medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From Phyllis Jestice:
>The most important seasonal feast of the traditional
Irish year,
This is debatable. Beltaine (1 May) is arguably as important. The two points
begin, respectively, the dark/cold and bright/warm parts of the year.
>Samhain is celebrated on 1 November.
According to the modern (Gregorian) calendar. However, in earlier times, the
date may have been based on position of stars or the occurrence of other
natural phenomena.
>Its name means "end of summer" (samh = summer,
sam is summer. The h is added in the presence of the second word to indicate
lenition of the m; in other words, the m is pronounced in the word sam, but
in samhain, it becomes w.
>fuin = end), and it marks the death of the old year and the birth of the
>new, beginning with the dark season in accordance with Irish calendar
practices.
The earliest testimony that Celts--not the Irish--calculated time beginning
in the dark (days at dusk, not dawn) comes from classical sources in regard
to Continental Celts.
>Sunset on 31 October marks the death of the old year, while the following
>dawn is the beginning of the new,
Do you have a source for this? I haven't found it stated as such anywhere.
>so Samhain night is an odd between-time, when the normal rules of both time
>and space are believed to
be suspended.
The earliest references to Samhain suggests that rather than its being one
night, Samhain was considered anywhere from three nights to two weeks (one
week before and one week after). Similar evidence is available for Lughnasa
(the feat that began harvest).
>The barriers between the supernatural and earthly worlds are dissolved,
>spirits can interfere with human affairs, and mortals can enter
the realm of the dead. It is also a time of prophecy.
Most of this, except for associations with the dead--is also atteributed to
Beltaine.
>This is a very ancient festival.
What do you mean by "very ancient"? The earliest evidence comes from
medieval times. It's assumed that the feast is older, but no earlier
evidence exists for Ireland.
>We do not know how it was celebrated in early times; the only source, the
>seventeenth-century Geoffrey Keating, is unreliable.
The earliest descriptions of Samhain celebrations are to be found in the
annals and tales, both of which predate the seventeenth century.
>He reports that an assembly of druids kindled a sacred fire and domestic
>fires throughout Ireland were relit from it. More likely, by the time
>Christians wrote down tales of Samhain they no longer knew how the festival
>was celebrated. Certainly this description sounds suspiciously reminiscent
>of the ritual lighting of the paschal candle at the Easter vigil.
Folk customs dictated that hearth fires be put out and rekindled from
communal fires at Beltaine and Samhain. This has nothing to do with Easter.
See Kevin Danager, _The Year in Ireland_ and Henry Glassie, _Passing the
Time in Ballymenone_.
>In pre-Christian times it was believed that the Dagda and the Morrígan came
>together on Samhain, their intercourse assuring the well-being and
>fertility of the tribe for the coming year.
The mating of the Morri/gan (Great Queen) and Dagda (Good God) is descriebd
in one Christian-era compilation as occurring at Samhain. The purpose of the
act is not specified in that tale or any other tale. Some have speculated
that, since the mating takes place during preparations for battle between
teo deity tribes, the mating is intended to bring victory to the Dagda's
tribe. Others think that the mating was inaccurately inserted into the midst
of the battle tale. Another possible interpretation is that the mating
symbolizes the fertilization of the earth/land which will give birth to the
harvest nine months later at Lughnasa whose alternate name is Bro/n Trogain
(labor travail of the earth).
>In some versions the goddess is a hag, revived by union, as the earth is
>reborn on
Samhain day.
What versions contain this? I'm not aware of these.
>Elements of the uncanny predominate in the old stories, though. The gods
>were believed to be particularly hostile and dangerous then, and were
>propitiated by sacrifice, perhaps human sacrifice in early times if one can
>believe the legend of Crom Crúaich.
I have several issues with these statements. First, it's unclear what
sacrifice, if any, was offered at Samhain. I am not aware that Crom Crusich
was ever specifically associated with Samhain. Moreover, the folktales
associated with Crom Cruaich are found only in connection with tales of St.
Patrick and show a high level of adaptation. There is no mention of a deity
figure named Crom Cruach in any Irish myth other than Patrician hagiography.
This suggests that several deity figures were conflated into one generic
deity with a new name and exaggerated attributes.
<snip> In Irish folk custom it was believed that fairies are abroad on
Samhain, sometimes dancing with
ghosts, the púca is on the prowl, and witches find it the best time of the
year to make spells.
"Irish folk custom" assigns the same properties and events to Beltaine. It's
modern misconceptions--especially Amiercan ones--that see these as
exclusively associated with Samhain.
>On a more benevolent note, the souls of dead family members would return to
>their homes, and should be met with signs of welcome. Food was offered to
>spirits, poured into a hole dug in the
ground, a practice that Sjoestedt reports was still practiced in the early
twentieth century.
But that wasn't the only way in which food was offered to deceased family
members. Places were set at table for the dead, or food was left on the
window sill or by the hearth, for example, in some regions. Irish customs
are rarely uniform through the whole country.
>The Celtic festival of Samhain
There is no conclusive evidence that Samhain was celebrated by all Celts.
The only possible evidence is to be found in an inscription on the Coligny
calendar, a set of brass plates found in Burgundy in 1897. These plates date
from the late first century CE and show influence of both Celtic and
non-Celtic cultures. The word Samonios appears on this calendar, but experts
on Celtica do not agree that the inscription marks the beginning of winter.
>was given a Christian guise when Pope Boniface IV in the seventh century
>moved the celebration of All
Saints' Day to 1 November specifically in the hope that the Christian
holiday would supplant the pre-Christian festival of the dead.
Could you please specify your source for this? I'm not aware that a
pan-Celtic feast was referenced here.
<snip>
Bibliography:
>Danaher, Kevin. "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar." In The
Celtic Consciousness, edited by Robert O'Driscoll, 217-42. New York:
George Braziller 1981.
Kevin Danaher, who died earlier this year, was one of Ireland's foremost
folklorists. However, in this essay he was uncharacteristically speculative
about the way things *might* have been vs. the way they are known to have
been. What he has written in _The Year in Ireland_ is far more reliable.
<snip?
>Green, Miranda. Celtic Goddesses. London: British Museum Press, 1995.
Miranda Green tends to see Celtic religion through the filter of Roman
symbology.
>Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. A History of the Ritual Year in
Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
I do not recommend this book as a source on this subject.
>Ross, Anne. "Material Culture, Myth and Folk Memory." In The Celtic
Consciousness, edited by Robert O'Driscoll, 197-216. New York: George
Braziller, 1981.
A better source is Anne Ross' _Pagan Celtic Britain_ where she works more in
evidence than speculation.
>Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise. Gods and Heroes of the Celts. Translated by
Myles Dillon. Berkeley: Turtle Island Foundation, 1982.
This has been re-published by Dover as _Celtic Gods and Heroes_. Of all the
sources listed here, this is by far the most reliable and, believe it or
not, the least expensive!
Francine Nicholson
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