Monday, 21 October 2019

Samhain: A Celebration Supper


Stone building with a wooden door with wrought iron hinges and two pumpkins on the doorstep

If you celebrate Samhain how will you observe it? Amongst a few other things, we will be having a Samhain ceremony at sundown. Whilst we will be celebrating the end of the harvest and a lovely summer, it will also be a serious occasion as we remember our dead and look ahead to the winter - which will be very cold in this house (gulp).

1. Prepare a seasonal feast. Dress your Samhain table. Lay an extra place for any spirits passing through that wish to join you. This is a formal occasion; your table a sacred space.

2. Put the cooked food on the table. Gather everyone round. “Tonight we celebrate Samhain. Samhain marks the end of the harvest, the end of the summer, and the approach of the coldest nights. The abundance of the harvest and the fruits of our labour are placed before us. We thank the Earth for all She has given us. We thank those who walk before us. We enter winter, a time of sacred darkness, with gratitude.”

3. Go outside taking some wine/cider/juice and some bread with you. Break the bread, and make an offering to the Earth. Do the same with the wine. “Summer is gone. Winter is coming. We give thanks for all that we have.” When everyone has made their offering go inside and feast.

4. Leave any leftovers outside as an offering for the dead. You can give them to pets, but I would avoid eating them myself.

What are you doing for Samhain? I would love to know!

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