One of the best models for how in practise the Catholic Church coopted the myths, rituals and story telling of the Celtic people of Scotland and Ireland is the holiday of Samhain/Samhuinn. The stolen is still so visible! I’ve been so enjoying the increasing amount of writing and production the last few years that bring the obvious back into our consciousness. The obvious recognition that bunnies aren’t naturally part of the crucifixion and resurrection and why Halloween is so much stronger still than All Saints Day. I like when we grow up as a society and don’t simply swallow things we were told whole without inspection anymore.
One of the pieces that I am most taking forward this year is the understanding how in the pre-christian beliefs it was night which preceded day, winter must come before spring was possible, decay, darkness, inwards was not the result it was the start! I want to spend some time this particular turning of the wheel thinking about that. Thinking about how if we believed that how it would change the way our world views taking rest and ideas of a reward in an afterlife...
As we enter our own season of renewal here on Saints and Stones for many of my paid subscribers I just wanted to take a minute and tell you clearly and directly how grateful I am for your support. Your investment in me and this story has been a rope I clung to this year while I fought quite hard to give myself the permission to keep going. The fact that you find value in my words means so much more than you will ever know and it is completely because of you that I will bring this story into the world. Thank you.
And in the spirit of good story telling here are a few wonderful things I’ve found on line this week on the topic of Samhain/All Souls Day.
Enjoy!
From
In the 1540’s the church in England was dedicated to upending most yearly ritual celebrations and holy day festivities, but one that people really clung onto was ringing bells for the dead on All Saints night. Apparently people were so committed to this rite, that they were willing to get into significant trouble to keep it alive, so important did it feel to do. All over the country people were so dedicated to ringing the bells that they would go to great lengths (like fighting the parson) to do it and and sometimes even face prosecution. When people couldn’t access the bells in the churches anymore they took to the fields, often lighting fires and praying for the dead, reciting their names in a circle. Some threads of this even went on to the early 18th century, in the hills of Lancashire, and we can imagine that something similar had gone on for a very long time before.
I love imagining their dedication and commitment to the rites of the dead, willing to disobey authority to come together to do what needed to be done, and to adapt the tradition to the fields when it was needed, knowing the rite was important beyond the access to the bells of the church. I think we can take a lot of heart and inspiration from it this year. In a world that is trying to minimise and deny the deaths of thousands, we can chant their names, we can defy authority, we can honour them and treat them like they matter, because they do.
Ring the bells! Light the fires! Chant the names of the dead!
These two videos are wonderful and the account is a new find to check in with via the brilliant Eileen Budd (interviewed on Saints and Stones here). Just click to go watch them.