Friday 1 November 2013

Halloween/Samhain 2013

Posted by Rosie

Once again October 31st crept up menacingly upon us and, with what started as a way to involve the boys without allowing them to go Trick or Treating but has now become an annual Halloween tradition, a spooky meal and decorated house were once again prepared.  Friends were invited and much devil making was had by all.

Settling down to Blood soup or Bile soup
Such horrible children!

Witch's Stew in a pumpkin
Tomb cakes
Spider Cake
Ahhhh - Zombie child
Ghostly firework!

Halloween falls on the same day as the Pagan/Gaelic Festival of Samhain.  This marks the end of the harvest season and the start of winter or the "darker half" of the year.  Many people find this time of year difficult with long nights and cold, wet weather.  If you are feeling a bit down as we bid farewell to the longer days perhaps this Samhain blessing from Sarah Matthew at The Cailleach Writes ... might be just what you need:


Samhain blessing

As winter knocks upon your door and fires are lit within,
Open up your mind, your heart,
And let the seasons in;
Look past at bounty, harvests won,
Respect the earth, the moon, the sun
And when the winter seems too deep,
Remember close your friends to keep.
Take your peace and take your rest,
Live for now and know you're blessed. 


I hope you all survived Halloween and with this Samhain blessing may we all have a good Winter and soon see the return of Spring.  For me, Shelley summed up this time of year so well in the last line of his poem, Ode to the West Wind:

"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

2 comments :

  1. Blood and bile soup sounds vile but I guess it tasted good. They don't really celebrate Halloween here - but they do have All Saints where graves are visited and dressed with flowers.

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  2. They were lovely thank you. Actually in France Halloween is not big either - when I went to the supermarket yesterday there was nothing Halloweeny in the shop at all - but like in Spain All Saints is big. It is a Bank Holiday when everyone puts chrysanthemums on their family graves.

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