Samhain

As we start our fall days by taking our sweaters out of hiding, and saving most Sundays for football, we know autumn began this year on Sunday, September 22nd, at 4:44 P.M., and will continue until Saturday, December 21st.  But, this three-month time frame seemed very long to our predecessors, who depended so much on the weather for their livelihood.  Between these two extreme seasons, there came a time of celebration, "Samhain," literally "summer's end," when it was known that there was very little chance for warm weather to still occur.

Because each season is a quarter of the year, the differing seasons often seemed not to obey the actual start-and-stop days.  Some of this is the result of insolation, the fact that our atmosphere causes the seasonal temperatures to lag behind the calendar.  This is kind of analogous to a pan on a stove not heating immediately when starting the burner.  To our ancestors this coincided to the halfway point in a specific season.  For fall, for example, there was still a chance that summer's warmth could still happen, but, at the end of this half seasonal time, it appeared all that was left was to wait  to become colder with each passing day.

On this Samhain night, it was believed that the souls of the dead were invited to Earth, as the door to the Underworld would open.  It also coincided with the Christian celebrations of All Saints and All Souls.  To rid the neighborhood of as many of the evil spirits as possible, candy was offered as a bribe - just as it is today. Although we don't officially believe that the October cross quarter marks the beginning of evil, we should still open our homes to the local scary residents; it's always wise to be kind to them, just in case.