Traditions!
While browsing for information and images related to Halloween
I came across this wonderfully carved pumpkin.
My Celtic blood is boiling as the New Year begins.
Did you know that part of the tradition of Halloween
comes from the Celtic Celebration of Samhain, the end of harvest,
the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the darker half.
It is believed that the border between this world and the other world is thinner at this time. Bonfires were a large part of the festival.
Masks were worn to copy the spirits or placate them.
Pumpkins, larger and therefore easier to carve than the European traditional Turnip,
were an American discovery.
I am going to carve the pumpkin today.
It will encase a tiny little bonfire
and brighten the dark outside my door,
where teams of spirits will come to
"Trick or Treat".
According to Pliny the Elder, a ritual in Gaul held by the Druids
(Magician-like Preists),
involved mistletoe which is rare and grows on a sacred oak.
It was a cure for infertility and an antidote to all poisons.
I made mistletoe earrings this last week.
Here they are:
Sweet and simple, I was thinking as we all do that mistletoe was about Christmas.
I guess fertility could be involved, after all we all probably started with a kiss.
My thought, I love a kiss on that tender little part of my neck
just below the place these earrings will dangle.
A little romance is good for everyone.
They can be found in my Etsy Shop
