There are many ways to celebrate Samhain. My family starts ours a little early... about a week or two before the big day and goes a little later. My grandmother on my mother's side was born on the 31st of October and we like to head out before the snow to visit her at her resting place. I play guitar for her, we tell stories of her and we go through the graveyard fixing anything that needs fixing. We also do this on Remembrance Day for my grandfather and grandmother on my father's side, except we add in some beer ;)
I love honouring my ancestors and I found a great way to do it. On our family altar we have pictures of them and we have a few items that were once theirs that were given to us when they passed. There are also candles for them that we light up on Samhain. It's a great way for the kids to not only hear the stories of them, but to see them and almost touch them by being able to handle the things that were once theirs. I also have a mask that reminds me of Baba Yaga, so I have kept it on my altar in honour of her, as well as the red skull. I have orange candles that I will move to the windows for Samhain. This is for the spirits to be able to find their way through our world. We will carve pumpkins and keep them lit throughout the night to ward of the evil spirits.
If you don't have any family graves to visit you can go to your local graveyard! I have ventured a few times to a small hidden graveyard on the outskirts of the city. It is a graveyard honoring people that died of an asiatic flu epidemic in the early 1900's. This place is a place where many witches have come at different times. There have been solar lights added, little joyful chimes, offerings and now an altar space. The place has a feeling of magic and rebirth in the air. The cemetery gives offerings of love in return, Rosehips.
 |
 |
 |
You can also make a poppet. Poppets are great for things that you want to work on in your life. You create a doll anyway that you want and fill it with that which you wish for, that you are working towards and then burn it on Samhain. You can fill it with your goals/wishes and also some scented herbs for when it burns.
A great family story to be read on Samhain is the story of Baba Yaga. This is such a powerful story of following your intuition. This story can be found in "Women Who Run With Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I highly recommend reading this story!
Here is an online link to the story of Baba Yaga.
On the day of Samhain we make our "Ancestor Feast" which for us is traditional homemade pizza. Which you can get the recipe for by clicking on the link. We light the pumpkins to stay lit all night.
For the spooks I have added is a little spell that I roll up and hand out with our offerings for the night. It's just a little cute spell from Hocus Pocus, called The Black Cat
"Twist the Bones
And then the Back
Itchita, Copita
Melaka, Mystica
Trim him of his baby fat
Itchita, Copita
Melaka, Mystica
Give him fur black as
Black
Just Like Thisss"
We hand out our offerings to each that come to our door whether they be tall or small. As the veil between our world and the spirits is at it's thinnest you never know which one is alive or not...
Tokuni
The Wolf Witch
No comments:
Post a Comment