Blessed Samhain everyone!

[KitchenWitch]

:hi:

[Symarip]

1. The Misfits were better

A drum machine? What the fuck were they thinking.

[ghostsofgiants]

6. Glad I'm not the only one whose thoughts went to Danzig.

[mcctatas]

13. Wow...

way to bring back cloudy memories of a mis-spent youth! :)

[Symarip]

15. What's worse?

The level of obscurity of my reference

or

The fact you got it

:D

[spinbaby]

2. Does that happen on Halloween?

Someone told me it happens sort of close to Halloween but usually not ON Halloween.

[KitchenWitch]

3. Samhain IS Halloween

[MorningGlow]

5. The original word for the day

Halloween is a contraction/mashup of "All Hallow's Evening"--the night before All Souls Day. However, All Souls Day was invented to squash/co-opt the original Celtic pagan holiday (Samhain, pronounced "SOW-en"), which is the Celtic New Year. Samhain is the most important pagan sabbat ("holy" day) of the year--not only New Year's, but also the one night of the year when the veil between this world and the Other World is thinnest, allowing the living to communicate/visit with the dead and vice versa. The Church also used propaganda to switch it from a positive holiday to a negative, scary one--devils and witches and all that nonsense.

The Church did that to all the pagan sabbats: Samhain became Halloween/All Souls Day; Beltane (the other sabbat when the veil is thin) into May Day honoring Mary; Yule, the festival of the return of the light on the solstice, into Christmas, etc. They kept the basic ideas of each sabbat but changed them just enough to fit Christianity. And to that I say x( !

But I also say Happy Samhain, everyone! Say howdy to your dearly departed ancestors, friends, and relatives! :hi:

[Shakespeare]

22. Excellent explanation.

:thumbsup:

[MorningGlow]

27. Hey, thanks!

:hi:

[Marrah_G]

4. may you have a wonderful Samhain as well KW.

[Dogtown]

7. And to you, Sister!

my fave of the 8.

:hi:

[tismyself]

8. and to you, times 3

:D

[jeff30997]

9. Well ...

Happy Samhain to you too KitchenWitch..:hi:

[Inchworm]

10. Happy one to you too!

I first read it "Blessed Sanguine" and got a confused image from some radio preacher I heard on radio yesturday. He kept saying things like "there is always one sanguine in sunday school" "The sanguine will listen to baseball but not you when you get serious."

I was wracking my brain because I had sanguine down in my head as a happy word. I was stuck with no internets or dictionary. It was brutal :)

:hi:

[VenusRising]

11. Blessed Samhain to you!

[redqueen]

12. And a blessed Samhain to you too.

:hi:

[MountainLaurel]

14. Thank you!

And also to you!

[Chovexani]

16. You too.

:hi:

(Though, sadly, I have no circle to go to tonight. It'll just be me and the cats.)

[LostinVA]

17. And you!

I canNOT find a Samhain rite around here. Haruka's never been to one, and Samhain and Beltane are my very favorites.

[KitchenWitch]

20. Yikes

I even googled Covenant of the Goddess and there is not a chapter in New Jersey (that is where you are, right?)

[LostinVA]

29. Correct

There's some stuff down in SONJ -- but that's too far. BUMMED!

[Parche]

18. huh?

:shrug: :shrug: :hi: :hug:

[Gonzo Gardener]

19. Thanks Kitchy! May you and yours have a blessed and happy Samhain, too!

We've been dragging limbs and twigs into the firepit for weeks. The pile is huge. We'll set it alight tonight with great hopes that it consumes all of the miseries of the last eight years. We'll then raise our mugs of cider and ale high to toast a new year of "change we can believe in"!

I've prepared individual apple dumplings that will be wrapped tightly in foil. We'll make wishes for the new year as we throw them into the bonfire to roast. Once the fire dies down a bit we'll take turns trying to find and fish the blackened tin balls out of the coals with a stick or rake. It's always a good omen when you can find a sweet and gooey apple among the embers!


Gather round my friends
It’s time to tend the fire
Divine embers glow within
Fueled by imagination, dance, and desire

Draw close and circle in
Feel the energy surge
Each one but a fragment
We become whole when we merge

:grouphug:

[Lucian]

21. Blessed Samhain KitchenWitch.

:) :hi:

[Shakespeare]

23. And Blessed Samhain to you!

:hi:

[buzzycrumbhunger]

24. From one KW to another

. . . and, apparently, others. :hi:

[Bake]

25. Is that some of that kitchy-witchy stuff?

:hi:

Bake

[hedgehog]

26. A blessed Samhain to you and yours! I may be a Catholic, but I'm

Irish Catholic! We're not quite as rigid as those Romans!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make an Obama pumpkin to greet my dear departed tonight!

[lightningandsnow]

28. Blessed Samhain.

...and Happy Halloween. :-)

[Taverner]

30. May it be a very Heinous Samhain!

:hi:

[foxfeet]

31. Blessed Samhain to you, KitchenWitch! And a happy and prosperous new year!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

32. Blessed Be!

I'm just curious: what do you guys do, if anything, for Samhain? It seems like such a cool little festival... :)

[KitchenWitch]

34. I do a small ritual

I honor the dead, especially those near to me who have passed in the past year. I go over the past year in my mind, and consider the things I wish to let go of from the past so I can move on into the future.

[Love Bug]

33. Blessed be, Kitchenwitch!

[old mark]

35. Did Wiccans invent pumpkin pie? nt