Happy Samhain! For pagans, Samhain is about more than just trick-or-treat and scary films. It’s about ancestors and is the time when the vail between the worlds of the living and the dead is at its thinnest. I’m spending the day and evening with my good friends Simon & Chrys.
If you want to know more about Samhain, or any of the other pagan festivals, see my Pagan Festivals blog post.
If you want to to Making a pumpkin lantern for Samhain, click the link for instructions. Remember that the insides of a pumpkin can be used to make many delicious things, such as pumpkin pie or cookies, so don’t let the insides go to waste. Recipes for pumpkin insides can be found online.
Reading Time: 2minutesThis year Samhain was a two day event! It started on Tuesday (30th) night when Sye and I carved pumpkins (for how to carve pumpkins see Making a pumpkin lantern for Samhain). Here’a our finished pumpkins:
Left: Jill – looking shocked (mine),
Right: Jacko Sye’s piece of artwork. (Click on image for full size.)
Sye & I also used the pumpkin insides to make some Pumpkin Cookies after I found a recipe on the Facebook of Pagan Magic, here’s a photo of the cookies:
They look fantastic and were so delicious. (Click on image for full size.)
Sye & I had a cookie (or two), a brew (or Milk in Sye’s case) and I wished him happy Samhain as by the time we’d finished it was the early hours of the morning.
In the evening of Samhain (31st) I went round to do ritual with Jayne & Joan. We wrote letters to ancestors which was a brilliant idea of Jayne’s that I have never thought of doing. Then we burned the letters to release the messages into the cosmos in Jayne’s fire pit:
The Fire Pit lit, despite the rain.
We even had some green flames,
I’ve only ever seen them on Samhain. (Click on image for full size.)
Me tending to the fire in my ritual robe. (Click on image for full size.)
By the fire we discussed what we were thankful for over the last twelve months; we also burnt slips of paper with things we wanted to banish over the next twelve months. To finish the ritual we went inside, relaxed and asked any spirits that wish to communicate with us to do so. I didn’t get any spirit communication unless you count the cat that uncharacteristically came up to me and started purring.
