Event Details

Samhain

Time: October 31, 2014 all day
Location: Where you want of choose
Event Type: holiday, festival, time
Organized By: Practitioners World wide
Latest Activity: Nov 15, 2013

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Event Description

Samhain -- different ways to celebrate. It's a great time of year to honor your ancestors and host a feast!

Some people celebrate it as Halloween, but for Practitioners, October 31 is typically known as Samhain. It's the old Celtic new year - sometimes called the Witch's New Year - and it's a time for honoring those who have crossed over into the spirit world.
This Sabbat has roots that go back thousands of years.

The evening of October 31 is known as Samhain. It's a time to mark the endless, ongoing cycle of life and death

Samhain falls on October 31, and is known as the Witch's New Year. You can celebrate it as the end of the harvest, and honor the return of the King of Winter.

Man's relationship with animals has evolved over thousands of years. Where once they were only a source of food, now they are our companions or food. Take a moment to honor the animal spirits in a ritual for Samhain.

For many Practitioners, the honoring of the ancestors is a key part of their spirituality.

In some Practitioner traditions, people choose to honor the God and Goddess, rather than focusing on the harvest aspect of the holiday. If this is something you'd like to do, this ritual welcomes the Goddess in her persona as Crone, and the Horned God of the autumn hunt.

Samhain is known as the witch's new year. It is a time to think about the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

It's Samhain, and that means for many Practitioners it's time to commune with the ancestors.

Samhain is traditionally a time for divination. In many agricultural societies, divination was used to reveal the name of a suitor or potential mate, and were practiced in rural areas for centuries.

The Dumb Supper - A Feast With the Dead
In many Practitioner traditions, Samhain is celebrated with a Dumb Supper, or a Feast with the Dead. This is a solemn and sober occasion, and includes place settings for relatives and friends who have crossed over in the past year, as well as a chance to tell them what you never got to say.
Gods and Goddesses of Death and the Underworld
In many cultures, gods of the underworld and death are celebrated during the harvest time.
Mexico's Day of the Dead
Blended from Aztec tradition and Catholic ideals, the Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday in which families remember their dead, place altars in their homes and decorate tombs in cemeteries. Although not common Practitioner paracticed, it's worth reading about because of the focus on man's own mortality and the idea of ancestor worship.

Samhain night is a great time to sit around a fire telling spooky stories.

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Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 31, 2012 at 12:54pm

Fire is sacred, and vital to life. Such an obvious fact as this scarcely needs to be stated. This fact applies to both the outer fires of flame and Sun, and the inner fires of our Being. Just as, during the Spring and Summer, the heat of the Sun enables life to flourish, so also do the fires of life burn more brightly within us during our the years of our youth.

Many of the old myths concerning fire attest to the importance and sanctity of Fire in the lives of our ancestors. If we take time to look at the world beyond the walls of our homes and offices, take time to see and feel the rhythms of the Earth, we will see and feel the waxing and waning of the power of Fire during the course of the Year.

With days growing short and cold, it seems that the sacred fire of life is withdrawing from the outer worlds to the inner worlds. The fire of our Sun grow wan and weak, plants wither and die. But the power of fire is only moving inward - into the depths, down to the roots - rather than being extinguished. The inner fires grow brighter and the inner life grows stronger. During this dark time of Winter, our emphasis shifts from the concerns of the outer world, to those of our inner worlds: it is a time for sitting by the fire, for nourishing our roots, for resting, for reflection, and for dreaming the dream that will become the future. In times past, at Samhain, a sacred Fire Ceremony was enacted in the villages. The Old Fire of the dying sun and dying year were extinguished - representing the ending of the year, the season, and the Old Tide of Life. Then the New Fire was kindled - representing the new year, the new season, and the New Tide of Life just beginning. From this New Fire, all other fires of the village were then rekindled.

Thus, this Sacred Fire of Samhain is seen to be a fire of endings and death; yet also of beginnings and renewal, and the transformation that precedes rebirth. For transformation and renewal can only occur if they are preceded by the death and destruction of the old forms and energies. One Tide of life must end so that the next may begin.

From the heart of the darkness is born the light.

This season reminds us to turn inward. It reminds us that the first spark of the New Light, of the New Tide of Life, that of regeneral/renewal, is found within the deepest and darkest of places, and it is there we must go if we seek this light of rebirth.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 31, 2012 at 10:48am

I honor the names of the dead who shine in my heart.


I honor the names of the dead who shine in the hearts of those I love.


I honor the names of the dead who shine in my mind.


I honor all the dead whose names are unknown to me.


I am here and who I am because of you and the steps you walked.


