Samhain! What's up?

What's everyone doing for Samhain? Well, for one i'm trick-or-treating And at 24 too. x3

Well, first off i should start with a bit about Samhain~

Samhain (pronounced sow-en) is October 31st, or Halloween, All-Hallows-Eve, you know... all that lore. It is the end of the pagan year where the sun god dies. (And for you Wiccans, it's also the time of your Crone.) We celebrate the sun god's death knowing he will be reborn (Yule) and have feasts, party, and even solemnly celebrate the passing of the year. It's a great time for protection spells, and to neutralize any bad juju that might've been sent your way.

It is a time where the veil between this world and the next is thinnest, where the dead walk (not zombies) to visit loved ones, and in my opinion should be seen as a happy time. Much like how Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico.

Candles/Colors:
black, orange, white, silver and/or gold.

Stones:
Obsidian, Onyx, and Carnelian.

Critters:
Animals associated with Samhain include bats, cats, and dogs. Mythical beasts associated with Samhain are the following: Phooka, Goblin, Medusa, Beansidhe, Fylgiar, Peryton, Erlkonig, and Harpies.

Plants and herbs:
Mugwort, Allspice, Sage, Gourds, Catnip, and Apple Trees.

Foods:
beets, turnips, squash, apples, corn, nuts, gingerbread, cider, pomegranates, mulled wines and pumpkin dishes. These are all appropriate as well as meat (especially pork) dishes.

Some Pagans leave a plate of food outside the home for the souls of the dead. Placement of a candle in a window and burying apples in the hard-packed Earth is believed to guide them on their journey to the lands of Eternal Summer.

It's a great time to cleanse tools, make tools, and to remember this past year.

Here's some ultra useful linkage to help that thirst for knowledge!
http://www.ecauldron.net/samhainfaq.php - real info about the actual meaning of the holiday.
http://www.ecauldron.net/samhaincircle.php - nice ritual for Samhain
http://www.ecauldron.net/samhainindex.php - hell, here's the whole site's index for it. xD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/samhain.shtml - from BBC itself! More info on it.
http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm - this one's got divination games at the bottom!


AND here's some altar ideas:


^ This one's an alternative to the bright orange and black altars, a bit of a darker one in color.


^ This was more of a realistic looking altar to me. Though bare, it still has the spirit of an altar set for Samhain.


^ I love this altar! Talk about a picture of what you'd want on one. Though small, sorry, it has a great symbol of the season, the day, and of course a picture or two of your passed loved ones (though in this picture it might just be the person's loved ones, not passed!).

An altar is not an altar if it's not personal :3 Don't try to over-correct it by trying to "get it right." I might post a separate thread on this

Anyhoo! Feel free to post your thoughts and goings-on for the season!

~Echo

That sounds pretty good. I am staying home this year since the last year wasn't too kind for my family. Other then that I may clear some space to make an altar since I have a few ideas to what I am going to do.

Also been saving a small bottle of sparkling juice for Halloween with a glass goblet by it's side.

I did a thing last year called a dumb supper. You make a dinner of red meat and dark bread, set a black tablecloth and put out an extra space for any spirits who might want to come by and the entire meal is eaten in complete silence.

BlackJoker wrote:

I did a thing last year called a dumb supper. You make a dinner of red meat and dark bread, set a black tablecloth and put out an extra space for any spirits who might want to come by and the entire meal is eaten in complete silence.

holy crap. I like that :3 It's really neat~ but why is it called dumb supper? *headtilt*

Dumb in the old timey days meant you were unable to speak. So a dumb supper is a supper where no one talks :3

I attended a very nice and quite large public Samhain circle last night at the Denton UU. About 40-50 people all told. It was a 3 part ritual, with the middle part being a candle-lit spiral labyrinth in the dark.. it was quite nice. Then afterwards, in lovely UU fashion, there was a light potluck. X3