Lammas to Samhain

I'm sure any of us would explain ourselves if you were to ask. Thanks for posting and sharing your experience. This little thread is gaining in fabric- perhaps enough to warm us a little to each other.

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Tiny Forest ~ my tiny blog

Merry Meet Laura,
Let me share a personal experience. My grandmother passed away in hospice several years ago. I was very close to her. My family was praying that my children and I would arrive (I drove from 1200 miles away) before she died. We made it but she didn't release her body for nearly a week after. It was difficult to see her in so much pain even with the morphine. I asked for and was given a Spanish language bible and I read psalms to her. It wasn't my belief- it was hers. At that moment it was everyone else's belief but mine but they were too grief stricken to remember where to seek peace. My grandmother passed away that night. Seeking to understand her, I found understanding of the divisions I had set up. That your grandmother was not of your faith shouldn't matter. Send your positive thoughts to her- there is a different language behind the veil and it doesn't get mired in words. Simplicity by the light of a candle lit in remembrance of her, preparing a favorite meal of hers, perhaps singing a song she used to sing or listening to it played. That is beautiful, imo.

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Tiny Forest ~ my tiny blog

I tried to log in on the pagan homesteading board, but haven't received an activation email.

Does it normally take a bit?

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Thanks everyone for expanding on this subject, I never understood Halloween. I like to learn about other's beliefs and practices. Although I consider myself Christian in belief, I'm a mix blood N.A. and I know just what you're saying here MTNwomanAR. This past summer I attended an N.A. service and I felt more at peace than I ever did in a church, plus the spiritual feeling has stayed with me.

I LOVE Autumn! Watching the leaves change and feeling the cool, crispness always thrills me. I've always questioned why our society wondered so far from looking at October as the Harvest month. I feel more spiritual outside around the woods and watching sunups and sunsets from my house than I do inside a building trying to follow all the "correct" rules. I've never been afraid of Pagan beliefs either. I think people fear what they don't understand.
I love walking on a carpet of fallen leaves, or that damp musty smell the woods get this time of year. This past Saturday I attended a Black Leggings Ceremony at a campground. The leaves were falling on me as I sat watching the dance. They had campfires going and it smelled so good! Then as I looked around at all the beautiful decorated Teepees and listened to the drum and singers, I felt like I was in heaven! And to top it all off, it started raining, lightly, just as the last dance was taking place - too AWESOME!!!

HAPPY SAMHAIN!!!

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Vickie

Hi folks, just another (currently) solitary checking in. What great posts! How gentle and kind you all are! I'm looking forward to Samhain now even more than I was before. Think I'll make up some nice Danish dumplings to enjoy with my grandparents on the other side.

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www.glimmercroft.com
The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

Blessed be all! So nice to see a thread like this. The DW (June02bug) and I are Wiccan/Greenwitches (Greenwitchi?) :haha: We love Halloween/Samhain/ All Hallows Hallmark Eve! Although since the Goddess was kind enough to send us her own renewal plan in the form of Charley, Frances and Jeanne, circles and such at FairyCroft (our lil farm in progress) are closed for repairs. Our spirits are doing fine though a bit frayed, and a little retrospection and spritual contact on Samhain will be most welcome! And I admit, I LOVE doing the dress up and scared silly stuff that makes Halloween. Maybe it needs to be a 2 day holiday? With mandatory days off of course!

Now that's the BEST idea I've heard in a long time!

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

Back when I cared about such things I studied a lot. All Saint's Day was Nov. 1st. That was the 'Christian Holy day' you speak of. All Hallow's Eve, was the night the 'spirits' all came out. I know there's more to this, but I forget. I don't THINK All Hallow's was Christian, tho. I belive IT was Pagan.

And for those who say they are Pagan and don't celebrate Christmas????? What's that about? Christmas actually BEGAN as a Pagan holiday. :no:
I don't care WHAT anyone does as a 'religion', but as most other things people do.. I wish they would LEARN the HISTORY of a thing, rather than blindly following along. (baaaaa.)

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"TIMSHEL"
Spoiler ALERT: For those of you who've never read Steinbeck's "East of Eden".... timshel means "thou mayest".

Ok, who can educate us on the history of halloween and christmas, pagan vs. christian versions? I would love to know the real history.

Buffy...it's just a "google" away! You can find plenty on the history of pagan holidays converted to Christian holidays by using a search engine.

Here's a few links to get you started:

This is a very good essay on all the holidays, with special attention paid to Halloween -

The Christian Church was unable to get the people to stop celebrating this holiday, so they simply sprinkled a little holy water on it and gave it new names, as they did with other Paleopagan holidays and customs. This was a form of calendrical imperialism, co-opting Paleopagan sacred times, as they had Paleopagan sacred places (most if not all of the great cathedrals of Europe were built on top of earlier Paleopagan shrines and sacred groves). So when Fundamentalists come to your local school board and try to get Halloween removed from the public schools because “it’s a Pagan holiday,” they are perfectly correct. Of course, Valentine’s Day/Lupercalia, Easter/Eostre, and Christmas/Yule also have many Paleopagan elements associated with their dating and/or symbols...

http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins.html

http://www.new-life.net/halowen1.htm

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

I tend to take a milder and broader and perhaps more nebulous approach to these questions in my old[er] age. It is, to put it into the words of Dr. Van Helsing in Dracula: Dead and Loving It, "the theory of yes and no."
Harvest rituals were celebrated throughout the ages and across cultures. The origin of the word "pagan" shows nothing other than a dweller in the country. And paganism wasn't a religion necessarily. It was a way of being- these distinctions are blurred today. Pagan rituals and sacred places were and weren't usurped. But it wasn't always an issue of power. It was, many times, an issue of adapting and trying to understand and assimilate. It did turn into a power issue as the Church gained a foothold much later in the time line. Before then however, some pagans turned to other religions as those religions came to them: over time and willingly. Look at the Catholic Church in Cuba and the syncretic merge with African beliefs. Assimilation continually happens, even today. These are my personal thoughts which have formed over time and through formal and informal study. I shy away from definitive works on the subject- many have political leanings or are otherwise harboring ulterior motives.

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Tiny Forest ~ my tiny blog

Thanks, that sounds likes something I would be comfortable with. She passed away while we were in the process of moving and didn't have our new phone for three days. She went in the hospital, was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away on the same day, so I didn't see her before she died. But she did see her oldest son whom she had not seen for many years, so I was glad of that.

Haven't been to the pagan homesteading site for a while, think I'll fly on over. :haha: You'll see me as Mistletoe over there.

BB, Laura

Happy Divali everyone. May the Goddess Lakshmi bless you and your homesteads with another year full of light love wealth comfort happiness friendship

(Jenn recovering from rather too much fun, or was it just the champagne, at last night's Divali party)