Happy Samhain (Sow-ain)

Happy new year, from the old ways (Celtic, Irish, Scot, British, Mexican, Guatemalan, Native American). The end of a farming year on Oct. 31, and the next day is the beginning of a new one.

"Visioning" Susan Seddon Boulet, 1987

The veil between the living and the dead is thinnest at this time of year.  Which ancestors would you honor? Which ones would you like to ask a question of?  Perhaps there's even a famous one who would be wonderful to go for a walk with in the woods, or talk with for an hour besides a fire?

Ruins of Native Americans' buildings, (see PBS show Native America at 9 pm EDT Tues.)

Many people honor an ancestor or more for the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is on Nov. 1.  There are candles lit and altars prepared with the favorite foods of those dearly departed, and their pictures, and perhaps things they gave you.

So it is celebrated by many who say they are Pagan.  The spirits are not to be feared, but welcomed.  They are warned to keep pranks to a minimum.  They are celebrated for having given us life.  And if any malevolent ones should appear, they are perhaps listened to, then banished.  No one is welcome that would do the living any harm.