Samhain Practices

[Sarah]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

[candlemagic]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

This year I'll be working with my group to do an early ritual but on the 31st I'm going to do the same rite I do every year. I do a solitary ritual from The Wiccan Book of Ceremonies and Rituals by Patricia Telesco.

I found this one years ago in her book and fell in love with it. While I don't often do ready made stuff I really liked this one. It lets me encompass a lot of what I find Samhain to be and to mean to me.

[Jenett]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?

Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

 
In my trad, Samhain was always the ritual that didn't change much. Portions of it are not functional solitary, but I try to do some pieces of it, regardless. (Specifically a meditation piece, and making food relevant to my ancestors.)

My usual go-to is to do meat pies, as a nod to steak and kidney pie (a favourite of my father's) but easier to store/make ahead. (Savory pie crust, ground meat, cheddar cheese, eggs, some herbs for seasoning, a little bit of hard cider or beer for liquid, a little bit of honey)

I also picked up the habit a few years ago that the first pomegranate I eat for the season is at that ritual.

[Ginko]

In my trad, Samhain was always the ritual that didn't change much. Portions of it are not functional solitary, but I try to do some pieces of it, regardless. (Specifically a meditation piece, and making food relevant to my ancestors.)

My usual go-to is to do meat pies, as a nod to steak and kidney pie (a favourite of my father's) but easier to store/make ahead. (Savory pie crust, ground meat, cheddar cheese, eggs, some herbs for seasoning, a little bit of hard cider or beer for liquid, a little bit of honey)

I also picked up the habit a few years ago that the first pomegranate I eat for the season is at that ritual.

 
Do you have a recipe that you could share?  That sounds yummy!

[Jenett]

Do you have a recipe that you could share?  That sounds yummy!

 
Sure, if you don't mind inexact proportions. The original was riffing on medieval meat pie recipes. I usually do:

- One pound ground meat (for Samhain, I often do pork, but beef or lamb or chicken will also do. Venison works too.)
- One to two apples (I prefer more tart for this)
- Two to three eggs, beaten. (You could do four if you liked.)
- Enough milk to make the beaten eggs change color and be easy to pour.
- A splash or three of beer or hard cider. (If you don't do alcohol, you can do non-alcoholic cider or broth of an appropriate thing to go with your meat.)
- 1-2 cups of cheddar, grated (sharper is better for my tastes.)
- 2 premade pie crusts (I generally find mine in the freezer section. You just want to avoid the obviously sweet/dessert ones.)

Optional additions: Two handfuls raisins. Two handfuls walnuts (in smallish easily edible pieces). A drizzle or three of honey.

For herbs and spices, I usually go to the medieval spice place with this - nutmeg, a bit of cinnamon, maybe allspice if I have it. But you could also take this basic thing, go for goat cheese instead of cheddar, and go for rosemary or sage or something like that. (As you might guess, the meat/fruit/nuts/cheese combos can be varied as pleases you.)

To make: Take your pie shells. If they take any prep, do that part. (Some people like pre-baking pie shells. I usually don't bother.) Mix up the meat/apple/spice/cheese mixture together (plus raisins and/or walnuts if you're doing those) and drizzle honey in mix in if you want that. Mix in your splashes of liquid. Dole out into pie crusts (I usually end up with two moderate pies). Pour egg mixture over evenly to hold it all together.

Cook at 375 Farenheit for 30-35 minutes until the meat is clearly cooked through. (If you are nervous about this, you can also pre-cook the meat, and then just bake it until the cheese melts and the eggs set which is probably more like 15-20 minutes.)

I usually stick one in the freezer (it freezes quite well, and thaws in the fridge easily).

It's also fairly portable 'take to work for meals' sort of combo, and you can more or less treat it as a crustless quiche mix and bake it in muffin tins or mini muffin tins if you'd rather.

[Amphibian]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

This is going to be my first Samhain as a practicing Druid, and I'm still a fair bit in the 'explore and see what sticks' category.  That said, I'm planning to do the seasonal ritual out of Greer's Druidry Handbook, as a place to start.  I'm getting a nudge to do the ritual itself at-or-around sunset, which is...interesting.

(This also gives me a bit of a 'deadline' to get my ritual robes sewn; have been putting it off for months now, for no good reason.)

[HarpingHawke]

This is my first Samhain where I have an actual, mostly solidified path. I've begun to put together a ritual and I'm slowly gathering things together for it. Some bits of poetry, some meditations, and maybe some colcannon afterwards.

I tend to at least do a little bit with apples for this season and I heard about a practice where one carves a deceased relative's name into an apple and then buries it with a trinket or two to honor them. Apples are kind of a big thing with me so I'm definitely going to do that.

And then art. I'm going to do a lot of art.


...for some reason my browser went all wonky and I must've pressed a button and now there's an angry emoji face in the title. O.O

[Ginko]

Sure, if you don't mind inexact proportions. The original was riffing on medieval meat pie recipes. I usually do:

- One pound ground meat (for Samhain, I often do pork, but beef or lamb or chicken will also do. Venison works too.)
- One to two apples (I prefer more tart for this)
- Two to three eggs, beaten. (You could do four if you liked.)
- Enough milk to make the beaten eggs change color and be easy to pour.
- A splash or three of beer or hard cider. (If you don't do alcohol, you can do non-alcoholic cider or broth of an appropriate thing to go with your meat.)
- 1-2 cups of cheddar, grated (sharper is better for my tastes.)
- 2 premade pie crusts (I generally find mine in the freezer section. You just want to avoid the obviously sweet/dessert ones.)

Optional additions: Two handfuls raisins. Two handfuls walnuts (in smallish easily edible pieces). A drizzle or three of honey.

