Oct 25, 2009

Serenity Sunday

According to the Celtic mythology, Samhain or Celtic New Year was a gap in time. During this gap period, 'Our World' and 'Otherworld' came together and thought that the dead could return to warm themselves at the places they lived.  Some other names are also associated with the Celtic New Year: The Third Harvest; All Hollows Eve; The Day of the Dead and the famous Halloweens Day.




The Celtic New Year has an important feature of "divination of events." They use hazel nuts and symbols of wisdom for fortune telling. There were also some other Samhain traditions which referred to the Celtic Emhain Abhlach (Paradise of Apples) where the dead ate the scared fruit and became immortal.

Celts practice many rituals for their ancestors at this time. They put food and drinks for the dead and let their house doors opened to give the dead a free passage to enter their house. But all the spirits from the Otherworld were not good. To stop the evil spirits, villagers carved images of spirit guardians onto turnips and kept these "jack o'lanterns" in front of their doors. What are some of your favorite Samhain traditions? 


My List:

1.) My kids

2.) Carmel apples

3.) Falling leaves

4.) Roasted pumpkin seeds

5.) Warm blankets

6.) Orange candles

7.) Crisp afternoon walks

8.) Homemade apple cider

9.) Scary movies

10.) Lemongrass incense
 










6 comments:

greekwitch said...

You make your own apple cider?
We want recipe!

Anna said...

I love reading information about the old traditions :-) love your list think I will list my favorite traditions today :-)

The Traveler said...

My favorites would be
apple cider
candy(and the absolute obligation to eat it,lol)
getting dressed up with the kids
pumpkin flavored everything
the smells of fireplaces

mxtodis123 said...

My favorites are candy corn, colored leaves falling from the trees, cool breezes, and our annual Halloween party at work for the clients. I love to dress for the occasion...a witch costume...and just hang out for the festivities. Basically, I don't live in a neighborhood where Halloween is celebrated so I miss handing out the candy to the kids.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Our main tradition is to carve a couple of jack o'lanterns. We also decorate the front of the house a little bit for the trick or treaters who come to the door. And we usually dress up to hand out the candy!

Rue said...

I usually get about 80 kids in my neighbourhood - that translates into alot of candy! But it's really fun too. I dress up and take pictures of my friends kids as they come to the door.

Later, after the little goblins are done their rounds, I place a plate of food out in my garden for the ancestors and do my own personal ritual and tarot reading.