Samhain Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Between the Power Station & River, Down a Footpath.
Hunt this cache in darkness if you dare !!!
parking co-ordinates:
N 53 42.937
W 001 16.944
Small Clip Lock Box, in an unusual hiding place.
SAMHAIN --- Halloween & the Day of the Dead
Samhain (pronounced 'sow'inn') is a very important date in the Pagan calendar for it marks the Feast of the Dead. Many Pagans also celebrate it as the old Celtic New Year. It is also celebrated by non-Pagans who call this festival Halloween.
Samhain has been celebrated in Britain for centuries and has its origin in Pagan Celtic traditions. It was the time of year when the veils between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be at their thinnest: when the spirits of the dead could most readily mingle with the living once again. Later, when the festival was adopted by Christians, they celebrated it as All Hallows' Eve, followed by All Saints Day, though it still retained elements of remembering and honouring the dead.
Death also symbolises endings and Samhain is therefore not only a time for reflecting on mortality, but also on the passing of relationships, jobs and other significant changes in life. A time for taking stock of the past and coming to terms with it, in order to move on and look forward to the future.
Not only did the Celts believe the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead dissolved on this night, they thought that the presence of the spirits helped their priests to make predictions about the future.
Samhain is a when the Spirit world is at it's closest to our world.
One of the many ways to honor this fact is:
to leave an offering by your back door or leave an empty place setting for a departed loved on your dinner table.
The Halloween pumpkin originates from the custom of using lanterns to ward off the evil spirits, which were thought to wander through the thin veil into our world.
In some areas it was customary to throw a stone with a personal mark on it into the ashes of the fire. These had to be retrieved to ensure luck for the coming year.
Also known as 'Nutcrack Night', because it was a popular custom at Samhain to throw nuts on the fire - if a nut burned brightly it meant that the thrower would be alive in twelve months time, and if it flared up brightly it meant marriage within twelve months.
To see if a relationship will last, place two hazelnuts side by side and burn them over a fire. If they stay together as they burn then the couple will last, but if the nuts burst apart the relationship will break up.
Baked cakes were offered up for the souls of the dead. All the family would eat the festival Soul cakes - known as 'barnbrack' cakes in Ireland - which often contained lucky or unlucky tokens : a coin for fortune, a button for remaining unwed, a ring for marriage, a wishbone for your heart's desire, a pea for poverty.
In Scotland the fishermen would wade into the sea at Samhain and pour out a bowl of ale into the waves for the 'Shoney' - a sea serpent-like being, to ensure a good catch for the coming year.
At Balmoral on Halloween night, during Queen Victoria's time a bonfire was lit and an effigy of an old woman called the Shandy Dann was indicted with witchcraft, then thrown onto the fire.
At the Forest of Pendle in North Lancashire, at Samhain a ceremony called the 'Lating the Witches' took place. Locals believed witches gathered here on this auspicious night, so lit candles were carried over the hills between 11 p.m and midnight - lighting the witches or 'lating' them. If a candle stayed lit then the witches' power was broken, but if it went out - blown out by a witch - bad luck may follow.
It was customary at Samhain to leave an empty chair and a plate of food for any dead guests, so that they would not be offended.
At the stroke of midnight - believed to be the hour the dead visited - all remained silent in respect.
The custom of trick-or-treating may have originated from an old Irish custom of going door-to-door to collect bread, cheese, nuts and apples in preparation for the feasting at Samhain.
When a candle flame flickers on Halloween night it is being touched by the spirits of dead ancestors.
The black cat, familiar to many a storybook witch, was priced because cats could sense the dead. They could be used as a kind of early warning system. Why black cats? What better color for this time when the darkness rules?
Halloween has always thought to be a good time to see the denizens of the spirit world, which is why few people ventured out of doors after dusk in more superstitious times.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Xrmvn Byvire
Snvgushy Sevraq & Freinag