Halloween

So halloween is nearly here again, I have harvested the pumpkin from the garden and all that is left is to rummage the box of decorations out of the attic. I love halloween perhaps more than my daughter, each year we dress up and tell spooky stories by candlight, only thing is this year she is going to a party and I will perhaps have to act like a grown up for a change.

I have always been interested in history and mythology and any pagan events are so steeped with both. I am lucky in the fact that I have a very open minded husband who tolerates me. I have always felt a part of nature, and I believe in the cycle of life in the fact that everything is connected. I believe we should take the time to aknowledge our respect of the world we live in. Samhain marked the first day of winter when the hearders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the table were slaughtered. Familes would work together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter. Life was so much harder, but people were more connected with the world they lived in.

All of this meant that the ancient cultures were all too aware of life and death, Samhain was a time when the veil between life and death was fragile, a time when spirits could come through and communicate with the living. So strong was the people’s allegiance with Samhain that the Christian Church renamed it All Saints Day, in later times the day following Samhain became known as All Souls or All Hallows. As well as all the other traditions on All Hallows Eve such as, carving a pumpkin, apple bobbing, Trick or Treating.

Whatever your beliefs Halloween is a time for family, we no longer have to gather in food or animals but I doesn't mean we can't appreciate the struggles we all overcome in life to be together.