Does anyone still celebrate Halloween/ Samhain?? How do you celebrate this day??

Seems everyone (christians) try to make this such a evil day and very few celebrate this day anymore! Evil comes everyday why harp on it on this day. This day is "the feast for the dead" and to celebrate the end of summer.

I'm planning on doing some cooking, eating and setting an extra setting for my dead family members, so hope their spirit will come visit me!!and of course put their pictures there so they can see this is where they need to be!!!! And then we are doing a bonfire with some good ole' dancing around it!!!!

What kind of music do ya'' like to listen to on this day?? I'm trying to put together a CD so we can listen and enjoy outside!!!

Blessings, Sandy

-- Anonymous, October 12, 2003

Answers

Doesnt everyone celebrate with their coven? :>)

-- Anonymous, October 12, 2003

Not all celebrate with their coven some are solitary like myself.!!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, October 12, 2003

I think I'm the only person here who's involved with a Pagan group, and we're a Grove, not a Coven. :-) Samhain is our group's anniversary so it's an extra-special holiday for us.

Sandy, your celebration sounds a lot like ours. We'll be having an extra-large bonfire this year thanks to the trees we had taken down last month. We pass the mead horn around the bonfire and drink toasts to those who have passed over. The first round is for friends and family who have died in the past year (or to give thanks if no one was lost), the next round is for those we know who died more than a year ago, the next round is for the ancestors we never knew, and we just keep on going until the mead runs out. Another nice thing to do is to tell the family stories, it helps keep the memories alive.

As for music, Loreena McKinnet's "All Souls Night" is a must. Just about anything she does is good. I also like the first track off of Vanessa Mae's "The Violin Player" CD because it's a remake of the Phantom of the Opera music. There's lots of other Celtic groups that I like but I'm having a brain lock at the moment. :)

Oh yeah, there's a really good Celtic rock band from Florida called Seven Nations. If they're ever in your area, go see them!!!!!

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2003

We'll be setting an extra place for any ancestors who would like to join us. Light all the candles and pumpkins inside and outside the house. Eat lots of good food. Go trick or treating and come back home to draw some cards and do some scrying for any insights for the following year. We'll also spend some time at around our ancestor altar and tell family stories. It's always FUN!

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2003