Much misinformation you may or may not have heard about Samhain has come down from the times when the Church took over the areas of the world where paganism was practiced. Anything other than Church belief was seen as the work of the 'devil' and to this day the lies and false accusations continue. This page is an attempt to expose the lies for what they are.
The Dreaded Lord Samhain ~
Most of the more flagrant Halloween-bashing fundamentalist writings focus on the supposed connection with Lord Samhain, the dabolical Celtic Lord of the Dead, who is identified with Satan. Put quite simply, he just doesn't exist. Samhain is not a Celtic God of the Dead, it is the name of the third and final Celtic harvest festivals. The name comes from the Gaelic 'sam' meaning 'summer' and 'fuin' meaning 'end'. Though the Druids may have had a diety with that name, or something like it, he was an obscure character having nothing to do with death. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such.
Another Celtic deity that is sometimes mentioned in defamatory Christian literature is the sun god, "Muck-Olla". He never existed in Celtic times either, but was either a boogeyman-type mythological figure from Yorkshire, England, or a havoc-wreaking bull from a much later Welsh legend. Lugh is the name of the Celtic sun God.
Devil-Worship ~
Neither the Druids or pagans of old, nor the Neopagans and Wiccans of today believe in the devil, therefore would hardly worship or commune with this Christian mythological being. Theirs is a pantheistic religion seeing all things as a part of God/dess (most celebrate the male and female aspects of the Diety, while some (as the Dianic tradition of Wicca) focus on the Goddess). The word 'pagan' comes from the old Latin, 'pagani and means 'of the country'. The word 'heathen' means 'of the heath'. Both labels described non-Christian practitioners and originally had no connection to 'evil'. As Christianity came to the British Isles, the Church sought to do away with the old beliefs and began the campaign to demonize the old ways, which led to the Inquisition in the 1200's and 1300's and to the infamous 'Burning Times' .Two Dominican priests, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger wrote a book circa 1486 called "Malleus malificarum,( or "The Witches' Hammer" ) and with this as their guide, the Church began the systematic genocide of people labeled as witches. Just about anything could get you accused of witchcraft - having a birthmark or speech impediment, being too pretty or too outspoken, owning the wrong color cat or having the wrong color hair, a neighbors' crops failing...and on and on. Most of those executed were women, and many of them were the healers whose skill with herbs and cures was seen as coming from the devil. Through the centuries lies and fear turned a once peaceful religion into the beast many assume it to be today. Nothing could be further from the truth. The old ways, and those of Neopagans and true witches, are based on respect for nature and the divinity in all life. As an endnote, fundamentalist Christians believe any religion that worships a God other than their own to be devil-worship. This includes Buddhism, Islam, Native American Spirituality, Taoism, Hinduism, etc. Hmm, Mahatma Ghandi and the Dalai Lama - devil-worshippers. That would almost be laughable if so much harm hasn't come to so many innocent people because of the demonizing done to those with differing beliefs.
Satanism ~
Satanism is often grouped with Paganism and Wicca, but is a completely separate group and totally opposite in beliefs. In fact the 'Church of Satan' often belittles the Wiccan law of 'doing harm to none'. Satanists use magick and rituals to benefit themselves and their friends, but are also free to use these same rituals to harm their enemies. Satanism, however, does not worship the Christian concept of the devil either. They believe 'Satan' to be a force of nature, not an entity of worship and believe in the power of the individual rather than what they believe to be a non-existant diety. The so called "Black Mass", where Satanists recite the Lord's Prayer backwards, or desecrate and use the host and wine stolen from churches, is pure fiction that can be traced back to books written during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. Still, some Satanists have 'put on' a Black Mass in public to play on the foolishness and gullibility of the fundamentalists and there are a few individuals that have created their own version of satanism where these elements are included, but they are small in number and not based on what the Church of Satan defines as satanism. Any definition of Satanism is separate and apart from the beliefs of pagans, old and new. I find their belief system personally abhorrent, but even they are not the monsters that fundamentalist Christians would have you believe they are.
Human Sacrifice ~
Some Fundamentalist writings also claim that the Druids of old performed human sacrifices during their rituals. All of these stories are traceable to a single passage in one of Julius Caesar's books, though the author apparently never witnessed such a sacrifice or spoke to anyone who had. Although there is a great deal of archeological evidence to support Celtic executions of criminals, there is none that verifies ritual sacrifices. Animal sacrifices have been performed by many cultures in the past, even in the Old Testament, but there is no real evidence of this in connection with the Druids either. In any case, human sacrifice is not now, nor has it ever been, performed by Pagans of any tradition. Even Satanists profess a respect for the sanctity of life. Quite frankly, being raised a Roman Catholic, I always wondered why Abraham didn't go straight for the local exorcist when he heard a 'voice' commanding him to sacrifice his son. How could he believe that God would ask him to do something like that? Oh, please don't write and answer that. I've heard all the answers, or should I say non-answers. This is just one of the many 'not the God I know' reasons I am no longer a practicing Catholic.
Burning 'witches' at the stake has not gone on for many a year, but the defamation of character and persecution continues to this day, all because of the propagation of the lies begun centuries ago.
It is not my intention, in these pages, to dishonor any religion. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs, but they also have, I believe, the moral obligation not to defame another because their views differ from their own. If you are a fundamentalist Christian and believe in the 'devil', that is your right, but you do not have the right to impose that belief on others, nor do you have the right to ascribe your demons to groups that have no such mythology. Christianity is a beautiful religion based on love. To spread hate is against everything Jesus stood for.
God, Goddess, (whatever you call the Infinite Presence) is larger than any of us can know and each of us is a creation and a part of that Presence. May we all learn to recognize the divinity inherent in all life and respect each other in that recognition.