For herbs and spices, I usually go to the medieval spice place with this - nutmeg, a bit of cinnamon, maybe allspice if I have it. But you could also take this basic thing, go for goat cheese instead of cheddar, and go for rosemary or sage or something like that. (As you might guess, the meat/fruit/nuts/cheese combos can be varied as pleases you.)

To make: Take your pie shells. If they take any prep, do that part. (Some people like pre-baking pie shells. I usually don't bother.) Mix up the meat/apple/spice/cheese mixture together (plus raisins and/or walnuts if you're doing those) and drizzle honey in mix in if you want that. Mix in your splashes of liquid. Dole out into pie crusts (I usually end up with two moderate pies). Pour egg mixture over evenly to hold it all together.

Cook at 375 Farenheit for 30-35 minutes until the meat is clearly cooked through. (If you are nervous about this, you can also pre-cook the meat, and then just bake it until the cheese melts and the eggs set which is probably more like 15-20 minutes.)

I usually stick one in the freezer (it freezes quite well, and thaws in the fridge easily).

It's also fairly portable 'take to work for meals' sort of combo, and you can more or less treat it as a crustless quiche mix and bake it in muffin tins or mini muffin tins if you'd rather.

 
Thank you Jenett!  That sounds wonderful and very doable.  Tart apples and extra sharp cheese with crackers has long been a favorite meal of mine.  Plus, in my humble opinion, anything with extra to freeze is always welcome.  I will definitely try these. :

[Caffeinated Autumn]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

My ritual for Samhain will be like last year except I plan to have a cakes and ale ceremony right after the ritual. I plan to give an offering to Morrigan and the God and Goddess of course.

I got the ritual from online and modified it to fit my practices.

[Scales]

 
I don't have any real plans, for Samhain or Halloween. I will probably do not much for either, but perform some sort of ritual for the former and eat candy for the latter. I like to at least acknowledge holidays, and I feel like I missed out if I don't do anything. But on the other hand, I feel like I'm more suited to doing holidays with other people, and I have no one else to do them with.

So that's a whole lot of 'I don't know.'

Part because we won't be together for the holiday, part other reasons, part because the veil being thin is probably a good time, a friend and I did a variation on Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (Gathering of 100 Ghost Stories) as a ritual and game a couple days ago. I would like to make that a tradition for Samhain.

[Jack]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

Oh hey, I missed this thread.

I'll be celebrating my first new year of the season with a new creative endeavor, so after we hand out candy, I'll head to the Overnight Kickoff for this year's NaNoWriMo. Over the weekend I'll prepare dinner for the dead (exactly which day I do this can vary, it's a little bit instinct) and also write my ass off.

I've been doing NaNoWriMo for more than ten years now so it's one of my longer-running holiday traditions and as a fictional recon I feel it sets the tone well for my creativity in the new year and acts as a sort of month-long devotional act to the gods in my project.

[Redfaery]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

 
As I am American, Samhain is Halloween, and there's a whole bunch of stuff going on. This Halloween, I will be lucky enough to return to my childhood home and take over the candy-duties with my BFF. I will be in full costume with a crystal ball.

[Wanderer894]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

I've usually kept it simple: Dinnertime, I leave my food out to cool a bit and so the dead can have a whiff. Then after a few minutes, I wish them well and eat my dinner. Music, incense, the usual candy, movies and stuff. Like I said, simple.

This year marks my 30th year of life, and I got the idea that I should do things a bit fancier. So, while I'll have the usual pickings, there's a bit more ritual involved. I'll start with a Cadbury milk chocolate bar, and then comes all the other candy like lollipops and PB cups. The movie line-up may take on a theme as well. I will either preface or follow-up all this with a ritual marking my intention to say bye-bye to some things that I feel have been bogging me down like habits, ways of thinking, etc., and make room for that which is more likely help and fulfill me. (Yes I will probably sing along to "Let It Go" at some point.). That's the rough idea, anyway.

[Ladywhitewolf]

I've usually kept it simple: Dinnertime, I leave my food out to cool a bit and so the dead can have a whiff. Then after a few minutes, I wish them well and eat my dinner. Music, incense, the usual candy, movies and stuff. Like I said, simple.

This year marks my 30th year of life, and I got the idea that I should do things a bit fancier. So, while I'll have the usual pickings, there's a bit more ritual involved. I'll start with a Cadbury milk chocolate bar, and then comes all the other candy like lollipops and PB cups. The movie line-up may take on a theme as well. I will either preface or follow-up all this with a ritual marking my intention to say bye-bye to some things that I feel have been bogging me down like habits, ways of thinking, etc., and make room for that which is more likely help and fulfill me. (Yes I will probably sing along to "Let It Go" at some point.). That's the rough idea, anyway.

 
 Planning to light candles,honor the deities and my ancestors.  I recently moved to Austin,Texas after my honeymoon.  Also I will do a small ritual.  Looking forward to Samhain.

[Aett of Cups]

for those of you who celebrate/observe Samhain or similar what are your rituals and practices around it?


Where did these come from? Where did you get the ideas and inspiration?

What doe these practices do for yourself, the gods, the ancestors?

 
Like most of our holidays, Samhain is pretty flexible.  It's more about particular themes than particular activities.  Choosing a "costume" (usually just some cheap face paint with an attached persona or symbology) is important for me and my son in particular.  We try to choose something with qualities we'd like to embody in the coming year.  We also address the theme of darkness (we invited friends over this past weekend for a horror movie marathon).  And we always find some time to spend with our "ancestors" (none of mine were blood relations, but I love to spend time with them anyway).  We've also decided to carve pumpkins this year.  I've decided to see if my wife can carve one with a band or two of a simple theriantrope pattern; I'm hoping this enhances any fire scrying I attempt with it.