Samhain Rituals

Some people think this celebration is one of our most important. How do you celebrate it?

I read in several different areas that one of the rituals is to make a dinner involving good hearty foods and to place some of that outside for animals to eat. Sort of an offering of nature. This year we are going to do our Jack-O'Lanterns and then we will roast our seeds. As usual I will make dinner and Sarah and I will go and feed the animals before we eat. Black candles will be lit until they burn themselves out naturally.

soooooo...what do you guys do?

-Kyo

I never heard of that. nothing wrong with healthy food.

I will be celebrating halloween and watching scary movies with my nieces and nephews.

that's all.

peace.

Originally posted by KyoZero
I read in several different areas that one of the rituals is to make a dinner involving good hearty foods and to place some of that outside for animals to eat.

the food was originally placed on the doorstep for the souls of the dead or the sidhe, the spirts, so they wouldn't come into the house. that's how the trick or treat thing started, dressing up as a ghoul and demanding your portion at the door step.

the idea is that they deserved their portion of the autumn harvest.

soooooo...what do you guys do?

bonefire, fireworks, some nuts and a few drinks.
i love hallowe'en.

[edit on 2/10/09 by pieman]

Well said pieman. I admit that I still have much to learn about all the Pagan sabbats and holidays. I will learn as much as I can though to assure Idon't do things improperly.

-Kyo

oh, i have no pagan issues, being irish, i have an interest in irish myths and traditions. i thought you might be interested in the origin of that particular tradition when you mentioned it.

i find halloween really interesting, the things being done today are rooted in really old beliefs. the traditions are still carried out even though the people doing these things, for the most part, don't really have any idea what's going on.

in ancient ireland, head hunting was fairly standard. according to the mythology, a warrior would take his enemies head in battle and put it on a steak outside the house or hang it from the eves (or on his chariot, but that's not to important to this).

the sidhe would be less likely to cause problems in a house where a great warrior lived, so a house with a lot of heads outside wouldn't be disturbed. a false head, carved from a turnip, could be used to fool the sidhe. when people went to america they started to use carved pumpkins instead.

on a side note, when i was young, we still carved heads from turnips but the last few years i've noticed people starting to use pumpkins. god bless hollywood.

[edit on 6/10/09 by pieman]

My usual ritual for Halloween is to play the bass and sing with my band at someones party where people will be drinking, dancing, getting high and partying. Some folks will be dressed in costumes. I particullary like when some of the women dress like Playboy bunnies, Roman Orgy attendees or Amazon warriors.

This year I plan on dressing like a Techno mummy wrapped in duct tape and plastic sheeting with a cowboy hat.