Halloween Traditions

'GUISING – A WARM WELCOME (or not?) TO THE DEAD

If you didn't catch it, you may wish to be sure to read the Celtic Cosmology👈 section (page and sub-pages) before continuing here.  

In ancient Celtic Ireland and Scotland, the fire festival of Samhain marked the liminal moment between harvest and winter. It was the night when the veil between the worlds thinned, and the souls of the dead could return to visit their families—not as threats, but as honored guests—mostly.  

Families swept their homes from front to back to spiritually clear the way for these visitors. Hearth fires were extinguished, just as they were at Beltane (say it BYAL-tin-eh, as in “meh"), and later relit from a communal bonfire—a sacred flame kindled by the Druids (say it DREW-id, Celtic [say it KEL-tik]  priests).

To navigate this mixed crowd, people wore disguises ('guising is short for disguising)—rags, ash-blackened faces, and animal masks. These served a double purpose:

• To blend in with the spirit world, so you wouldn’t be noticed

• Or to scare off mischievous or dangerous beings, especially those drawn to light, food, or warmth

The veil between the Celtic Otherworld and ours was thinnest on the two liminal (border-posts) fire festivals that marked the onset of the dark and light halves of the year:  Samhain (say it SOW-win, or SAH-win) and Beltaine (say it BYAL-tin-eh, “eh" like “meh," alternately spelled Beltane).  They were special times when mischievous supernatural beings and sometimes malicious (with bad or evil intention) creatures lurked about, as well as spirits (who could similarly be friendly and not).   Thus, mask and costume wearing was rationalized (explained to each generation) in the folklore sources from ancient Samhain tradition to alternately either camouflage oneself to escape notice from those ill-intended creatures and beings, or else to scare them off.  

Recall that at the start of a new year cloaked in oncoming winter darkness, Samhain on October 31st (heralding the onset of winter and end of harvest), and Beltaine on May 1st (heralding the arrival of summer and marking the return of the sun), Crom (say it KRUM) opened the sidhe (say it SHEE, or the portals to the Celtic Otherworld under ancient burial mounds, in caves, under bridges or sacred wells, etc., which were closed except on the fire festival days) to allow the Aos sí (say it EES-she, people of the mound or fairy folk/fae) and spirits to wander from Tír na nÓg (say it TEER nah NOHG, the “ó" is long like “noooog," or the Land of Youth) or Mag Mell (say it MAG MELL, just as spelled, “mag" as in “magazine," “mell" rhymes with “bell," or the Plain of Delight) into Bith (say it say it bih, short, like “bit” but without the “t")—our world—twice a year.  

The Ancient Goidelic (say it GOY-del-ik, old Celtic language of the Irish, Gaelic [say it GAY-lik] is the language family of the Scots) Celts believed when we died, our spirits re-incarnated (were born again in new bodies for additional lifetimes), and went to the Celtic Otherworld referred to as any of the variant names for it discussed on the Celtic Cosmology👈 page.