Samain

See also: Samhain

In the Irish Celtic Mythology, Samain (one meets sometimes the C-W communication Samhain ) is the Religious holiday which celebrates the beginning of the “dark” season of the Celtic year (for the Celtes, the year was made up two seasons: one dark season and a clear season). It is a festival of transition - the passage from one year to another - and of opening towards the Other World , that of the gods. It is mentioned in many Irish accounts epic because, from its definition, it is favourable with the magic and mythical events. Its importance at the Celtes is undeniable, since one finds it in Gaulle under the name of Samonios , in particular in a mention of the Calendrier of Coligny, which indicates the month which corresponds roughly to November.

The calendar festival

The Irish monks who put the Celtic habits in writing, as from the 8th century, specified that the day of Samain is (according to our modern calendar) on November 1st. The festival itself lasts in fact one week full, three days front, and three days afterwards. For the Celts, this period is between brackets in the year: it belongs neither to that which is completed nor with that which will start; it is one autonomous duration, out of time. It is the passage of the clear season at the dark season, which marks a rupture in the daily life: end of the conquests and the raids for the warriors and the end of agrarian work for the farmer-stockbreeders, for example.

Religious holiday

The name of Samain means “meeting”, it is an obligatory festival of all the Celtic Société which gives place to druidic rites, ritual assemblies, drinking bouts and banquets; its religious character the place under the authority of the sacerdotal class of the Druid S and the presidency of the king, any absence is punished of death. It should be stressed that, according to the tripartite ideology of Indo-European the defined by Georges Dumézil, the three classes of the company (sacerdotal, warlike and artisanal) are associated with the ceremonies. This assembled religious and social gradually disappeared with christianization.

The concept of passage is found also at this time, between the world of human and the Other World residence of the gods (the Sidh). The adventure of hero was reported, or exceptional men, who go in Sidh (generally with the invitation of a Bansidh), and there spend a few pleasant hours. The time of the gods not being the same one, their stay is, in fact, several centuries and, when they return on their premises, they cannot live since they died for a long time.

It should be noted that the folk festival of Halloween is Anglo-Saxon with an Irish origin, without any connection with Celtic mythology (see bibliography, Celtic festivals of Guyonvarc' H & the Russet-red one).

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