STRATHAM — Its roughly 5 p.m., and the setting sun is casting long shadows of the forms of a group of Neopagans who have formed a circle on the top of Stratham Hill.



Some of the Wiccans forming the ring wear black hooded robes and ornamental jewelry bearing pentagrams. Others look as if they could be your next door neighbor as they stand solemnly in jeans and sweatshirts.



They are Wiccans, and the time has come to pay tribute to a point in the year when they believe the border between the living and the dead is at its weakest.



The group is celebrating an ancient pagan holiday known as "Samhain," and while the gathering might be unfamiliar to an unsuspecting observer, it's part of a tradition that dates back to medieval Ireland and is credited as being one of the origins of Halloween.



Wicca, practiced by many who consider themselves modern-day witches, is a revitalized form of an ancient pagan religion.



Earlier this month, a group of about a dozen Wiccans gathered for the Samhain holiday that is among the most important as it marks the new year and the end of the harvest season.



Samhain is essentially a festival for the dead. It has its roots with a Gaelic people who honored the end of the harvest season on a physical level and the end of life on a spiritual one.



For Wiccans, it represents a look foward to a darker winter season and a point were the living can better connect with the dead.



"It's a time when the ancients believed the veil separating the spiritual world and the physical world is at its thinnest," explained Rev. Michael Engelking.



Engelking, a Hampton resident, is among the followers of Wicca and was the individual who earlier this month organized the celebration of Samhain — whose Old Irish name loosely translates to "summer's end."



Engelking has been practicing Wicca for close to 12 years and noted that the Samhain "sabbath" is an important holiday in a region that is complex, but forms a belief system drawing from the importance of earth, fire, water, air and spirit.



The spread of Christianity to the West resulted in pagan worshippers being castigated for belief in more than one God, but Engelking said older faiths are still practiced by hundreds of thousands of people in the United States.



Some attending had no problems talking about their involvement with the religion while others admitted there is still a fair amount of taboo surrounding its practice.



While some have associated pagans and the pentagram with evil, it is the elements of fire, air, water, earth and spirit that make up a five-pointed star that for those who practice the Wiccan faith has nothing to do with devil worship.



The Wiccans attending the event gathered in a circle, with different participants leading a ceremony wherein the individuals were blessed with the different elements and asked for peace.



The group marched up the hill together and took turns reading the names of the non-living who they wanted to honor and communicate with.



Engelking said Samhain focuses on a time when the living can best interact with their non-living ancestors.



Melissa Medley of Salem, Mass., attended 's sabbath celebration wearing a long, dark hooded robe and said the holiday is not about fearing spirits for her, but rather embracing them.



"We give thanks and basically honor our ancestors," Medley said.



Medley traveled to Stratham Hill Park with Adam Fitch — another member of her Salem-based Wiccan religious group.



Fitch also wore a long dark robe, and each carried a wooden staff with a large crystal affixed to the tip.



Medley said they practice Wicca like others might follow any religion, only they attend worship on full moons with the faith carrying eight major "sabbath" days.



The two most important are "Beltane" — a springtime ceremony honoring the return of light and the growing season — and Samhain, which is essentially the opposite.



Fitch helped lead the ceremony by going to each member of the group chanting: "The fire we are ... the fire we are."



While those attending the ceremony said their gathering had little to do with the Halloween, Engelking acknowledged that the more commercialized and secular holiday is often viewed as having its origins in a pagan celebration that is usually observed today.



Engelking noted that Gaelic people would dress up like the dead to celebrate Samhain, but he stressed their ceremony was more of a serious and solemn affair that focused on paying tribute to those in the spiritual world.



































