The TRUE History of Samhain (it's not what you think)

No! Samhain is NOT a "Celtic Fire Festival", as contemporary Wiccans and Pagans often believe. That's a view popularized by James Frazer and John Rhys, which lacks historical support and evidence. I explain in this video the true history of Samhain based on the historical research by Ronald Hutton.

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MY SET-UP 🛠️

00:00 Introduction to Samhain / Halloween
01:53 Support Angela’s Symposium
02:49 The Celtic Festival
04:05 The Christian era in Britain
04:49 The academic evidence
06:10 Early Irish significance disputed
08:23 Anglo-Saxons and Scandanavia
09:18 The ideas of John Rhys and James Frazer
12:56 Wales - Calan Gaeaf
13:44 Halloween night in non-Celtic regions
14:55 Fire festivals in decline
15:06 Hallowmas fires in Scotland are forbidden
18:39 Support Angela’s Symposium

⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️

Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!

[drangelapuca]

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[timflatus]

November is known as Mis Du (Black Month) in Cornish and Breton. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Brythons adopted the Roman calendar after occupation. Prior to that they may have used some form of luni-solar reckoning which would have made Samhain a movable feast. Good overview, thanks! 🧙

[timothystewart]

Gotta love how informative and fun these videos are 🧙‍♀️

[b_onyx]

🧙🏻‍♀️Thank you so much! So glad I found your channel—evidence & scholarly based or cited information is so hard to come by on these platforms. I sincerely appreciate the time & effort you put in, & for sharing it for free! Happy Halloween / Samhain! 🎃🧡🖤

[jordanpasternak]

Gearing up for my first year of celebrating! 🧙🏽‍♂️

[StoneHerne]

😃 Hi, Dr. Puca! Happy to see you again! I love your newsletter! 😃
😃 This video is super interesting, thanks to you I learn more about this fascinating topic! 😃 And about your nickname as well. 😁
😃 Blessed and happy Samhain to you, Dr. Puca! See you next time! 😃

[vanessalewis]

Youre absolutely right. It was a harvest festival.

[dalestaley]

👻📥📤 Dr Puca, I can't find a witch to post, but I replaced it with a ghost to honor the times of the thin veil. The IN and OUT boxes to represent the tribal leaders who met at Samhain for administrative purposes. 😂
Thank you for educating us on the real meaning and purposes of this time.

[roguewolf]

Amazing video! I learned so much! ♒🍄🕸(can't find it, so no witch emoji for me😅😅😅)

[justkiddin]

Hope everyone had a good Samhain🎃🔥 Watching on the Day of the Dead. Thank you for the background! 🧙🏻‍♀️♥️✌️

[calicodavis]

Great video as always! Happy Halloween! 🧙🏽‍♀️

[AlexiPinkSin]

I just came across your page and this was the first video I have seen. I like it a lot and signed up for your newsletter. Thank you for this info

[nightsazrael]

🦇🕷🕸 Couldn't find a witch but if you combine these ingredients with the blood of a hanged man on all hallows, maybe a witch will appear.

[irkendragon]

So something I don't entirely get here, it sounds like from watching this it's not so much that modern Halloween is rooted in Samhain, but that lingering Samhain traditions potentially influenced and added to the celebrations and activities held around All Saint's/All Souls day? It sounds like the association with the dead mostly comes from the christian side of things and Samhain inherited that vibe?

[BlazeLeeDragon]

there is no witch emojis, here is a wand: 🪄
4:52 I'm glad you called this out here. I was confused on how folks started to celebrate Samhain on October 31. If we look at Irish the language, Samhain is the name for the month of November (nov 1st) and even when I first got into new age neo paganism, I was told it was done at midnight (thus being nov 1st). There is actually a name still used in Ireland today that means the eve of November or "Samhain eve" - "Oíche Shamhna". That aside looking at the modern neo pagan wheel of the year, there are the four major and four minor days celebrated. The four major being, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. All are on the 1st, except for some claiming Samhain on the 31 and some Imbolc on the 2nd. The minors are all on the 21st. So complete a perfect wheel we would have no day, 1st, 21st. with four groups of months through out the year. that would be October with no day and November 1st, followed by December 21st.

[vanessalewis]

Its Nocember lol it was also a harvest festival.

[susanhelwig]

Well, this is just very wrong. Actual Irish citizens who are scholars in Irish history vehemently disagee with you.

[MadailinBurnhope]

Samhain is an Irish fire festival, along with Imbolg, Lughnasadh and Bealtaine; the word is literally Gailge; you can't say "there is no evidence for" then simply move on; just because customs and traditions across Celtic nations and cultures vary (and Celtic nations are not monolithic) does not mean "Samhain is NOT a Celtic fire festival"; this video is suitably spooky and aesthetic and you sound like a vampire but that's where the coolness of this video ends

[kellyrobbins]

It's b s. Christianity had nothing to do with samhain

[inthehouse]

Okay, so let me get this straight. You have taken it upon yourself to "school" everyone on what is and isn't an ancient custom. You reference "scholars" and analyze various traditions, reference numerous cultures, and ultimately castigate the practices of many people who find this time of year a personal and spiritual celebration based on the melding of ideas and traditions from many cultures. And then you contradict your own thesis "Not a Celtic Fire Festival" at the 15:00 time stamp in your video by describing customary fire traditions in the Celtic regions of the north at this time of year. Wow. Who made you the ultimate purveyor of wisdom on this subject? Apparently, you did. Not impressed. Please be more respectful. Blessed be.