Samhain Halloween Tablescape

Come see the details in my Samhain Halloween Tablescape that I put together for celebrating a traditional Halloween! Learn about where Halloween originated and get inspired!

This year I wanted to put together a witch tablescape for Halloween. However, as I looked more closely into more “authentic” witch decor, I found the holiday of Samahin and decided to blend these two similar holidays into a Samhain Halloween Tablescape that was full of traditional harvest decor and a little magic.

What is Samhain

So right now you might be asking yourself what is Samhain. I did when I stumbled across it. Being a lover of learning and learning about different cultures I dove into reading what I could find about this magical holiday that some say is the original Halloween celebration.

Samhain is an ancient Celtic holiday that marks the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. It is still celebrated today in Pagan and Wiccan religions and is celebrated from sunset on Oct. 31 through Nov. 1. It brings in the “darker” part of the year and is a day when the barriers between the living world and the spiritual world breakdown. During this holiday, hearth fires were left to burn while the last of the harvest was gathered.

After the harvest, Druid priests would light a community fire wheel that represented the sun and pray. Those in attendance would take some of the flames back home and relight their hearths. Some people dressed in skins of animals and other homemade costumes to try to disguise themselves from spirits and harvest tables were prepared with food as offerings to malevolent spirits. The celebration would last about three days.

Samhain Halloween origins

As the holiday grew and changed, fires at homes became common place to protect families from fairies, witches and the monsters of Samhain. Carved turnips called jack-o-lanterns began to appear  Offerings were often left out for them as well.

A tradition of a supper called “Dumb Supper” began and this was a time when families would invite the spirits of their ancestors into their homes so they could update them on the events of the year.

In the 5th century, Christianity was becoming more popular and the church wanted to reframe Samhain as a Christian celebration. Pope Boniface moved a day celebrating saints to May 13. Pope Gregory later moved it to the time of the Samhain fire festivals and Declared All Saints Day as Nov. 1 and All Souls Day as Nov. 2.

Trick-or-teat origins

“Souling” became a popular practice in England where poor people and children would visit the houses of wealthy families for Soul Cakes, money or ale. They would take the treats in exchange for praying for families’ dead relatives. In Scotland and Ireland, people would dress up and receive offerings in exchange for signing a song or telling a joke.

Many of the ancient Celtic practices still continued. October 31 became known as All Hallows Eve and Irish immigrants brought the traditions with them to America. Here the tradition of trick-or-treating continues. See my Soul Cakes recipe {HERE}.

Samhain today

In the 1980’s there was a Samhain revival as Wicca grew in popularity and it is a holiday celebrated on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, honored by many Pagans. American Pagans will also hold Witches Balls in conjunction with the holiday. You can read about Wicca and Pagan differences {HERE}.

Feasts are held on Samhain to celebrate and remember dead loved ones and mark the end of harvest season. The holiday falls in the middle of the fall equinox and winter solstice.

What does this have to do with a Samhain Halloween tablescape?

So, with all this historic knowledge, I created a Samhain Halloween tablescape that hopefully honors the origins of Halloween. It is definitely more of a blend of the traditional Samhain holiday with a little Wiccan twists and Pagan themes thrown in. Being a small farm and someone who believes in connecting with and cherishing Earth, creating a tablescape and dinner that honored the end of harvest felt right. And pulling in the celebration of the dead as well as some hints of magic (herbal or otherwise) just seemed full circle between today’s celebration of Halloween and the ancient Samhain celebration.

With all that in mind, here’s what I did…

Making it dark

First, Halloween is a holiday where black and creatures of the night are celebrated. Samhain is a holiday that begins at sunset on Oct. 31 and includes celebrating the dead and keeping away spirits. It felt natural that this Samhain Halloween tablescape would be dark in theme. You may have noticed dark isn’t something I do a lot so this was a challenge for me. Everything from lighting to figuring out how to photograph black elements upon black elements was a challenge. But, I’m in love with how it turned out.

Purple, pink and green elements

Since this Samhain Halloween tabelscape started with the idea of a witch tablescape, I knew I wanted to have purple play a big role. For some reason, I associate witches with purple. I added in highlights of purple in the napkins, candlesticks and glassware (although you can’t see the beautiful color very well).

As I skewed the tablescape towards making this table reflect a more Wiccan or Pagan theme versus Halloween witch, I also pulled in greens and pinks for a cohesive, organic look. Since these colors were naturally occurring in my garden it seemed to make sense that they would also be elements within the table.

Pulling in Nature

Since Samhain is a celebration of harvest and nature’s end cycle, I pulled in as much nature as I could to my Samhain Halloween tablescape. I used our dahlias, zinnias and herbs that we have growing here on the farm to add to my tablescape. I also used pumpkins and gourds to decorate the table, which would have been traditional in a Samhain harvest celebration.

A few DIY elements

The Samhain Halloween tablescape ended up being a big DIY project for me. Not only did I pull together the different elements, I literally painted and hot glued my way through making the decor.

Tree branch centerpiece

It started with the tree branch centerpiece. Originally I found a tree branch candleholder at World Market that I was going to use. But it was 435 and I wanted two of them. It seemed a bit excessive. Upon looking closer it also didn’t truly have the organic feel I wanted. Instead I used branches I bought from Michael’s and spray painted them. Then I glued these black candleholders {HERE} to it, and then laid the fresh flowers and sage throughout. I love the organic way it weaves through the table and I love that it comes off the ends of the table too.  I’ll do a full blog post on this soon.

Herb Bottles

Last year I made DIY Magic Potion bottles {HERE} that were more Halloween versus natural witch. For this table, I also wanted to have components you might find in spells but do it in a really organic way. Instead of sparkles, I filled my little potion bottles with dried herbs that I use for soap making. I included Calendula, rose, hibiscus, rubbed sage (This was from my spice draw), bay leaves and more. I love how natural they look and feel like they fit in perfectly with the idea of honoring harvest and Samhain roots while conveying more of a natural witch feel for the Halloween tablescape.

Short flower vases

A fast DIY was the short, black bud vases I have on the table. I think I bought these vases for $1 and then painted them with some black glass paint. They again help to fill the table and add different levels of interest for your eyes.

Samhain Halloween Centerpiece

For the centerpiece in the Samhain Halloween tablescape, I wanted to continue the organic, dark feel while also keeping it natural again. I created a taller vase from a candle base and a small bud vase. Then, I added moss in between to break up the black and filled it with the garden dahlias. I also did the same thing with a different vase and made this one (the taller one) a candle holder. I’ll write a separate post on this as well soon.

Lastly, and this wasn’t a DIY but since I’m explaining the centerpiece here it fits, I added the skull to the center of the table. I will tell you that I don’t usually like adding skulls into my Halloween decor. They kind of creep me out. BUT, they’re so prominent in Halloween decor. And, for Samhain celebrations they represent the bones of the ancestors that were celebrated. Wiccans and Pagans today still believe that bones are very powerful too so this felt right. I placed the skull on a book of Moon Magic that I bought for my witchy fireplace from a previous year {HERE}. I love the idea of having a little magic in the table, especially in the details.

Place setting details

The place setting for the Samhain Halloween tablescape was a bit of a challenge for me. It was literally black on black on black. I love the monochrome look of the charger stacked with the black plates and the the pop of color with the purple napkin and the dahlias. The napkin rings and gold silverware are all reused from past tablescapes too.

Thank you all so much for following along today! I hope that you enjoyed my Samhain Halloween Tablescape. I also hope it is inspiring you to create some elements that will fit into your family’s celebrations, whether you celebrate Halloween or Samhain.