I see Halloween so differently now...

[Yanueh]

As I've been poking around, learning about pagan faiths and things, I realized that my views of Halloween have dramatically shifted, without even realizing it.

A few years ago I would have thought of ghouls, bats, skeletons, and costumes as part-and-parcel to Halloween. But now my views have shifted; I see Halloween as a day to bid farewell to summer or to have a harvest party, and all of the modern (commercial) trappings that for years I had taken for granted seem jarringly out of place.

Looking at it in this new light, I find myself puzzled at bats and cobwebs, as by this time of the year these animals should be tucking themselves in for the winter.

Funny how learning'll change your perspectives like that. razz  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Long nights, more bats, no? Or is that more where I live? We get spiders year round too.

And why no ghouls and skeletons? This is the day of the dead for many of us; they're the best part.  

[Morgandria]

I don't look at Hallowe'en differently at all. It's still the same secular holiday full of candy and 'spooky' things. I enjoyed Hallowe'en as a child, but I don't celebrate it in any way anymore.

My focus now at that time is on Samhain, and honouring my ancestors. Hallowe'en isn't a pagan holiday.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Didn't Gardner use the word "Hallowe'en" for the name of his holiday? Along with May Eve, Lammas and Candlemas. I was under the impression that many covens used his original names for them? Or are they different names than he gives in his books?  

[ncsweet]

As far as dressing up, my understanding is that in some cultures it was a way of trying to deceive the dead. That way any roaming spirits that were out that night, would think that they were just another of the dead themselves.

There is a big ole info dump in the Archives subforum on the "origins" of Halloween. If nothing else it's an interesting read.  

[Katsumi Aki]

I don't really focus n Halloween anymore, just Samhain.  

[Yanueh]

Sanguina Cruenta

Long nights, more bats, no? Or is that more where I live? We get spiders year round too.

It might just be where you live. I expect that, since bugs are hibernating by late October, the bats would be, too.

The only spiders you're going to see in the winter are the ones that come inside the house. The ones that leave the pretty webs are gone by Halloween.

Quote:

And why no ghouls and skeletons? This is the day of the dead for many of us; they're the best part.

*facepalm* Why did I say "ghouls?" I meant something more along the lines of goblins - y'know, critters that aren't undead. XP

But yeah, skeletons do make sense. Awhile after I wrote that, I thought to myself, "wait, those do make sense in the death symbolism bit..."

I dunno. I guess it's just that after awhile, I sorta started viewing the time as when the earth tucked itself in for the winter, a time of a more metaphorical death (that whole seasonal thing) than literal death. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure when, but that's how it happened. razz  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

It's a time of literal death as well. Less food. Less prey. Thin times for some animals and for humans if your harvest was bad. Storms can kill, cold can kill.  

[Yanueh]

Ah, good point. smile And annual plants do die off, too.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

I think we're fairly separated from the death part of it now, with our heating and warm clothing and hospitals and so on. So we don't think of it quite so often.  

[Yanueh]

Heheh, yeah.

Also, after feeling like a melting slug throughout the hottest parts of summer, "dead" is definitely the last way I feel by Halloween. mrgreen Instead, it's like, "Ah, green leaves! Parting is such sweet sorrow! I await your return!" XD  

[Morgandria]

Sanguina Cruenta

It's a time of literal death as well. Less food. Less prey. Thin times for some animals and for humans if your harvest was bad. Storms can kill, cold can kill.

I grew up rural, and that hasn't left people who farm, or hunt. Lughnassadh/Lammas is first harvest - that of fruit and veg, of grain. Mabon/Equinox is second harvest - that which comes off the vine, and the last of the trees as the sap runs back down into the Earth for the winter. Samhain is the third harvest - blood, and bone; the slaughter of your animals for winter survival.

It's the last threshold. If you're not ready by then, and the harvest wasn't great...it can be a really hard winter.

Where I live, as well, the snow starts flying well before Samhain...usually mid-October. We live in a snowbelt, so you make sure the house is well-stocked, since the roads are often too bad to drive, and the highway closes. We may have a buffer in our heating and hospitals and stores...but when the power grid's down,
your heat's gone, and you've only got what you've got...you're back to the old ways.  

[whiporwill-o]

i LOVE hallowe'en, always have. i go all out for decorations and candy and costumes (or at least as all out as i can afford sweatdrop ). on hallow's eve i do a small dinner/ritual for/with my ancestors and honor them. i dont see why i can't have the best of both worlds (no pun intended). however, i do not celebrate samhain as i am not of the culture and i do not believe that changing the name of a holiday makes it different or more special, so i still just call it hallowe'en.

on a side note, all of the imagery of hallowe'en does have it's place in one way or another. bats, for example, in some cultures have associations with death itself, including the ability to 'predict' one's death (though in some cultures bats are viewed as symbols of long life). as for spiders, cobwebs that are left behind remind me of ghosts in their mist (or cartoony sheet) form. [ref. dictionary of superstitions]  

[mechanical kitsy]

i enjoy the halloween most people go by... but i looked older than i was when i was younger so i wasnt allowed to treat or treat every year. so now i make up for that with costume parties...
it's just fun.
plus with the candy and apple bobbing you cant say no.
but yea, i do other things too  

[black_and_red_roses1]

i see hallween only slightly different sure i still see the childhood fun. the pretending 2 b someone or something else then what u r and of cousre the candy but know i see the spiritual and ritual part. the deepen meaning to all of it.