The festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-en) or Halloween falls on October 31st and marked the beginning of the yearly cycle for Celtic peoples.
This was a time of death and the promise of re-birth, a time for stillness and reflection. It was understood that in the dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed beneath the ground. In the Samhain Garden the long bank in the shape of a sleeping woman represents the earth resting for the winter. Her body shelters a still pool with a female figure cast in bronze resting on an island. The pool is enclosed in a ring of birch trees, reflecting the stark simplicity of the season. This is a place to be still, dream and prepare for the movement of spring. In summer, the earth woman wears a dress of wild flowers and grasses.
