Food is nourishing and imperative for survival, and it can be sacred, pleasurable and sensual. Food is used in celebration and in rituals. It can also be deadly and unsettling. Our new column Dangerous & Divine explores the mystical sides of cuisine as well as the delicacies that are lethally seductive; as appetizing as they can be, eating these dishes prepared incorrectly can be deadly.
Samhain: A Fiery Celebration of Harvest and Death
As the autumn days get shorter, the nights darker, and the temperatures drop, it is believed that the veil between our living world and the after world gets thinner. An ancient Celtic pagan holiday, Samhain, celebrates this thinning of the shroud, autumn’s bountiful harvest, and the death of summer as winter beckons. Fires burn as offerings are gathered. When the barriers break, the living lie in wait to be reunited with their departed and to learn of their future fortunes and destinies.
Samhain (pronounced saah-win or SOW-win) which in modern Irish means “summer’s end” marks the end of the lighter part of the year and the beginning of darker days. The festivities occur on the halfway point between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. Originally the holiday was celebrated for three days with the peak of celebration happening from sundown on October 31st through sundown November 1st. This mysterious festival of fire, feasting and rituals, was the precursor to All Saint’s Eve and then later, Halloween. It is a time to rejoice in the last harvest and feast on the fruits of one’s labor with simmering cauldrons of stew, and dishes made with the abundance of root vegetables, pumpkins, squashes, apples and pomegranates. It is a time to honor and recognize those that have passed before us by giving offerings to our ancestors. This is the moment of the year when the door to the afterlife is agape thus allowing for spirits and fairies to seamlessly pass into the natural world. This is when communication is easier with long lost loved ones. Food is offered not only as a celebration of the harvest and gratitude to ancestors, but also in the event that spirits from the other sphere get hungry when entering our world.
Prepare, if you dare.
Fire
A bonfire, fireplace or a profusion of candles are lit and kept roaring until the wee hours. The feasting table can be set as elaborately or as simply as one sees fit. But Samhain is the perfect excuse to pull out all the table settings that have been hoarded for an elaborate occasion. Dust off the crystal glassware, the vintage china and good silverware. Light the precious candle sticks and pull out the cloth napkins. Create a centerpiece with candles surrounded by pomegranates, apples, gourds, squashes and pumpkins. Let the flora of the season be known beneath the flame’s glow: eucalyptus (used as a gentle protection herb), thistle, calendula flowers, and branches of herbs like rosemary and sage. For the daring, deadly nightshade can be used as a strengthener for spirit-flight or hedge-crossing, a practice in which the living travel outside their body and into the otherworld. It is also a strong protector, keeping malevolent demons away. But beware. It can be lethal if the berries, leaves or purple flowers are ingested.
Feasting
Samhain was also a time of sacrifice in preparation for the long winter. Livestock were slaughtered in fall to preserve meat for the cold months ahead. Big pots of long simmering stews filled with beef, pork or wild game, such as boar or elk, can be loaded with carrots, parsnips, and potatoes, then seasoned with rosemary, thyme and sage. A hearty vegetarian option could be a bean stew with carrots, turnips and kale spiced with rosemary, black peppercorns and nutmeg. Colcannon, a traditional Celtic dish was a way to jazz up mashed potatoes with chopped cabbage. The meal can be washed down with strong ale, hot apple cider spiced with cinnamon or mulled wine, sweetened with brown sugar, and flavored with cardamom and cloves.
Soul cakes were served to soothe lingering spirits. But the tasty little treats have a macabre past. Originally these cakes, infused with dried fruits and spices and adorned with a cross on top, were cooked on a bonfire. Everyone gathered around the flames and picked a cake. The one who drew the cake with the burnt bottom would become the human sacrifice of the festival, ensuring a bountiful harvest the following year. These days the cakes, which resemble butter cookies or sometimes biscuits, are more benign but still thought to keep the spirits, ghouls and ghosts at bay. The crumbly cakes are made with flour and can be infused with raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped prunes and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Grated orange peel or a splash of Grand Marnier liqueur can be added for a flavorful modern twist.
During Samhain, futures are foreseen in bread. Barmbrack, the sweetened yeasty Irish loaf, is infused with black tea and dotted with dried berries, sultanas or currants. Little charms used in fortune telling are hidden in the dough before baking. Whoever receives a slice with the charm would have that fortune for the upcoming year. Rings, coins and cloth would signal marriage, prosperity, poverty. The dearly departed can be contacted from beyond the veil and asked for guidance in a determined fate.
Set an empty place at the dining table for an ancestor, complete with a plate of the feast and a goblet of ale, cider or wine, in case dead kin revisit the family home in search of hospitality. Host a “Dumb Supper” where everyone is silent throughout the meal, enjoying the bounty mindfully while being open to sensations and these visits from the other side. Keep extra treats on hand to satiate unexpected guests that drop by. Mumming and guising were part of the festival from the early modern era, whereby people went door-to-door in costume reciting verses in exchange for food.
Once the dinner is over, the food and drink left for the spirits should be thrown into the fire and burned, buried in the ground, or in an urban setting, simply thrown into the trash after a small blessing has been said.
Ritual
Bloodstone, onyx, and smoky quartz adorn an altar. The crystals surround photos of loved ones or symbols of spirit guides. Black, gold and silver candles can be lit to further set the mood. Burn incense of sandalwood, sweetgrass and wormwood. Contact with loved ones can be attempted using ruins and divinity cards. Perhaps the most dangerous ritual of all, futures were told with the early European traditional game of using apples to determine one’s marriage fate. Apples were assigned to single gentlemen and placed into a tub of water. A single lady would try to grasp one of the bobbing apples using her teeth. Whichever apple she snared, she was divined to marry the corresponding male.
Once the meal has been enjoyed and the fires burned out, everyone can quietly lull into the hibernating winter months, celebrated, feasted, honored and content. With the grandest of hopes for safe and prosperous months and a bountiful harvest next year.
Though the classic observance of Samhain has waned through the years, modern Halloween celebrations have borrowed from the tradition. Originally, dressing in costumes was a way to confuse evil entities or to provide whimsy for neighbors. Now it’s an excuse to dress as our favorite superhero, finally wear that sexy nurse’s outfit in public, or have a socially acceptable reason to drench ourselves in gore. Going door to door asking for food was once a way needful people could acquire nourishment in exchange for being entertaining, or for saying prayers for the patron’s departed. Now it’s a shot to rack up as many free treats as possible while getting a glimpse into neighboring homes. And while Samhain marks the end of summer, our Halloween celebrations kick off the year-end holidays, filled with good food, potent booze and grateful gatherings of family and friends.
Candi Cane Canncel is a writer/designer/artist originally from Miami Beach. Her food writing has been featured in the French magazine Club Sandwich. Her recipes and party planning tips have appeared on ehow, Livestrong, OurEverydayLife, and Leaf.tv. She was the Sewing Editor of Craftgossip.com, the Lifestyle and Food / Drink Contributor for the Seattle-based Belltown Local.com, and has been a featured expert on The Learning Channel, HGTV, and the DIY Network.
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