October 31st is known as Samhain Eve to Witches. Samhain, literally translates to ‘End of Summer’, and is one of the biggest festivals in the Wiccan calendar, a time of remembrance of those they’ve lost and a celebration of summer’s death and winter’s birth. They believe that the Sun god and Earth fall into a slumber, the nights lengthen, the air becomes crisp and winter begins.
Background:
October 31st is known as one of two ‘spirit nights’, the other being Beltane. According to Wiccans it is a magical interval when the laws of time and space are suspended. On Samhain Eve they believe that the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, facilitating communication between ancestors and departed loved ones.
Originally, Samhain known as the ‘Feast of the Dead’ is a sabbat (holiday) celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving offerings on altars and doorsteps for the dead who have returned to their previous homes, and this practice is still carried out in certain places. Extra chairs were left out for loved ones to sit around the family table, apples were buried along roadsides for lost spirits without descendants to lead them and turnips were hollowed out and carved to look like protective spirits. Pranks were also a common practice which is where the phrase, ‘trick or treat’ originates from, alongside the tradition of dressing up in costume.
Symbols:
Apples, black cats, Jack-o’-lanterns, besoms.
Herbs:
Mugwort, allspice, catnip, oak leaves, sage, broom and deadly nightshade.
Foods:
Turnips, apples, nuts, mulled wine, beef, pork and poultry.
Colors:
Black, orange, white, silver and gold.
Wiccans celebrate Samhain by building a bonfire. This practice is one of the most honored Samhain traditions, the fire symbolizes the welcoming of winter. They believe that you can commune with your departed loved ones through the fire (or candle). The want to create a welcoming space for the deceased, hold hands around the fire and embrace its warmth. Perhaps even sing and dance, inviting the spirits to celebrate too. It is also common to tell stories around the fire, either special memories or spooky stories of the dead or supernatural.
Having a silent supper to honor the dead is a more somber and respective Samhain tradition. They leave a chair out for spirits to sit with you while you eat and perhaps even make a spare meal for them. They believe that you can make the dining space sacred by using sage to cleanse the area and remove all distractions. Remaining silent throughout is key.
During the silent supper, some choose to honor the dead through photographs. An Altar is a sacred space that Witches use to carry out rituals and decorate for the Sabbats, for Samhain they may place photographs of their loved ones or personal items of the person they are honoring on their altar. Adding fruit such as apples or pomegranates is also their way to celebrate the deceased; apples are the fruit of death, while pomegranates are the fruit of life, place both on your altar to represent the thin line between both on Samhain.
Orange and black are the two key colors of Samhain, black representing death and orange representing the dawning of light that shall return. The celebration is meant to be respectful and friendly, but as you can imagine, many of those that they are attempting to contact believed that the practice of witchcraft or divination is evil, forbidden by the only God in the Jewish-Christian Scriptures.
Wiccan luckily are able wear a costume on October 31st without appearing odd, because it is acceptable in society because of Halloween. So, it’s easy to celebrate the prank element of Samhain in public. Traditionally, costumes involved animal parts however, that is no longer common. Masks are key for Samhain, to use them as a disguise to perform mischief, but they’re also used to confuse malevolent spirits and keep you safe. Many believe that creating their own costume from scratch would be the best way to celebrate Samhain, by using household objects, second-hand materials or animal products to create your costume.
They also have a tradition of a divination ceremony, in which they seek knowledge by contacting their deceased loved ones. They believe that the best way to carry out a divination is by using Tarot cards or runes. They use their cards or stones to ask questions to the dead, note down what they’re told and reflect on it by choosing something that has arisen from their ceremony to improve, like focusing more on themselves, prioritizing mental health, and working on your self-worth. All things that the Christian would find appropriate, except for communicating with the spirits of the dead, strictly forbidden in Scripture.
Wiccans want to connect with the living as well. Samhain is not only about death, but about life too. Many Wiccans work on relationships that seem to be failing, check up on old friends, and spend time celebrating Samhain with others. Many like to learn about their roots, perhaps remembering the family tree and looking at old photographs.
Many Wiccans haven’t come out of the broom closet, so Samhain is an easy Sabbat to celebrate as it co-exists with Halloween and many of the traditions cross over. They believe in the “divine” and often wish you to be “blessed.” But they do not believe in the only divine God spoken of in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, nor the specific claims of Jesus.
There is no doubt that they have existed from the earliest of days. No one disputes that. They use and share many words and principles of Judeo-Christian teachings. The same God made them. that made us in His image. But they do not believe in a necessary, uncaused, transcendent, spaceless, timeless, enormously powerful, personal God outside of creation. They worship creation, and that is where their worldview begins to fail.
Question: If some Christians are oppressive KNOW-IT-ALLs does that weigh in favor of WICCA? No. That means that some Christians are immature and don’t follow their teaching very well.
Question: Are Wiccans bad people? No. Most witches are nice people and are concerned about the planet. But they are very sensitive. Many have grown up in legalistic/weird churches, and think they’ve heard it all. Ones that I’ve encountered believe that Christians are narrow-minded, oppressive KNOW-IT-ALLs. By implication, if not forthright, they will tell you that your beliefs aren’t true because the bible isn't reliable. But most aren’t evangelistic, because there is no orthodoxy, nor do they offer any arguments for their spiritual assertions.
WICCANS won’t truly evaluate their beliefs against science, history, or philosophy—much less the huge amount of Biblical manuscripts, archeology, prophecy, and statistical probability of its claims. If the science and philosophical arguments go through, then Pantheism and its stepsister WICCA can't be true. When we understand that we can discuss metaphysical and theological issues better. It’s not a matter of being oppressive, it’s a matter of weighing the evidence in support of your belief.
The Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem, or the BGV theorem, is a theorem in physical cosmology which deduces that any universe that has, on average, been expanding throughout its history cannot be infinite in the past but must have a past spacetime boundary. For a simple explanation read "On Guard" William Lane Craig.
We know that the universe began to exist from BGV, and our expanding universe discovered by Einstein, Hubble's observations, Friedman-Lemaitre's "Big Bang" model, and Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the ancient light that began saturating the universe after its creation.
Also, the philosophical arguments that: 1. An actual infinite number of things cannot exist. 2. You can't pass through an infinite number of elements one at a time. 3. You can't count to or from infinity.
