Most of you by now know that Damsel and I share ancestry originating from the Celtic tribes of ancient Ireland and Scotland. To that effect, we have come to celebrate some of the festivals and traditions of the Celts. This weekend, we decided to celebrate the festival of Samhain.
Samhain, (Celtic: “End of Summer”) in ancient Celtic religion, one of the most important and sinister calendar festivals of the year. At Samhain, held on November 1, the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to humankind, and the gods played many tricks on their mortal worshippers; it was a time fraught with danger, charged with fear, and full of supernatural episodes.
Sacrifices and propitiations of every kind were thought to be vital, for without them the Celts believed they could not prevail over the perils of the season or counteract the activities of the deities. Samhain was an important precursor to Halloween.
Of course, we are not Pagans and don’t believe in all the spooky stuff the Celts thought to be true. We are Christians and merely celebrate our heritage while being true to the One and Only God. We celebrate Samhain on the first Sunday of November with traditional Irish and/or Scottish feasting.
This weekend turned out to be atypical weather for November since it got up to 85°F on the patio today. We celebrated the Samhain cross-quarter event with an actual Feast – Corned Beef, Cabbage, Root Veggies (lo carb, of course) and an Irish Coffee.
We hope everyone enjoys the good weather while it lasts.
It’s been spectacular here, too. Mid 70’s, blue skies, and a bit of wind. Next chance for precip is this coming Tuesday/Wednesday.
Hey, DrJim. We had a wonderful couple of weeks weather-wise but it should soon come to a close with cooler air moving in and some windy days chilling us out. Still not much chance for rain but that will likely change as our usual winter conditions come around.