In the Celtic tradition, there are two days of the year considered more important than

any other. Like the solstices and equinoxes recognized by other ancient cultures, these

two days were vital waypoints of the calendar. But unlike those other cultures, the Celts drew

their markers, not for movements in the celestial plane, but rather from a more earthbound and

elemental understanding of seasonal change.

La Bielteni, most commonly held on May 1st, marks the arrival of summer and its nourishing

warmth. The livestock driven out to feast on the rich green pastures, and the countryside

resplendent in blue. Six months later, it is the turn of sound to usher in an altogether

different part of the year. The season of winter and death, where green becomes brown and

spindly trees stand skeletal and bare. The fields, long since harvested, turned barren and

dark.

Only held on November 1st, like La Bielteni, Sauen is a fire festival, and one that is

thought also to mark the beginning of the Celtic year. And so it is that on every October

31st, on Sauen Eve, a great fire is kindled, to celebrate the final cycle of life before

rebirth. And from this sacred flame, all fires will be relit, to burn anew in the hearth

of every home. Today, this ancient New Year's Eve, through the

mango of cultural appropriation and linguistic nuance, is perhaps better known as Halloween.

And although its meaning may have changed over the years, it has always remained a boundary

of sorts. Be that as a point of transition from one season to another, or else in other

ways, perhaps a little less tangible. For there are some who believe Halloween, to also

mark the time of year, when other worlds draw nearest to ours, where fairies and hobgoblins

mingle with the witches and the spirits of the dead wander the land. It is thought to

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