October 31, 2005

• Cross Quarters

  Samhain
  (usually pronounced sa-wyn) at the end of October / beginning of
  November, is the ancient Celtic New Year celebration. 
  Astronomically it is one of four cross-quarter days, halfway between
  solstices and equinoxes.

  It follows the harvest festival and marks the dead-time, as the Earth
  goes to sleep for winter.  This is the time when the veil between
  worlds becomes thinnest and the dead walk the land.  People
  disguise themselves to avoid being recognized by the spirits of those
  they offended in life, perhaps even of those whose lives they took.

  We carve pumpkins (or turnips) into frightening gargoyle faces and set them alight in our windows to protect our homes.

  In some orders of Wicca, this cross-quarter is the Feast of the Dragon.

  I’m not terribly thrilled at the ways in which Halloween has evolved in
  my culture.  I very much prefer the Latin American celebrations on
  Los Dias de los Muertes, the Days of the Dead, when people gather in
  graveyards, decorate with flowers and lights, and eat skulls made of
  sugar and candy skeletons.  Of course, I’d need to make mine
  sugar-free.

  

  • 3:54 pm
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