Those of us who follow the traditions of Northern and Western Europe are aware of the ancient two-fold division of the year, named Samhain and Beltain by Celtic peoples. We often think of these festivals as contrasting sharply with each other. November Eve heralds the Dark or Black Months, as they are called in Celtic countries today, the time of death and dying, whereas May Eve and May morning we associate more with light, gaiety and new life. While these associations are supported by surviving customs, I have discovered some interesting similarities and resonances between these two turning points of the year, both from research and in my inner experience of them.

All accounts of Samhain, which means “end of summer,�?speak of the veil between the worlds growing thin, allowing spirits, the faeries and the Sidhe of Ireland to come through and visit mortals. The Sidhe, named after the burial mounds under which they lived, are also identified with the Tuatha de Danaan, portrayed as heroes and gods in Irish legend. A number of scholars have concluded that the Tuatha De, the faeries of later tradition, and the ancestral spirits of the dead were one and the same in ancient Celtic religion (see Bibliography).

On Samhain Eve, the “sid,�?or burial mounds, were said to open, allowing all inhabitants of the Otherworld free passage into this one. On this night, gifts of food were left out for the dead, blood sacrifices were made in holes dug into the mounds, and doors were left unbolted so the spirits could pass freely and come back to visit the mortals they had left behind. In modern times, throughout Celtic countries, mummers with faces painted black to represent the dead visit houses asking for wine and food, and sometimes playing tricks on the countryfolk. These mummers are often called “New Year’s visitors,�?reminding us that Samhain did, indeed, begin the Celtic year.

Also at Samhain, the Dagda, chief god of the ancient Irish pantheon, mated with the Morrigu, the three-fold battle-goddess who embodied the Sovereignty of the land, and whose name means “Great Queen.�?In other words, they performed the Great Rite at the very moment when the two worlds of mortal and non-mortal came together and touched. There are indications that this symbolic mating was accompanied in the human world by a ritual mating of the High King and the High Queen of the Celtic tribe or nation, as well as by young people out all night with the mummers. This comes as a surprise at first, if we have thought of Samhain as being about the dead, and Beltain as being about fertility. However, it is interesting to note that this Great Rite at Samhain was seen as a means of placating the dead, who could impair fertility by refusing to be born again. In this context, the rituals of Samhain can be seen as an overall offering to the dead of food; wine; sacrificial blood, the stuff of life; the fruit of the recent harvest; and the literal seed of human beings, as well as a connection to the kundalini-like life-force, the energy and power raised by the sexual act itself. From these offerings, Celtic peoples hoped to nourish and persuade the dead to be reborn, to come back and join them again in the world of mortals.