Which pagan goddess is best associated with Halloween?

Question

Holda? Freyja? Eostar? the Morigan?
Did the Anglos or mainland Germanics have associations for Halloween, or was it a Celt only thang?

Answer 1

All crone and underworld Goddesses are associated with Samhain.
I don't know about Halloween. I just celebrate that passing out candy to the kiddies and hosting an open house for the neighborhood.

Blessings )O(

Answer 2

Halloween is a Celt thing- that's just the modern name for it. The Celt name for it is Samhain, pronounced SAHwen in modern Irish, and more like SAHVen in middle Irish. The holidays we get from the Germanic people are the ones that fall on the solstices and equinoxes. (not that the Celts were unaware of these days, but they celebrated the major points in their pastoral calendar much more strongly.) Samhain (which literally means November) was the time for slaughtering the livestock that you couldn't feed over the winter. It was also the point at which you were not allowed to harvest anything that hadn't already been, and the beginning of the dark half of the year.

I must disagree rather a lot with some of the other answers. Wouldn't it be better to, say, celebrate Kali on days that were sacred to her own culture? How would it matter in India that the cows of the British Isles were being killed? Sacrifices to Kali are meant to be bloodless, that's why the Thugees strangled theirs. She'd have been driven crazy by the bloody practices of the Celts on Halloween. it's just not a good idea to blend the deities and traditions of different cultures. (from my total stick in the mud point of view) Speaking of other cultures- Satan was originally a Canaanite sun god. How has that got anything to do with a Celtic feast day?

The Morrigan is the diety best known to be associated with Samhain- her and the Dagda. Don't forget though- you mention the mainland- that there were mainland Celts.

Answer 3

First off Samhain/Halloween, like the other cross-quarter holidays of Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasadh, is an ancient Celtic holiday. It therefore stands to reason that a Celtic deity would be associated with it. Freyja and Eostar are Germanic and Saxon goddesses respectively, so they obviously would not be associated with it in any historical sense (I'm not sure where Holda is from). Unfortunatelty, history hasn't left us with a clear guide as to which deities, if any, were honored at Samhain...

One theory holds that Samhain is named for a god, Saman, who apparently was among other things a god of the dead. But the evidence for this theory is scant at best. Most Celtic Pagans, and even a few scholars, have supposedly discredited this theory, yet have offered no firm counter-evidence to do so. This may result from a prejudice of sorts by heavily goddess-leaning Neo-Pagans who don't like the idea that Samhain, which in modern Wiccan theology is the day the God dies and the eternal Goddess takes over, might instead be a day to honor the God. Clearly, having Samhain be a holiday sacred to a God rather than the Goddess is very much at odds with the Wiccan-based neo-mythology many have grown accustomed to, which could easily ruffle a few feathers amongst the Neo-Pagan community.

Whatever the truth might be regarding the relation between Samhain and Saman, if any, the modern convention amongst Neo-Pagans is to treat it as a Goddess-oriented holiday. Cerrwiden is commonly worshipped on Samhain. She's got harvest associations, she's got dead associations, she's got divinitory assocations--decent credentials to associate her with the holiday. Others like to honor the Morrigan, though I feel she lacks the necessary creditials as a harvest goddess to really represent a holiday which is, in part, to honor the final harvest.

The short, and honest, answer to your question is: no one really knows.

Answer 4

The Dagda mated with three divinities, The Morrigan, Boand, and Indech's unnamed daughter at Samhain.
Sacrifices were made to the Gaulish gods Teutates and Taranis and the Irish Crom Cruaich.

Answer 5

Kali
Parvathi is Lord Siva's consort & like Lord Siva, she is portrayed in her roudra & serene aspects.In her serene aspect, she is depicted as Uma or Parvathi & is usually seen along with Siva & also their children Lord Ganesha & Lord Muruga. She is seen with only two hands, holding a blue lotus in her right hand.
In her terrifying aspects, the most commonly worshipped forms are Durga & Kali. These are forms taken by the Goddess in an effort to destroy some form of evil & hence even these forms need not invoke fear, for she is the mother who has risen in anger only to destoy evil forces and provide eternal happiness and peace to her children.

As Durga she is seen with four - twenty hands. She has 3 eyes, the 3rd eye in her forehead. She is adorned in bright red sari. In her hands she holds the discuss, bow, trident, bow & arrow, sword, gadha, etc., Her vahana is the lion and she is sometimes seen as standing on a lotus or on a buffalo's head.

Durga
As Kali (the Goddess of Time) she presents the most terrifying aspect, usually seen in a burial or war field. She is standing on a dead body with her hair let loose and dishivelled. She wears a garland of skulls.

Answer 6

I think any Godess that's associated with the Dead is associated with Samhain. The story of Demeter is very popular this time of year.

Answer 7

Anna Nicole.

Answer 8

Paris Hilton...

Answer 9

Samhain is one of the four high holidays of the satan - I see no reason to involve any other demons.

Answer 10

The TOOTH FAIRY!
BAD TEETH from candy!