Halloween: it’s known as the day when the veil between worlds of the living and the dead is the thinnest. In pagan times, it was the eve of Samhain—pronounced sow’-en or sow’-ween.—the end of the Celtic year, the beginning of winter and the day when the dead were said to rise from the grave and walk the earth. Like many pagan holidays, it was Christianized in the Middle Ages as a Catholic vigil observed on the eve of All Saints Day, November 1—All Hallows Eve.
Regardless of its origin, it was a day when homages for the dead were observed, and eventually it became linked with spooks, ghosts, all things that go bump in the night.
Our neighbors on one side have two elementary school-aged kids, and they are big on holiday decorations, usually putting up an extensive Halloween display by the first week of October. This year they waited until Oct. 10 – late for them. Last year they had a skeleton laid out on the lawn among the plastic headstones, cobwebs, bats and assorted spooky paraphernalia. On a couple of occasions, Noah would sneak over there and grab a plastic femur or some other bone and run off with it, wagging his tail. I have not seen that skeleton this year.
The neighbors on the other side don’t celebrate Halloween, keep their outside lights turned off, and don’t answer the door to any trick and treaters. Being from Haiti, they know a thing or two about the dark side and don’t want to encourage. Wisner, the man of the house, has told me stories of voodoo curses and zombies and he wasn’t kidding. Why Americans celebrate and play with the dark side is beyond him.
As for us, no decorations, but we carve a pumpkin and provide goodies for the costumed little ones that come by. Also, a little synchro, a day or two before the neighbors started assembling their holiday decor, I noticed something laying in front of our front door – something that Noah was very interested in. I took a closer look – a dead bat. Probably caught by one of the cats. I showed it to our Halloween-happy neighbors and the mother and kids all backed away in horror. I had the real thing – no plastic bats for us!
Happy Halloween to everyone!
Kevin, can you post a picture of the deer with the moon behind her? Would dearly love to see that! What a lovely and unexpected little nod from Nature for you!
Great sign, I may use that. Strange that so many are feeling weird electricity today. I was just getting started on the trail hike this morning, about 1/4 mile or so into it, and had this overwhelming feeling of, for lack of a better term, ‘positivity’. I don’t know what brought this feeling or energy, it just sort of hit me in the face, and caused me to smile. Not sure if it’s because I’m out west where all is quiet (except the birds are singing). Off topic here a bit, but I started taking my DSLR camera on the hike about 2 weeks ago because I was seeing a couple of deer here and there. The second day with the camera, I saw 9 deer. The next few days brought 1 0r 2. Today brought 7 about 10 minutes after the ‘positivity’ struck. I got a shot of one with the Halloween moon behind her. I’m seeing more deer than rabbits! Going to be a great winter.
Happy Samhain, ya’ll!
That’s crazy! My cat woke me up at 4:30 EST as well this morning!
Happy Halloween…and I love that for sale sign in the blog’s picture! Too funny.
You’ve got electricity?! How’s the recovery looking at this point? Good to hear from you, Melissa.
I feel a bit of a party pooper!
Halloween was never big in England for historical reasons and because it is near to our Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th of November. But, about ten years ago, this all changed because the stores and supermarkets began to realise they could make lots of money from Halloween, much more than with Guy Fawkes. In a short period of time Halloween has become the biggest cash cow, second only to Christmas. So now, we too, have Trick’n’Treat, plastic decorations and so on.
I’ve actually written a post about this for the 5th of November because I personally don’t like to see our (English) traditions (Guy Fawkes going back to 1605) displaced by what I see as something that is now primarily American in nature. I’m not knocking the USA, by the way, I’ve had a great time visiting the country – and if I was there now I’d want to join in Halloween. But, as I’m in England, I’ll save myself for Guy Fawkes night (with my grandson) and we’ll let off fireworks, have a bonfire, burn the guy etc.
Have a Happy Halloween!
It’s a huge cash cow here. There are stores that are geared specifically to Halloween, open for about a month, then close on November 1. Guy Fawkes sounds like fun!
I remember growing up as a kid in Australia and buying fireworks to let off for Guy Fawkes Night,but since the ban on fireworks came in
(only licensed fireworks operators can legally let them off over here)
Guy Fawkes Night has become a distant memory in Oz,the young generation wouldn’t even know what it was,except for a holiday that England celebrates.
Halloween is now pretty big over here,although when I was growing up it was never really celebrated in Australia.It was just an American holiday you saw celebrated on American TV shows and movies,but now it’s becoming part of our culture as well.It seems to grow every year.
Nancy, I woke up at 4:30am EDT here, too. Don’t know what time zone you’re in, but it probably doesn’t matter. MacGregors…a BAT? Are they typically flying around your neighborhood at night? We don’t have them here, and I know your environment is similar to ours. Am sure all your animals have had their rabies shots. Still, a dead bat at my door on or near Halloween sounds more like human mischief, which is even more scary. There seems to be some kind of weird electrical charge or something in the air here this morning. It’s almost 10:30am, and there are absolutely NO sounds outside; no bird songs, no usual insect noises; none of our squirrels chattering and quarreling; nothing. Just the ocean which continues to roar. Beyond that, though, it’s silent outside, and that is so totally freaky. Can’t describe it. In any case, ’tis my day of days , so Happy Samhain to everyone, and Blesed Be!
Happy Halloween to you, too. We have not had any little ones at our current home – it’s off the beaten track for trick or treaters. But I woke with a really wierd feeling this morning about 4:30. I’m hoping it isn’t an omen. There seems to be a lot of energy swirling around.
a little batty reality there with you all! happy happy pumpkin everyone!
I need to remember to get some treats for tonight. I usually only have one or two little ones, but you never know. Happy Halloween to you and yours, Trish.