Samhain/ Halloween- Some traditions are worth having

 By SJ Otto

This coming Saturday will be October 31, 2020, which is known by most of us as Halloween. To Wiccans, other pagans and people like me, it is known as Samhain. At one time I studied the religion of Druidry. That was the religion of my ancestors, many of whom were Celts. Eventually Christianity came to Europeand my ancestors became Christians. I was raised Catholic, but I left that religion.

Druidsbelieved in many gods and reincarnation. But I have a hard time believing in any god or gods or any kind of after life. So after a year or so I turned back to a humanist belief- that is Epicureanism.

Still, I like to celebrate the old Druid holidays, such as Samhain/ Halloween and Winter Solstice/ Saturnalia/ Christmas.

I enjoy the holidays. They honor my ancestors who took these beliefs very seriously and they are fun. Outside of May Day- the international day of the working men and women, we Democratic Socialists don’t have a whole lot of traditional holidays. I like holidays, so as many other people, I will be celebrating this holiday. Unlike most years, I will not be attending parties and probably not handing out candy to trick or treaters due to the coven pandemic. That virus has taken a lot of fun out of this years holidays, so far most of them, including May Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the Fourth of July, (the last three are not religious holidays and I don’t really celebrate Veterans Day) Halloween and yet to come are Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Years. All of these are being affected by the pandemic and that makes this year unique.

So only three of those holidays are celebrated by my ancestors, May Day (there is a religious version of that holiday Beltain) Halloween/ Samhain and Winter Solstice/ Saturnalia / Christmas.

So if nothing else I can decorate my house this year. I have carved two pumpkins for me and my wife, Cam. The tradition is to carve a pumpkin for each person who lives in the house. This is supposed to protect us from evil spirits. I have a few extra decorations just for the fun of it—a string of bats with lights in their eyes and a small Day of the Dead doll. Day of the Dead is like the Mexican version of Halloween.

So here are my pumpkins.

Here is my decorated home.

As far as blogs go, I like to post some fun and interesting musical videos. One is This is Halloweenfrom the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. I also like the Ramones’ PetCemetery from the movie PetCemetery.

The weather this year has been very different from the usual weather we get. It snowed a few days ago. I can only remember one other Halloween when snow came before November.