SEASONS OF CELEBRATION

OCTOBER 31 ~~ SAMHAIN ('tween, HIGH HOLIDAY)
Astronomical Date: Sun 15 Degrees Scorpio
April 30th in Southern Hemisphere
All Hallows, All Hallow's Eve, All Saints, All Souls, Day of the Dead, Feast of All Souls, Feast Of The Dead, Festival of the Dead, Feile Moingfinne, The Great Sabbat, Hallomas, Hallowmas, Hallow E'en, Halloween, Hallowtide, Hollantide Day, La Houney, Lá Samhna, Martinmas, Nos Galen-gae-of Night of the Winter Calends, November Eve, Oidhche Shamna, Old Hallowmas, Samana, Sam-fuin, Samhuin, Samhuinn, Samonios, Sauin, Shadowfest, Souney, Third Harvest, Trinoux Samonia, Vigil of Saman, Witches' New Year

ACTIVITIES:
Ancestor Altar
Bobbing for Apples
Broom Making
Cemetery Visits
Choose Winter Queen and King
Dance Of The Dead
Destroy negatives of your past (write on paper and burn)
Divination
Dressing in Costume (dress as you want to be in the future)
Dry meat/make jerky (traditional meat harvest)
Drying Herbs
Family photos, family stories
Ghost Stories
Holly King Takes Oak King (some traditions)
Jack-o-Lanterns
Livestock slaughtered
Mask Making
Mull cider and wine
New Year's Resolutions
Roast Pumpkin Seeds
Silent Supper: Feast in Silence for the Living/Spirits of the Dead
Seances/Communication with the Dead
Tricks or Treats
Wash cauldrons, crystal balls and scrying mirrors in herbal infusions
Witch Cords

CAULDRON: Remembrance

COLORS: PURPLE, navy, gold, orange, black

DECORATIONS:
Ancestor Images/Photos
Apples
Bare Branches
Bats
Black Cats
Brooms
Cauldrons
Crows
Dried Leaves & Twigs
Ghosts
Gourds
Leaves
Masks
Pomegranates
Pumpkins/Jack O' Lanterns
Scythes
Skulls
Straw

FACTS AND FOLKLORE:
'sow-in' (Ireland) 'sow-een' (Wales) 'sav-en' (Scotland) 'sam-hane' (US)
Samhain means "summer's end" (Gaelic)

A 'spirit night' (Whales)
Acorns are given as gifts (a secret means of telling you are a witch)
Ancestors walk among the living
Beginning and ending point on the ever-turning wheel of the year
Beginning of winter
Celebrations start at Dusk, Twilight, Sunset
Divides Summer and Winter
Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans festival of the dead
Exact opposite Beltane on wheel of the year, Beltane's dark twin
Focus turns within, "through the glass darkly"
God descends to the underworld
Harvest time: third and final
Life and death celebrated
Majority of modern traditions traced to the British Isles
Most magickal night of the year
Nights lengthen, increasing star and moonlight
Point outside time, may be used to view any other point in time
Positive aspects of darkness
Seen as "autumn's end"
Slice apple displaying star within "fruit of life which is death "
Slice pomegranate displaying seeds "fruit of death which is life"
Symbolic death of The God, awaits re-birth at Yule
Universe reverts to primordial chaos before reforming
Veil between worlds of the living and realms of the dead thinnest

FEASTING:
Apples, Apple Cobbler/Pie
Beef
Corn, Corn Bread
Cranberries, Cranberry Breads/Muffins
Roasted Red Potatoes
Nuts
Poultry
Pumpkins: bread, cake, pie, seeds
Squash
Turnips

BEVERAGES:
Herbal Teas
Mulled Cider
Mulled Wine