Samhain will be here before we know it. Looking in the stores, of course, it has been here since September. All the ghostly and ghastly decorations that will adorn so many homes!
I must admit that I am guilty of purchasing those trinkets. I love this event, actually it is a holiday in our family. We celebrate this as most celebrate Christmas. With decorations, lights and thoughts of the past loved ones deceased, we celebrate with great love and a lot of fun.
The decorating bug bit me. Slowly but surely by Halloween night this home will have every possible decoration hung up and in view. I am like a child during this time.
I have to say that I am a "winter" child so this month begins the time of year when I have the most energy. I savor the start of my "New Year". Each night I light the candles for the deceased that have gone before us and think of the wonderful times that we had. After all this is their month as well as mine.
I will as years passed set the table with the plates for the spirits and have the chairs ready for their comfort. I practice the "Old Ways" of ours in paying homage. It is a wonderful month that starts the holiday season off on the right foot.
Warming our home with candles in the evening leaves all with a welcoming sense of "home". There is one candle that is burning during the day and night to guide those departed to our home. This is a very old practice in our family and hopefully one of my children will keep it going long after I am gone. I would like to add that when I am away from the home, for safety reasons, I use a light that is designed for Samhain. Upon returning the candles are lit.
This is the start of the New Year for us. May this holiday bring all the love, hope and happiness that you, fair reader deserves.
Now, that I have sent my greeting to you all, I have to hang a skeleton over the entry way door.