enlightening them on wicca.... some have actually seemed interested.... & I know that they r only doing this cuz they haven't grown up or been around things that r "different" then them.... this is y ppl need to be educated about everything that's out there.... I think they should make it manditory for schools to teach about the different religions & about the different cultures & about the different life styles.... this would give everyone an open eye to what's actually out there & there might not be so much hate in the world.... the only type of culture I was taught that was different then what I was used to seeing was when I was in spanish class.... ~Zeke

[Seven]

My situation is rather complicated.On my dad's side, most of the family is heavy Christian. They were born Catholic, and eventually all of them converted to being Protestant. My dad is kind of secular, and really scientific at times, but he DOES believe in some of the basics of the Christian faith, although possibly only half-heartedly. However, his brother is a minister, and a lot of his family are really religious.On my mom's side, they seem to switch from being really religious to not so religious, to being really religious again.Both sides basically refuse to accept that I might believe in something new.I tried telling my dad once, first outlining that I wasn't satisfied with how the Christian faith fulfilled me spiritually--or the lack of fulfillment, in my case. He didn't like it, and when I touched on the subject of Wicca, he pretty much tried to avoid talking about it, suggesting I research other religions and hinted strongly that I simply return to Christianity.I've hinted about the subject many times, and I think that they know I'm Wiccan, and that there's nothing they can do, but they pretty much refuse to accept it, and accept that they know. I don't really even hide anything anymore, although I don't come out and talk about it. If they confront me about it, fine, I'll say whatever I need to in order to explain exactly what I believe in truthfully, but I'm not going to go "brag" about it.Wow, this has turned from a simple touch of what Sahmain really is into a religious conversation about Wicca and "coming out of the broom closet."

[murex]

it's amazing how topics can change on this board.... anyways usually with really religious families it's hard for them to accept the fact that a member of the family might not (or in ur case just not) believe in the same things they do.... when I 1st told my mom she just told me not to do any spells on anyone that would hurt them.... she didn't really seem to care & she wasn't all that supportive either.... but after time went on she started to ask questions about holidays & different things like that.... & I still celebrate all the church holidays cuz my family does but I don't really know anyone here to celebrate the wiccan holidays with.... & right now I don't really have the room to do a hole lot.... if u don't mind me asking Seven.... how old r u????Blessed Be~Zeke