I honor you and raise my hands to you.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 3:04pm

http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2168143413?profile=original

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:58pm

An article of the Viking within upon this season :::>

The Old Norse Halloween or Day of the Dead: Alfablót (Sacrifice to the Elves)

In the autumn of 1018, the Norwegian and Christian skald Sigvatr Þórðarson traveled to Sweden and reported that he was continuously refused entry to the farms he tried to visit because the alfablót – the Sacrifice to the Elves – was being held.[1]

After a long and tiresome journey, Sigvatr and his companions arrived at a homestead called Hof (“Temple”). They expected to be received well, according to the laws of hospitality, but the door remained shut. Sigvatr had to stick his nose down into a narrow opening in order to present himself, but the people of the household refused him by saying that the place was hallowed. Sigvatr retorted that the trolls should take them, and continued to the next homestead.

At the following farm, he met a lady who told him to go away and said “Don’t go further inside unlucky man! We are afraid of Óðin´s wrath; we are pagans!” Then, she chased him away as if he were a wolf and said that they were having the Sacrifice to the Elves at the homestead.

They tried three more times to find a place to rest, but all the times they were dispatched by men who called themselves Ölvir. The title means “Beer-Man” and the “Beer-Man” was probably a guardian of the ritual. Sigvatr and his men, in desperation, decided to seek out the man who was reputedly the most hospitable man in the district. The last man only scowled at them, and calling the man the “guardian of the pickaxe”, Sigvatr stated that if that man was the “best man”, the worst man must have been truly evil.

 

Continues =---> http://freya.theladyofthelabyrinth.com/?page_id=339

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:50pm

Samhain
Author Annie Finch

In the season leaves should love, 
since it gives them leave to move 
through the wind, towards the ground 
they were watching while they hung, 
legend says there is a seam 
stitching darkness like a name.

Now when dying grasses veil 
earth from the sky in one last pale
wave, as autumn dies to bring 
winter back, and then the spring, 
we who die ourselves can peel 
back another kind of veil
that hangs among us like thick smoke.

Tonight at last I feel it shake. 

I feel the nights stretching away 
thousands long behind the days, 
till they reach the darkness where 
all of me is ancestor.

I turn my hand and feel a touch 
move with me, and when I brush 
my young mind across another, 
I have met my mother's mother. 

Sure as footsteps in my waiting 
self, I find her, and she brings
arms having answers for me, 
intimate, a waiting bounty. 

"Carry me." She leaves this trail 
through a shudder of the veil, 
and leaves, like amber where she stays, 
a gift for her perpetual gaze.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:50pm

A Pagans "Halloween" Poem
Author Cather Steincamp

'Twas the evening of Samhain, and all through the place
Were pagans preparing the ritual space.
The candles were set in the corners with care,
In hopes that the Watchtowers soon would be there.

We all had our robes on (as is habitual)
And had just settled down and were starting our ritual
When out on the porch there arose such a chorus
That we went to the door, and waiting there for us
Were children in costumes of various kinds
With visions of chocolate bright in their minds.

In all of our workings, we'd almost forgot, 
But we had purchased candy (we'd purchased a LOT),
And so, as they flocked from all over the street,
They all got some chocolate or something else sweet.
We didn't think twice of delaying our rite, 
Kids just don't have this much fun every night.

For hours they came, with the time-honored schtick 
Of giving a choice: a treat or a trick.
As is proper, the parents were there for the games,
Watching the children and calling their names.

"On Vader, On Leia, On Dexter and DeeDee, 
On Xena, on Buffy, Casper and Tweety!
To the block of apartments on the neighboring road;
You'll get so much candy, you'll have to be TOWED!"

The volume of children eventually dropped, 
And as it grew darker, it finally stopped.
But as we prepared to return to our rite, 
One child more stepped out of the night.

She couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen.
Her hair was deep red, and her robe, forest green 
With a simple gold cord tying off at the waist.
She'd a staff in her hand and a smile on her face.
No make-up, nor mask, or accompanying kitsch, 
So we asked who she was; she replied "I'm a witch.

And no, I don't fly through the sky on my broom; 
I only use that thing for cleaning my room.
My magical powers aren't really that neat, 
But I won't threaten tricks; I'll just ask for a treat."

We found it refreshing, so we gave incense cones,
A candle, a crystal, a few other stones, 
And the rest of the candy (which might fill a van).
She turned to her father (a man dressed as Pan) 
And laughed, "Yes, I know, Dad, it's past time for bed,"
And started to leave, but she first turned and said

"I'm sorry for further delaying your rite.
Blessed Samhain to all, and a magical night."

