Transhumance Festival – All Saints, Samhain, and Halloween connected.

Today marked the Festival of Transhumance, a day in which ancient rhythms of the earth and shepherding are honored by having large flocks of sheep and goats move on their way to their winter grazing grounds, and pass through a major city, such as Madrid. Today, as we reach the end of the summer grazing season, the animals are on the move.

In ancient Europe, the Celts divided the year into Summer and Winter, with Winter starting on November 1 (known as Samhain), which corresponded perfectly with the agricultural return of the flocks to the winter grazing grounds. As these tribes were nomadic, were moving with their flocks during the summer, there was a belief that, along with the people and their flocks returning to the winter grounds on November 1, the souls of those who died during the summer would also be moving back to the homelands.

This belief then also points to ancient origins of our Halloween, and the need for the Church to overlay these ancient beliefs with All Saints and All Souls Day.

I learned about this festival on our bike tour, but it was hard to find details of when and where the animals would run. I got a fairly good idea from one article, and stumbled upon the assembly area for the shepherds who came from around Leon and Cantabria.