MountainMarauder
For yule, I've been doing a little ritual in my room with a yule log set with candles. My family is christian. My dad gave up trying to tell me I'm a satanist. He's ok as long as I don't wear a pentacle, so I wear a triskele ^.^
I was wondering. How do you guys keep in the spirit of a holiday? I've been having trouble with that, considering the over commercialization of it all. (Probably spelled that wrong) Like for Samhain. I set to planning it and the deeper I got into it the more commercial it all felt to me. More about scares than honoring the dead. So I had to scrap most of my ideas. Except I kept the zombie brain jello with gummy worms in it. Thats just to much fun to give up ^.^
In past years, I've kept it to a little ritual on my own to keep the focus. Also, little nature walks, and meditations outside if the weather is decent.
Well one way to celebrate that I have seen on the internet is to celebrate your ancestors and deceased family members. Gather pictures of them, research your family history, ask living family members to tell their memories of those no longer with us. Write up the information and put it and some of pictures in a binder. Place that, along with some pictures in frames on your altar.
Here in the U.S. we've turned the whole thing into more of a party. In other places, day(s) of the dead are usually used to respect ancestors. Often a family would visit the graves of loved ones (if they were close enough), tidying up the grave, putting fresh flowers and wreaths, food and drinks, photos and other offerings*. The feel of the days events seem to vary by culture. Some make it jovial and tell stories of the good times and funny memories of those departed. Others go with a more solemn approach, praying, acting very formal and going to church or what have you.
Some holidays that you could find (which I think could at least be partially applicable for Samhain) are El Día de los Muertos of Mexico, the Bon Festival of Japan, All Saints Day (not really the day so much as folk festivities associated with it), and any of the Chinese holidays that celebrate the dead (there are at least two, plus in some regions there is one included in the several day long Chinese New Year).
I'm not saying they're all the same or even that some of them will mesh with what you think it should be. Plus all that I have mentioned here doesn't even touch on the aspects of the divine. These are just some starting points if you want to get away from "the over commercialization". The American "Halloween" is very warped and is about like the chihuahua is to the wolf. All Hallows Day (Halloween being a corruption of all hallows eve) is now All Saints Day. Hallow being sacred (as in Hallowed ground)... and for most of the people here, there is nothing hallow about Halloween.
You of course could also add gourds and apples and the sort of last of the harvest. And of course you add whatever elements of the deities you like. I have no suggestions, but I imagine things associated with them would be good.
Oh and may I suggest a good draft cider as a drink for any festivities? It is made of apples after all.
*Sometimes, should the ancestors be far removed so that one can not readily travel, people will fix up and put offerings on old abandoned graves... as a kindly gesture to all of those that came before.
If none of that is your style, October is generally a month made for hiking. Take a trip to a state park or other wild place available to you. If you so desire, you could leave your offerings to nature. The real thing about celebrations/ rituals is to do it how you feel it should be done. Unless of course your religion is one of those that doesn't really allow for that...
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