No wait, maybe Samhain is my favorite...

 ... I mean, it is THE pagan holiday...

The first one I ever celebrated WITH people. I think it was 1992, and my roommate and I went to the now-defunct PCCO's "Take Back the Rite" Samhain gathering at what is now Bicentennial Park (maybe it was then?)  The Faith Mission bus was there to pick up homeless since it was cold but decided to attempt to disrupt our rite and then stand in a circle around our circle lobbing prayers at us.

Yay.

There are probably Neopagans out there that don't like Samhain... But I don't really know them.  I try to explain it to non or new Neopagans as a combination of Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and New Year's Eve.  In reverse order, the connection with the Celtic New Year and fire festival of the same name has many groups (including one of mine) marking the end/beginning of their liturgical year.  And if you have a hard time with resolutions, this is one of the many cultural new year celebrations that you can get a do-over (if you phrase it correctly. More on that in future posts, I hope).

The Memorial Day aspect brings in the connections with ancestor worship of many cultures around this time. Not all worship is the same though, so we have to be careful to not undertake an "everybody does it so all things are on the table" approach.  We can honor our beloved dead and distant ancestors our own ways, and it will all work.

The last one is Thanksgiving, which has it's own day already in two North American countries as well. In 2002, Canada's was Monday, October 10, and the US will be Thursday, November 24. So why another one?  Not that we really NEED a reason to stuff our faces.  But I submit that the vast majority of us have too much to really be grateful for, if we thought about it, to confine to just one day.

At my house, Samhain doesn't arrive on October 31.  Samhain on my land (see my other blog my other blog is when the first killing frost happens. If you have a garden or even potted veggies on the apartment balcony, you may get to witness what happens when the frost hit them.  Their leaves wilt, their stems may harden, the fruit may turn unappealing colors:  The old adage that crops after Samhain are left for the goblins or spoiled by the faeries appears to have "real" roots.

This year, Samhain arrived on October 19.  Fortunately, this year I had all my "crops" harvested and the beds put to rest for the winter.  My corn dolly had been built with reverence, after passing her knowledge and wisdom on to the new corn dolly. She represents what I call the "Queen of the Bryemari" (my land spirits) who will look over my crops and yard when the summer comes again.  The ancestor altar has been cleaned and is ready to be 'gussied up' with special cloths and other items for the season.  

We will honor our beloved dead and distant ancestors from now until November 2.  On October 31, we will honor the wandering dead while we pass out candy to the neighborhood children of all ages (and maybe some brandy for the adults, and I hope to have a more formal dinner the next day.  I've already been having dreams of dead relatives, mentors, and others, so with their guidance and wisdom imprinted on my soul, I will be ready to turn inwards to the dark half of the year, and await the birth of the sun.