First, we started on Oct. 30, Sunday, with a great service at the UU church in Black Mountain, all about the holy day as celebrated by ancient Celts. This was the introduction to our event, with Peggy Moore facilitating and giving great information.
"Samhain is one of the Celtic Holy Days, the end of the ancient calendar year and the day to Honor the Ancestors. Long ago, when our ancestors experienced their lives intricately woven with Earth's cycles, they saw certain times of the year as gateways or magical thresholds between the visible and invisible worlds. For those who acknowledge Celtic Spirituality, the lighting of the Samhain Fire ushers in the Dark Time of the Wheel of the Year and a time of introspection.
We celebrated Samhain by calling in the guardians of the elements of Fire, Earth, Air and Water. We gave thanks to our ancestors who created the way for us and join our footsteps with all those who hold the Earth as sacred and all life as holy.
We created an Ancestor Altar, of small items and/or pictures of your ancestors.
We were also honored to be visited by the first mother, Grandmother Cailleach, this giant puppet, She gave wonderful hand gestures as we listened to Annelinde Metzner's poem, "The Appalachian Cailleach Speaks," read by Nels Arnold from out of the past. Hearing from the ancestors!
- R. Buckminister Fuller
...keeping ancestors in your thoughts is wonderful to do.“Either war is obsolete or men are” is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThanks...just read your blog about the Fox Sisters...among many who've tried to organize around the ideas of contacting ancestors. Didn't the Mormons also have their beginning in upstate NY?
DeleteYou are weird — cute and lovable, I’m sure, but weird. 😀
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween.
Yes, I imagine most people these days would at least agree with the weird part. Only having read my blog for years can you say cute and lovable! Thanks!
DeleteI love that you celebrated Samhain. What a wonderful tradition that is.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of nice to touch base with what was celebrated back before electricity and machines came along!
DeleteIt's always good to keep our ancestors in our thoughts, they are part of who we are.
ReplyDeleteYes, we carry forward with our family dreams, blood, and sometimes problems!
DeleteA lovely celebration!
ReplyDeleteGrandmother Cailleach Looks pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I'd never heard of the Celtic celebration of Samhain before...very interesting and fun too. As for Fuller's pronouncement about war, he's right on but unfortunately mankind is not about to change. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDeleteOh, you may have heard of it, because it's pronounced in Celtic as Sow-in.
DeleteSounds different. I'd hear of Samhain before.
ReplyDeleteIt's a ritual from pre-historic days, before we had writings, we had rituals.
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