Practiced On

Samhain and modern Scottish folk magic and Celtic traditions

Country of Origin 

Scotland, the Scottish Highlands, and Ireland 

(As far back as at least the 1500s)

Key Points / Halloween Connection

- Ancient Scottish and Gaelic folk tradition of blessing, protecting, and purifying people, spaces, or objects using elements like smoke, water, or fire

Brief Bio

Traditional saining rites usually involve the use of water and smoke, accompanied by ritual gestures and spoken or sung poetry and prayers. Water that has been blessed in some fashion is sprinkled, or used for anointing. Fumigation is usually done with the smoke from large branches of burning juniper, either outdoors on a bonfire, or in a large vessel like a cauldron, resulting in massive amounts of smoke. While the ceremonial gestures can vary by spiritual or religious tradition, the prayers and poetry are usually traditional pieces in Gaelic. Saining a household with copious amounts of the smoke of burning juniper was traditionally used in healing rites, where the evil eye has been suspected to be the cause of the illness, but it apparently fell out of use by the end of the 19th century after a young girl with respiratory problems suffocated due to the amount of smoke that filled the house.

Saining can also refer to less formal customs like making religious signs to protect against evil, such as the sign of the cross. In Shetland, the Scottish folklorist F. Marian McNeil also refers to the custom of making the sign of Thor's hammer to sain the goblet that was passed around at New Year's celebrations.

Saining is a common practice in more modern traditions based on Scottish folklore, such as blessing and protecting children and other family members.While many of the surviving saining prayers and charms are Christian in nature, other traditional pieces that focus on the spirits and powers of nature are used as part of Gaelic polytheist ceremonies.