It’s Halloween! Or All Hallows Eve. Or Samhain
(pronounced something like “soween”) as the ancient Celts called it.
This is my favorite time of year, and Halloween in
particular has always been my favorite holiday since I was a kid. My
great-grandmother was born on Halloween in Ireland, and used to tell us how her
mother would put out a special tablecloth on Halloween night along with other
traditions specifically reserved for this time of the season. Samhain marks the
Celtic New Year, but I heartily approve of the additions of jack-o-lanterns and
candy that have been added to the holiday over the centuries as well. This year
marks my son’s first Halloween, and we’ll be dressing him as a pumpkin when we
take him trick-or-treating tonight.
So what do you plan to do with your Halloween this year? What
special traditions do you observe on this night? What kind of costume will you
wear?
Happy Halloween!!!
Have fun trick-or-treating with your son tonight. It will make you feel young again.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to it...I haven't trick-or-treated in years:)
DeleteWell, I was going to go to the HS football game, but due to severe weather headed our way, it's been postposted to tomorrow (it had been moved to today because Fox Sports wanted to telecast it!). Now that I'm not going, I have no time to prepare, so I'm just making sure not to be home. Once the kids grew up and left the nest (and we moved to a cul-de-sac where we get very few beggars), Halloween hasn't been the same for me.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you need a costume party...any excuse that gets adults dressed up usually turns into a fun time:)
DeleteAh, I do miss having little kids at Halloween. My son was never really into it, but we had a few good years of trick-or-treating. Have fun tonight! Be sure to teach your son about the "candy inspection tax" that all parents charge (in candy bars). :P
ReplyDeleteLol, didn't realize I could tax the incoming candy;) Thanks for the tip:)
ReplyDeleteAfter so much traveling lately, we are gratefully staying home. No parties or costumes in sight. But we have the candy ready for the trick-or-treaters. Thanks for posting the correct way to say, "Samhain." I'm sure I would have said "Sam Hane". "Soween" sounds nice and spooky.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Gaelic spelling is always so odd - they have lots of extra letters for sounds we don't have in English:)
DeleteWe don't celebrate it much, but it IS fun. I must dig out my Peanut's Great Pumpkin vid though. That's tradition. Sounds like a very special holiday for your family. :)
ReplyDeleteWe love the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin as well and already have a t-shirt of it for our son:)
DeleteSamhain is now celebrated as a Holy Day, with Mass and such. When we lived there, it was a pretty serious thing. I sure hope it has not been corrupted.
ReplyDeleteAlso there is a special barmbrack bread that is made.
Funny, we make that bread in our family all the time, but I never knew what it was called, thanks for the info:)
DeleteI love Halloween too! I bet you had so much trick-or-treating. Kids add a whole new dimension of awesome to holidays! I had a great Halloween too, although I spent most of the day cooking :)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun trick-or-treating with our boy (haven't done that in years), and we had about 200 kids come by our house throughout the night:)
DeleteOh, a baby pumpkin! How fun :)
ReplyDeleteYup, he was pretty cute, although he's still a bit unsure about the whole trick-or-treating thing, but I have a feeling he'll get into it eventually:)
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