THE CELTIC CONNECTION • OCTOBER 1992
Page 11
The Dark Festival of the Sun
By LYDIA LANGSTAFF Now is the time of Cerridwen, the keeper of the Cauldron of the Underworld, for now is the time of Samhain. Originally, Samhain was a whole season but it was later pared down to a few weeks, then three days from October 31 to November 2. The Festival of the Sun is generally recognised as November 1.
Cerridwen, or Cariadwen as the Welsh call her, is the Dark Goddess. Her domain includes shape shifting and the birth of magical or spiritual children. She is the grandmother, the crone: timelessness itself.
Samhain is linked with Cerridwen because it is the dark time of the year when cattle which were too weak to live through the winter were sacri-
(SAMHAIN)
ficed on bonfires. It is when the powerful magic of death and time cause the souls of the dead to return to Earth.
Mortals can also look into the future and open doors between the worlds now. This is done using nuts and apples, which are considered fairy food for they can be kept through the winter.
In some places in Ireland, November 1 is known as Nutcrack Night, because nuts, representing a girl and two lovers, were cast into the fire. If one nut jumped he was unfaithful and if one blazed, the other would be responsive. Prophesies and dark
MYSTIC NIGHT
Hallowe'en Mystic Night. Weird happenings 'Neath a moonlit sky Stars stangely bright.
Witches in a woodland-play Then on their broomsticks
Ride away.....
Past shadowy trees Where the cold winds sigh
And the headless coach Goes flashing by.
Down by the river The banshee cries — Her fearsome wail Fills the midnight skies.
Until the dawn Strange sights are seen in that Mystic Night. Of Hallowe'en.
— Mai O'Higgins
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magic are Cerridwen's domain.
She is the Nurse of Seeds in Alban Elued, the autumn equinox, when she guards them as a crone. During the winter, she begins to transform into a maiden, preparing for the Beltane fires or May.
Links to the Arthurian legends are also found. When Gwion Back was commanded to tend Cerridwen's cauldron he stole her potion. She chased him through various animal forms. When he transformed himself into a bird, she responded by becoming a hawk and nearly caught him. He then turned himself to grain, so she became a chicken and ate him. The child resulting from this was Taliesin, a great Welsh poet in King
Arthur's time.
It would be an over-simplification to leave Samhain as only a harvest festival. It is the time when the Pleiades, a small group of stars in the Taurus constellation, disappear. Each of the Pleiades is allocated to a goddess. These stars marked the significant events of the Celtic calendar.
Samhain is not the time of total death, for nothing in the great cycle is total, rather it is when souls re-emerge. The cycle of the triple Goddess is Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Now is the time of the North, the Winter, the Earth, and the Night. Now is the time of Cerridwen, and of Samhain.
LYDIA LANGSTAFF
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