Growing up, Halloween was my favorite holiday. Perhaps because
my mother hated it, but mostly there was something about the holiday that spoke
to me. I remember anxiously awaiting all the spooky specials on TV. Like ”Disney’s
Halloween treat” or “The Halloween that almost wasn’t”. I would start planning
my costumes early (like late August/ early September) and by October first I would
be down at the library checking out ever book on the subject. From arts and
crafts, to “scary story’s”, to jokes and anything else I could get my hands on
if my small town library carried it I read it, cover to cover at least twice by
mid-October every year. And the icing on the cake was of course the big day its
self. Not only the going to school in costume, and watching some movie( cause
no kid can sit through a full day on Halloween) and the trick or treating, but
that night at the elementary school they always had a huge carnival. This would be full of games and contests, lots
of food and a haunted house everything you could want to make the day exciting.
The only problem was after that night, it was over. Somehow on November first,
everyone seemed to go back to normal as if the Halloween festivities hadn’t happened
at all.
As I grew, so did my love for October 31st.
although my perception of the night has changed many times over the years. In high
school it became a night to go out and party with friends. It was odd at first
watching this once playful night turn a little dark and mysterious. But then it became even more exciting for me
for it was about this time in my life I discovered my Wiccan faith. And so Halloween
was sidestepped for Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of summer
and the beginning of winter, which in all honesty is the origin of modern
Halloween to begin with. Of course the
two holidays look nothing alike today. Halloween being a night of mischief and
costumes and horror movie marathons, while Samhain is a night of remembrance
for the beloved dead, at least in any wiccan circle I associated with.
Of course now I have walked away from most of my Wiccan
practices in search of the reconstructed faith of my ancestors and find some
new quandaries. In the Nordic path there is no Samhain, no holy tide on Oct 31st.
after all it is purely a Celtic night. Ok maybe Halloween is something very
American these days but you get my drift. So here I sit looking at this holiday from
four different directions:
1-the Halloween of my youth, full of fun and adventure with
just the right amount of creepiness.
2- the Wiccan Samhain that I have walked away from but holds
a connection to honoring my ancestors (something big on my current path)
3- the Celtic Samhain that seems to be more of a new year’s
celebration
4- or the Nordic…which is nonexistent.
In the meantime as I work my down this new path, I’m re-exploring
other traditions and trying to re-invent the wheel on my own a little. I have a
stack of craft magazines and books full of all sorts of wonderful nontraditional
decorating ideas. My husband and I have started our own tradition of decorating
a Halloween tree (a fake Christmas tree re purposed for this holiday) and have
had much fun scouring thrift stores for decorations. And along the base in place of presents we
have a bunch of fake pumpkins carved up as jack-o-lanterns. Because after all
this is the most wonderful time of the year.
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