The Awareness Shop has hosted a ritual for Samhain in New Paltz every year since 1995 according to owner Lisa Stewart. Although the public is welcome, space is limited (particularly in years when the weather is cold enough to require an indoor ceremony), and regular participants are given preference for seats.
The Samhain ritual itself lasts roughly ninety minutes and gives the local Pagan community the opportunity to honor their ancestors (both recently and long departed) at the time that was the end of the traditional Celtic year.
Orientation for Newcomers
Since they run a public ritual for Samhain, Stewart and her husband take pains to make sure that newcomers have the basics explained to them.
“Mostly people who want to celebrate Samhain with us know what Paganism is all about,” Stewart explained, adding, “but we do go over the basics if we need to.” The basics of participating in a ritual circle at The Awareness Shop include:
- Explaining the significance of the circle in Pagan practice;
- Using the east gate to enter and leave the circle normally, as the west gate is for the ancestors;
- Being respectful, as one would during any religious ceremony; and
- Respecting the privacy of participants who do not wish their Paganism disclosed publicly.
Non-Pagans are permitted to attend the ritual — a local Methodist minister did so one year—– because the Stewarts feel that public practice is a good way to disprove common misunderstandings about Paganism.
Multiple Pagan Samhain Traditions
Although it is collected into one umbrella term, Paganism actually includes many varied traditions of religious practice.
Even Wiccanism, probably the largest Pagan religion, includes a number of different traditions (set of commonly-held beliefs and practices, similar to a “denomination” in the Christian faith). Moreover, solitary practice is very common and leads to highly individualized worship. This causes some established covens to follow an eclectic or “polytraditional” path so as to include the beliefs of all members, while other groups expect the membership to all agree upon a set up religious symbols, including:
- The specific god or gods to be invoked (in Wiccan practice, typically one male and one female god are named);
- Ritual tools to be used; and
- Acceptable mode of dress.
Like many annual public rituals, this one follows a similar script from year to year. No latecomers are permitted to participate, and the ritual starts promptly. “We have one person who's job it is to guard the gate, and they miss the entire ritual just so that no one else will be able to come in after we've started,” Stewart explained, adding, “We're very serious about punctuality.”
The ritual uses Celtic gods and symbolism throughout, as Samhain is of Celtic origin. Individuals who are choosing to dedicate themselves to a Pagan path are given new ritual names at this time, and a toast is given to one's ancestors. Most Samhain rituals focus on honoring the wisdom and contributions of one's ancestor's to one's own life, and this one follows that theme.
Samhain and Halloween
Pagans who consider Samhain a sacred night are still unable to ignore Halloween in New Paltz, how heavily it's celebrated in the Hudson Valley town. The Stewarts honor both traditions as much as they are able.
“We give out probably hundreds of stones from the store to trick-or-treaters after the parade,” she said, “but we don't participate in the other Halloween events,” such as the nearby Teen Seen Haunted House.
Like other public Pagans, she gets more requests about her religion from curiosity-seekers around Halloween. “Because of Halloween, a lot of people think witches are ugly. And they [the costumed Halloween witches] hold their brooms backwards.” Asked to explain, Stewart recounted the traditional practice of blessing the next year's crop with a broom: the witch would whack her broom on the ground and leap into the air – the next year's crop would grow as high as she was able to leap.
New Paltz is the home of many Pagans, but The Awareness Shop holds the only public Samhain ritual for those wishing to celebrated the precursor to Halloween.
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