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:50pm

All Hallow’s
Author Unknown

the voices of the dead.
are you with me, grandfather?
do you hear me, spirits of the past?
is the night hurrying because of you?

the answers are not in unhoped for words
but the images of night: the cloak,
the stillborn wind ripping brown leaves,
rain on the sidewalk, clay earth
becoming mud, mute stars,
the tree sighing as it dies, the ending
of the day, the halo of dawn,
the nighttouch, the wolves’ howl,
the heart, the soul of the dark.

because we know, we know you well.
the voices of the dead carry
my heart, whispering, wind-voiced.
what do they know but time?
timelessness is not theirs; they surpass it,
as they surpass the images of night.
my time is coming. I must leave,
as we all must, as the dead have,
wandering in their cities of different light,
strange and still, touching each other
as they pass, tenderly,
with the fingertips, as they pass,
walking home.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:49pm

https://api.ning.com/files/0u1tSBHf0eBYw0FMX1T6-NLZEcP39rLPUTlf0Z2SmG8Bt7TMs1bwUUN-ARorlePElF6-L*d7ZDlyltMwuQtKj6u0DnMHHAig/flyingby.jpg

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:41pm

Witch and CauldronThe Samhain holiday is more commonly known to us as Halloween. It originated in the Celtic lands of Northern Europe many centuries before the birth of Christ. Along with its sister holiday Beltane, Samhain was a major seasonal event celebrated by the Celtic people. Beltane was celebrated on May 1st and was considered to be the start of the summer season. As a winter festival, Samhain marked the day when the herds were returned to shelter after spening the warmer months grazing in the pastures.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on October 30, 2012 at 2:41pm

The winter climate came quickly to Northen Europe, beginning usually in early November and lasting for almost six months. To the Celts, the first day of winter was considered the beginning of the new year, therefore Samhain was actually the Celtic New Year.

Flying WitchesAccording to the pagan lunar calender, festivals were celebrated on the "eve" rather than the day, thus making October 31st the beginning of the most sacred of all Celtic holidays. On this night, it was believed that the spirits of those who had passed on during the previous year were set free to once again roam the earth. Because these spirits understood the secrets of the afterlife, predictions were more powerful on Samhain and the omens were especially clear. Druid priests considered Samhain a perfect time for divination. The family hearth fires were extinguished and relit with embers taken from the sacred community bonfires made high upon hill tops. Samhain was a night of mystical glory, when the veil that separates the living and the dead was lifted and the world was filled with the forces of magic. The ancients saw the time between Samhain and Yule (the winter solstice) as non-existing on the earthly plane.

Witch's SabbatIt was referred to as "Time Which Is No Time" and was considered to be a very magical but also very dangerous period. The Feast of the Dead was laid out to both welcome the souls returning to our world and hopefully gain their favor for the coming year. Families set out food and wine so the spirits of their ancestors could refresh themselves after their long journey from the netherworld. Sweets were also set out in the hopes of appeasing any wandering spirits that may be lurking near the homes of the townspeople. Because the weaker of the returning animals were slaughtered for the great feast, Samhain was known as the festival of meat.

It was for this same reason that the Full Moon in October was often referred to as the Blood Moon. Only the most fit of the returning herds survived. These were kept alive through the winter months and returned to their grazing lands at the Summer festival of Beltane.

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Patchwork Merchant Mercenaries had its humble beginnings as an idea of a few artisans and craftsmen who enjoy performing with live steel fighting. As well as a patchwork quilt tent canvas. Most had prior military experience hence the name.

 

Patchwork Merchant Mercenaries.

 

Vendertainers that brought many things to a show and are know for helping out where ever they can.

As well as being a place where the older hand made items could be found made by them and enjoyed by all.

We expanded over the years to become well known at what we do. Now we represent over 100 artisans and craftsman that are well known in their venues and some just starting out. Some of their works have been premiered in TV, stage and movies on a regular basis.

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Patchwork Merchant Mercenaries a Dept of, Ask For IT was started by artists and former military veterans, and sword fighters, representing over 100 artisans, one who made his living traveling from fair to festival vending medieval wares. The majority of his customers are re-enactors, SCAdians and the like, looking to build their kit with period clothing, feast gear, adornments, etc.

Likewise, it is typical for these history-lovers to peruse the tent (aka mobile store front) and, upon finding something that pleases the eye, ask "Is this period?"

A deceitful query!! This is not a yes or no question. One must have a damn good understanding of European history (at least) from the fall of Rome to the mid-1600's to properly answer. Taking into account, also, the culture in which the querent is dressed is vitally important. You see, though it may be well within medieval period, it would be strange to see a Viking wearing a Caftan...or is it?

After a festival's time of answering weighty questions such as these, I'd sleep like a log! Only a mad man could possibly remember the place and time for each piece of kitchen ware, weaponry, cloth, and chain within a span of 1,000 years!! Surely there must be an easier way, a place where he could post all this knowledge...

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