Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.
Put Another Tree Limb on the Bonfire
Often we use basic vocabulary without stopping to wonder why and how certain expressions have come to be. For example, the term “bonfire” is often used as teams rally the night before a big football match or when various groups have special evening gatherings at retreats or conferences at waterfront or forested locations.
However, the ties to the term's original concept and this weekend’s Halloween festivities might not be so apparent.
October 31st has long been viewed as the beginning of the new year in Celtic tradition, where the transition from one day to the next actually occurs at nightfall rather than some vague midpoint of the night. In the Celtic traditional stories, light came out of darkness (as in the Judeo / Christian / Islamic beliefs); thus, the darkness represents the transition into new life. Each day then begins in darkness, followed by the new life brought out in daylight.
At nightfall on October 31st, the light of summer ends and the darkness of the seed of the new year begins. Just as the “fruit” germinates unseen from within the seed, new life comes out from the darkness at the end of summer and the harvest season. The Celts call this celebration Samhain or Samhainn (pronounced “Sow-en”) celebrated on the evening of October 31st, according to the predominent solar calendar.
To the Celts, time was circular rather than linear. This is reflected in their commencing each day, and each festival, at dusk rather than dawn, a custom comparable with that of the Jewish Sabbath. It is also reflected in their year beginning with the festival of Samhain on 31 October, when nature appears to be dying down. Tellingly, the first month of the Celtic year is Samonios, ‘Seed Fall’: in other words, from death and darkness springs life and light. http://www.livingmyths.com/Celticyear.htm
According to the Celtic beliefs, at this time the veil between the physical world and the spirit world become very thin, as a sort of “in between” time gap existing between the 12-month solar calendar and the 13-month lunar calendar. In many ways, this became a very sacred and holy time. During this time, ancestors from the Otherworld could revisit their haunts from their physical life time. Villagers opened doors and windows to welcome in their ancestors, and food was prepared for them. Since not all the spirits were friendly, faces of guardian spirits were carved on turnips and set at the doorways to turn away those bothersome spirits.
There was also a much lighter side to the Celtic New Year rituals. Children put on strange disguises and roamed the countryside, pretending to be the returning dead or spirits from the Otherworld. Celts thought the break in reality on November Eve not only provided a link between the worlds, but also dissolved the structure of society for the night. Boys and girls would put on each other's clothes, and would generally flout convention by boisterous behavior and by playing tricks on their elders. http://home.comcast.net/~buaidh/Samhainn.html
Villagers would slaughter cattle for a great feast where the whole community would gather around a large fire. The bones of the sacrificed animals would be put on the fire, with all other flames in the village extinguished. Then each family would relight its hearth from the one great fire, bonding the community together to start the new year.
So enjoy the celebration this weekend and other community gatherings throughout the year as you toss another limb from the family tree onto the bonfire!
Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.
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