31 Days of Halloween Post!

Yep, people. I like to do blog carnivals, if the mood strikes me. I wrote this one for the carnival of feminist parenting. Now I am writing one about Halloween for Mrs. B's 31 days of Halloween, a carnival that lasts all October long!

As a kid, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I enjoyed the costumes, the shenanigans, the candy, and the parties. Halloween, as it is practiced in the US (as a secular holiday), is pretty awesome. The revelry that most folks have in their Halloween festivities rivals most pagan sabbats if you ask me! I see nothing wrong with witches embracing the secular holiday of Halloween- and of course turning that stereotype of a green skinned, warty-nosed witch on its head. Most witches I know are damn sexy!

So as a pretty religious person, I now indulge in both Halloween AND Samhain (a religious holiday for us witches when we commune with our dead). They feel very different to me, have totally different purposes, and I love them both.

What do I do for both? As an adult for Halloween, I used to go to parties dressed in costume- the more elaborate the better. San Francisco's Castro district has one hell of a party for Halloween, or at least it used to. These days, now that I have a son, I will leave the partying to him! We never miss a chance to dress him up in costumes anyway, and now he'll be able to have lots of fun like I used to as a kid. I look forward to him going to costume parties and trick or treating. I like the idea of hearing his stories about trick or treat adventures when he gets older. Living vicariously through your kids does not have to be a bad depressing thing, people! I love that I get to experience "beginner's mind" all over again- because of Rowan!

from Ye Olde Witches Brew Magazine

To commemorate Samhain, I help plan a ritual for the Feri Tradition each year (I have done this for the last 4 or 5 years, as it is one of our holiest days on the wheel of the year), held at the cross quarters (not on the 31st of October, when Halloween falls). At this time of year, I also tend and fuss over our beloved dead altar, our mighty dead altar, and make sugar skulls for my dead. I make and consume lots of seasonal foods, medicines, and beverages (pomegranate mead, anyone?). I listen to the dead and what they want- and I go to cemeteries to listen to them and tend their graves. This is the time of year when the veil between their world and ours is thinnest, so people who are not as attuned to hearing them might even be able to do so!

At our Feri ritual, we call to and bring in the dead and let them ride our bodies to experience what it is like to be embodied again- so we prepare their favorite foods and eat them, dance like crazy, and other embodied experiences. We do other things, too- but that is a consistent thing that we do.

Samhain is also the witches' new year, so I often take stock of the previous year and make resolutions. Often we throw wishes for the coming year into a flaming cauldron to send them up on the wind.

What are your traditions this time of year, for either Halloween or Samhain?