Cernunnos
Halloween, or All Hallows Even, is one of the most famous celtic holidays.
It has ancient, mystical roots, and long ago it was known as Samain or Samhain, the dying and funeral of the Great God.
In the Celtic Wheel of the Year, by which we are celebrating the 8 main holidays of this pagan tradition, Samhain has one of the most important places. It is a symbolic and tragic event.
The great God Cernunnos goes through the entire human cycle of life in a year - from birth to death.
On October 31, the Horned God dies, leaving the Great Goddess in tears and pain.
His body becomes a part of the forest he so carefully guarded through his life - his horns grow into new trees, the wool grows into the grass, and the blood turns into streams and springs.
The whole world grieves over the loss of the Great God along with his Mother and Wife - witches sing funeral songs, dancing and screaming near the fires, forest animals howls and cries, western magicians glorify the dead Cernunnos, who gave the Earth the fertility of spring and summer.
Along with the death of God, the line between the worlds - ours and the one on the other side, full of the dead and terrible creatures of children's nightmares - is thinning.
On this night these horrible creatures can get to Earth and dance with impunity on the bones of the Horned God and commit atrocities, taking with them into the darkness the weakest and most defenseless.
Creepy wendigos, banshees, revenants, reyi, ghosts all are waking up, hopeless darkness and horror reign in people today.
On this day, do not open the windows in the house, do not burn the lights at night, and do not go outside - who knows what you may face when the line between the worlds almost ceases to exist.
Leave a sacrifice to Cernunnos, your final gift to honor Him - baked pumpkin, vanilla and cinnamon, a spicy sweet wine. Sing him a song full of thanks for a summer full of fruits and vegetables, for an autumn of bright colors, for a gentle spring that awakened the world with its breath this year.
And leave the Horned God alone, among his blessed forest, to rest with a kind and calm sleep.