The pagan yr ends on Oct. 31 at Samhain (pronounced sow-ehn). Samhain is the outdated Celtic title for this vacation and the one we proceed to make use of at the moment. As a perception system linked to an agrarian calendar, our yr displays pure cycles. Throughout us, the bushes are in the midst of their annual transition to their winter sleep. Right here in Western Maryland, gardeners are placing their gardens to mattress, planting winter cowl crops and having fun with the final harvests of hardier fruits and veggies. Many people are benefiting from these final high quality days — spending time outside, taking within the fall colours, visiting pumpkin patches and having fun with different festive autumnal actions. We all know that we’ll be spending extra time indoors quickly, and that the times will proceed to develop shorter because the yr wanes.
Within the winding down of the rising season, pagans see an allegory for the human life cycle as properly. Because of this for us, this time of yr consists of extra reference to our ancestors. It’s wonderful to ponder what our ancestors survived to ensure that us to be right here: horrible wars, plagues, famines, ice ages, harmful journey to unknown new lands and intense challenges by way of holding their households fed and sheltered. We really stand on the shoulders of giants. Many pagans consider that ancestors stay with us in additional than our DNA. We’re the hope of our ancestors made manifest, their arms nonetheless serving to to form our world and their love alive and vibrant in a brand new type. By connecting with our ancestors, we will achieve knowledge, help and help from those that love us and know us even when we have no idea their particular names.
If the thought of connecting along with your ancestors is new to you, there are some easy methods to get began. One conventional observe is the creation of an ancestral show. Select a mantlepiece, shelf, desk or sideboard in your house and use it to carry pictures and memorabilia of your ancestors for the weeks round Samhain. Ancestral shows are sometimes fantastically adorned with autumn flowers and leaves, candles, material, and objects representing particular person ancestors or common cultural heritage. By creating an ancestral show, we’re giving our ancestors a seat in our residence for a time. It’s alternative to inform tales of our ancestors’ lives as we’re their pictures and belongings.
One other custom to think about is the Silent Supper. On Samhain, many pagans put together a meal that includes dishes our deceased family members loved. We set additional locations on the desk for our beloved useless and serve plates of meals to these empty seats. We invite our ancestors to hitch us, both by talking aloud or inside the sacred silence of our hearts. We then sit and eat, holding silent in order that we will higher hook up with the ancestors we’ve invited to our supper.
One Samhain exercise that’s deeply essential to my family is grave tending. My partner and I’ve many members of the family buried inside a number of hours drive and spend two days close to Samhain visiting and cleansing up our household graves. Should you have no idea the place your loved ones members are buried, the web site findagrave.com may be useful for monitoring down grave websites. Cemetery workers have a variety of work to do, so it’s not unusual for graves to wish somewhat contact up. We typically convey a twig bottle of water, a pair sponges, a roll of paper towels, dish gloves, scissors for trimming again grass and different crops, and a bag for holding any trash we choose up. We additionally convey flowers. After we clear a grave, we go to with the ancestor interred there and beautify the grave with recent flowers earlier than we go.
Merely studying about our ancestors may be one other good method to honor them. If you’re fortunate sufficient to have members of the family from earlier generations in your life, ask them questions on their household. What traditions had been essential? What was their childhood like? Which members of the family do they miss essentially the most, and why? Studying these household tales can train us a lot about ourselves and our personal lives right here and now. Should you would not have dwelling members of the family, or are usually not in touch with the generations closest to your personal, be taught concerning the cultures and international locations your loved ones hails from. Lastly, if a fall venture is interesting to you, think about creating or increasing on a household tree. There are fantastic assets on-line to assist monitor down the names of your loved ones members. Merely seeing all of the names in a household tree generally is a profound manner to hook up with those that have gone earlier than. We really are the love of hundreds, and all these names had been as soon as lives filled with desires, challenges and hope for the long run.
Might you are feeling the blessing of your ancestors upon you because the bushes shift towards winter slumber. I want you a peaceable, contemplative Samhain-tide.
Irene Glasse is president of the Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, providing occasions, rituals, courses and workshops to a big, vibrant group, together with Frederick’s Pagan Pleasure Day. She is a pagan spiritual skilled and serves communities all through the Mid-Atlantic area as a minister, trainer, musician and group organizer.
