Reconnecting to the Ancient World for Samhain

Samhain is the first of four significant fire festivals in the Celtic calendar and marks the midpoint between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. The wheel of the year is separated into two seasons - the “light season” and the “dark season” with Samhain ushering in the dark as well as marking the start of a new year. 

Ancient Celtic tradition sees this as a time when the barriers between the physical realm and the spiritual realm are at their thinnest. This is why you often hear the term “the veil is thinning” around Samhain. Gods, faeries, and ghosts use this time to play tricks on us in the mortal realm - or worse, seek revenge. This is why sacrifices and gifts to appease supernatural entities were a must in the ancient world. 

Of course, the thinned veil was not all mischief and trickery. The Druids saw this as an opportunity to use the spiritual realm to more accurately see what the coming year might hold as well as to ask for the blessing of whatever spirits were closely watching them. Samhain is a time to celebrate death and rebirth. It is a time to make our peace with the ghosts of the past year and to move into the coming introspective dark season with our goals for the next year’s bounty set. 

At Celtic Fusion, Samhain is one of our favourite festivals to observe and is a fantastic way to reconnect with the ancient world. One of our traditions for this time of the year has been to sit with the idea of Samhain and what images come to us. Every year, we bring that to life with photos that honor the symbolism of this day. It is always our hope to bring the wisdom of the ancient world back to life through our creations. Below you will find some photos from our Samhain shoot last year - we hope that you can find some inspiration and maybe even recognize a few symbols mentioned above!