Samhain (Pagan Halloween) Music
Ranked #6,453 in Holidays & Celebrations, #108,295 overall
Beautiful music for All Soul's Night
Pagans have our own holiday on Hallowe'en, Samhain, and we have music to celebrate our holidays, too. I'd like to share with you some wonderful music for one of my favorite holidays.
On the other hand, I respect and treasure the old Celtic tradition Hallowe'en comes from. It's the end of the Celtic "wheel of the year," the equivalent of New Year's Eve. Traditionally, it's the time when barriers between years, between times, between the living and the spirit world are at their most permeable. Old British and Celtic traditions used masks and jack-o-lanterns to embody and appease the dead... or disguise you so they won't "get" you!
For me, modern Samhain is a time to reflect, honor the dead and one's ancestors, let go of the old and make room for the new. In my college circle, we'd write down things in our lives that it was time to get rid of -- memories that nagged us, bad habits, old pain -- and burn the paper in a caldron, then write New Year's Resolutions. We also shared photos and told stories about deceased relatives and friends.
It's also, of course, the day I honor my own furry Samhain: I adopted my cat from a shelter on Hallowe'en and named her accordingly!
But enough about me and the holiday. Here's my picks for gorgeous Samhain music by New Age and pagan musicians:
Photo Credit: Hugo Nanni, Creative Commons
Samhain is special to me. On the one hand, I"m quite fond of the secular celebration, with kids dressing up, pumpkin carving, and an excuse to decorate my entryway. It's fun!On the other hand, I respect and treasure the old Celtic tradition Hallowe'en comes from. It's the end of the Celtic "wheel of the year," the equivalent of New Year's Eve. Traditionally, it's the time when barriers between years, between times, between the living and the spirit world are at their most permeable. Old British and Celtic traditions used masks and jack-o-lanterns to embody and appease the dead... or disguise you so they won't "get" you!
For me, modern Samhain is a time to reflect, honor the dead and one's ancestors, let go of the old and make room for the new. In my college circle, we'd write down things in our lives that it was time to get rid of -- memories that nagged us, bad habits, old pain -- and burn the paper in a caldron, then write New Year's Resolutions. We also shared photos and told stories about deceased relatives and friends.
It's also, of course, the day I honor my own furry Samhain: I adopted my cat from a shelter on Hallowe'en and named her accordingly!
But enough about me and the holiday. Here's my picks for gorgeous Samhain music by New Age and pagan musicians:
Loreena McKinnett - All Soul's Night
My Favorite Samhain Song
I absolutely adore this song, my favorite piece of music by my favorite new age singer. Loreena likes to explore the common ground between different cultures and traditions. In this homage to "All Soul's Night," Samhain, she combines western Celtic traditions of light and lanterns with the Japanese holiday honoring the dead, in which they put candles on little boats that they set afloat on rivers, sending them out to sea.
curated content from YouTube
Buy "The Visit" by Loreena McKennitt
The Album That Introduced Me to This Great Music
Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 06/04/2012)
Here's the album containing "All Soul's Night." (Why doesn't Amazon have downloadable Mp3s of all Loreena McKennitt's work?!) Every single song on this album is gorgeous -- in fact, it's the album that made me fall in love with her music in the first place. My other favorite is her arrangement of Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott".
Libana Pagan Music for Samhain Ritual
My circle used a lot of their chants in college
It's hard to pick just one piece of Libana music
for Samhain, so here's the chants my old circle used most often. "Fly, fly, fly" is the one I think is most seasonal for Samhain.
"Autumn Time" is one of our very favorites, although it's really more for Mabon (autumnal equinox): "Autumn time, red leaves fall / while the weeping sky looks over all / Demeter sadly walks the land / the dying grasses in her hand". Whew, what a downer. It's a gorgeous round, though.
for Samhain, so here's the chants my old circle used most often. "Fly, fly, fly" is the one I think is most seasonal for Samhain."Autumn Time" is one of our very favorites, although it's really more for Mabon (autumnal equinox): "Autumn time, red leaves fall / while the weeping sky looks over all / Demeter sadly walks the land / the dying grasses in her hand". Whew, what a downer. It's a gorgeous round, though.
"Samhain" from "Turning of the Wheel"
Nine Minute Trance Music for Samhain
I came across this album while I was hunting for "All Soul's Night" on Amazon. It's beautiful Celtic / New Age album of pagan music called, appropriately, "Turning of the Wheel." The Samhain piece is lovely, nine minutes of music suitable for meditation.
Dead Can Dance
Trance Music from the Nineties
I wasn't quite sure what to make of Dead Can Dance when I first heard them. (In fact, I avoided them for a few years mistakingly thinking they were heavy metal... which now I wouldn't mind, ha). But they grew on me. All their music is moody, strange, vaguely Middle Eastern, and excellent for candle meditation. For Samhain, I recommend "Ulysses" and "Persephone" especially.
Starhawk on the Wheel of the Year
Starhawk lessons as Mp3s
Yeah, you know Starhawk (or do you? Welcome, stranger). Well, she's recorded thoughtful blessings and lessons about Wiccan sacred traditions. Here's her talk on the "Wheel of the Year," what it means, and how to celebrate it.
Clannad - Legend
Soundtrack for Pagan "Robin of Sherwood"
Grrr. I don't know why this one's not coming up for me today: "Herne," on Amazon. It's there, I promise!
Robin of Sherwood was a little-known British series that attempted to peel off the "merry men in tights" Renaissance accretions from the old, extremely pagan traditions of Robin, Marian, and Herne: the "Hooded Man," Lady and Herne whose traditions survive in medieval mummers plays still preserved in rural parts of Britain to this day.
The TV episodes themselves are slow and dreamy, too slow for those of us primed for action by modern Hollywood blockbusters, but it's the only TV show I've ever seen where the Celtic Herne really is a character, portrayed with dignity and respect.
The music was absolutely phenomenal. The soundtrack is called "Legend." The "Herne" theme is most appropriate for Samhain; the others fit spring and summer better.
Robin of Sherwood was a little-known British series that attempted to peel off the "merry men in tights" Renaissance accretions from the old, extremely pagan traditions of Robin, Marian, and Herne: the "Hooded Man," Lady and Herne whose traditions survive in medieval mummers plays still preserved in rural parts of Britain to this day.
The TV episodes themselves are slow and dreamy, too slow for those of us primed for action by modern Hollywood blockbusters, but it's the only TV show I've ever seen where the Celtic Herne really is a character, portrayed with dignity and respect.
The music was absolutely phenomenal. The soundtrack is called "Legend." The "Herne" theme is most appropriate for Samhain; the others fit spring and summer better.
by Greekgeek
Storyteller, former Latin teacher, student of mythology and the ancient world: I've worn many hats, but always I've dabbled in computers and the web.
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