People may not be celebrating Halloween in the most traditional ways this year; trick o’ treating does seem off the cards for most. But I’m not going to let that stop me from embracing one of my favourite days of the year.
A brief background (because you know I love a bit of trivia and history):
The Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘sowin‘) originated in Ireland, the UK and Northern France around 2,000 years ago. The Celtic new year started on November 1, and the day marked the official end of the summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold, hibernating and regenerating time of year (thus we usually associate it with death). They believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary that seperates the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They would mark the occasion by making large bonfires, and the next morning they would relight their personal hearth fires with a flame from the sacred bonfire, helping protect their home for the upcoming year.
So how to celebrate when you aren’t a trick ‘o’ treater:
As a time of hibernation, its a great time to give way to some personal reflection, and practice gratitude. If you are having a night of revelry on Halloween, you can chose to celebrate Samhain on November 1st making it a day for more reflective occasion.
It’s a great time to focus on releasing bad habits from your life, letting go of past grievances, protecting your home and emotions and honouring grief. It’s also a great time to practice divination, if that’s something that interests you. (Did you know that the Halloween party game of bobbing for apples originally was a form of divination?)
These things all sound quite grand but can easily be practiced by recreating a family recipe, walking in nature, sharing a family story or creating a small space in your house that reminds you of the season, by bringing pumpkins, leaves, and other seasonal touches inside.
Go for a walk and breathe in that autumnal air. Bring your awareness to the transition between the seasons.
Light a candle to bring magical warmth to your home.
I love to honour the season by cooking things that are fairly bountiful at the time; apples, pumpkin, squash, and many root vegetables. (One of my other favourite Halloween facts is that jack’o’lanterns weren’t originally carved pumpkins but carved turnips.) Maybe you’d like to have a small Samhain feast?
If you, like me, love essential oils and want to have something evocative and comforting in your diffuser during this time, I’d focus on sage, sandalwood, rosemary and sweetgrass. (Of course, always check if the essential oil you are using is safe for pets – not all are!)
Crystals that are great to use are fluorite, obsidian, smoky quartz and labradorite.
Will you be observing in any way?
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
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Mabon 2019
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Imbolc 2019
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