lol, you Samhain celebration sounds awesome. my coven might make a round of the neighbourhood trick-or-treating, so we have some free candy to chow down on. we have a big feast with extra chairs set for our spirit friends. our circle is rather short, we have one in the evening and one in the morning. the morning one is more calm and longer. the evening one, we state why we're here, meditate for a while, then spend the rest of the night using the ouija board or the pentagram. we made a deal many years ago with the spirits who follow us [half my coven has some spirit with them] that we'd only talk with the ouija board once a year, so it's an all night gossip fest really.
we do take breaks because how we do it, me and fasterwolf [member] are blindfolded and control the planchette while the other two members, ask and record the the questions/answers. it's actually rather interesting how the answers all seem to work, minus Rori when he feels like messing with us.
in the morning we go outside and have our circle saying goodbye to the loved ones who have passed, the god, and wish them a safe journey and hope they'll return to us. then we do a bit of meditating, have cake and ale [though at that hour it's cookies and juice] then we each write down something on a piece of paper, either a wish for the new year, or a habit we wish to get rid of, and we throw it into the cauldron and burn them.
we don't really do much drinking at Samhain, Yule is the drunk fest lol kidding. Samhain, we reflect on the year, we start out all happy and hyper because we can speak with past loved ones, dress up, play games, stuff like that. but by around midnight we're getting rather drained of energy from the spirit stuff, and we wind down to a more calm affair. Yule, we stay up all night, while we sometimes go to bed at 4 on Samhain, so we're partying all night to keep us awake on Yule.
Gonna break out my daughters high chair, make some Mac and cheese and hot dogs. Set up my audio recorder and we will have a good meal. The playtime till sun up. And also invite the other spirits to join us.
Nice Neckoshema (hope I spelled that rite or close).
We have never thought of the blind fold, that is a really good idea.
We drink more during the winter solstice season.
We start by cleaning and decorating the house around the first day of fall. The windows are washed, carpets steam-cleaned, winter clothing taken out... It takes a while, don't ask where the tradition comes from as I have no idea, we just always did it.
our kids get a few days off of school so during the day on the 31st we make a nice dinner and eat early. the kids get into all the sweet stuff by late afternoon after dinner. we carve some really nice designs in the pumpkins and have one pumpkin that is designed with pictures that would please anyone ancestors. we take the young ones trick or treating and the older ones go play by themselves... we all know what they are doing. we get back by 9pm and have an evening ritual say prayers and give knoledge to those that have passed. we play games and the kids eat lots of candy and stay up most of the night. the next day, we have our time to reflect in our homes with just our family and light incense and remember at our shrines.
I love all hallows eve. Thinking about being harle quinn this year. I like mr.greens ideas. ritual wise idk yet . Not a big candy person so no trick or treating. I do think ill connect with lilith that nite. Leave something out for the dead that walk.
