🕯️Rituals, 🍽️🍁dumb suppers + 'souling' - the true traditions for living & dead ♥️☠️

Happy Halloween + Samhain!! 💀🎃

While you and your fav ghouls get your spook on tonight, you may want to save some of that party vibe for tomorrow: Diwali — The Festival of Lights!

AN INTRO TO DIWALI, ITS STORIES AND TRADITIONS

While most of us know Halloween as a night of candy-collecting and costume parties, this mystical holiday and its traditions vary greatly across different cultures and regions. Today we’ll cover three of them!

HAVE YOU ADDED DUMB SUPPERS TO YOUR SOCIAL CALENDAR? 🍽️ 🔮

As autumn leaves dance their final waltz, SAMHAIN (pronounced "sow-in" not "sam-hain") ushers in the Celtic New Year on October 31st. 🎃 This isn't just any old holiday - it's a magical twilight zone where the mundane collides with the mystical!

✨ VEIL-LIFTING VIBES: Samhain marks the end of harvest and the beginning of winter's embrace. This TIME OF THE YEAR was chosen because the ancients believed this is when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.

🍽️ DINNER WITH THE DEAD? DUMB SUPPERS are a time-honored tradition. Imagine a silent feast where empty plates await spectral guests. It's like the ultimate family reunion (minus the awkward small talk)!

🔥 BONFIRES: These BLAZING BEACONS aren't just for toasting marshmallows. They're cosmic nightlights, warding off winter's chill and mischievous spirits with wandering eyes.

🔮 WITCHY WISDOM: For Wiccans and pagans, Samhain is a potent time for RITUALS like ancestor veneration and divination practices.

So many of our modern day holidays have their roots in ancient traditions. Just remember - when the veil is thin, anything can happen! 🌙🕯️

🎃 FROM SAMHAIN TO HALLOWEEN: THE EVOLUTION OF OUR TRADITIONS 👻

As Christianity spread through Europe, the church sought to replace pagan festivals like Samhain with Christian observances. Now Halloween is known as the night when ghouls and mortals mingle, and your neighbor's kid transforms into a miniature zombie demanding candy at your door. 🧟‍♂️🍬

WHEN THE VEIL THINS, THE FUN BEGINS!

🚪🙏TRICK OR TREATING: To find the roots of this tradition, you need to journey back to medieval Europe, where the practice of "SOULING" emerged. On Hallowmas (November 1st), the poor went door-to-door, offering prayers for the dead in exchange for food. This act of charity and spiritual exchange laid the foundation for trick-or-treating.

🎃 🇮🇪 JACK-O-LANTERNS: JACK-O’-LANTERNS originated in Ireland, where people carved turnips and other root vegetables to make lanterns. These were used to ward off spirits during Samhain.

🍏🍎 BOBBING FOR APPLES: The tradition of BOBBING FOR APPLES dates back to Roman times when the Roman army merged their celebrations with traditional Celtic festivals. The Celts, on the other hand, used this game as a divination tool for love.

🧙🧛🐈‍⬛ Halloween is a smorgasbord of symbolism. These traditions have morphed over the centuries, picking up bits of folklore like a trick-or-treater's bag fills with candy. 🍭

THE HISTORICAL ROOTS & SYMBOLISM OF HALLOWEEN

WHY DEATH COMES ALIVE IN AUTUMN - DIA DE LOS MUERTOS💀🍂

As we've covered, when the veil thins between worlds, three major celebrations emerge to honor our connection with death and those who've crossed over: Samhain, Halloween, and DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (Day of the Dead). But here's what most don't know... 👻

While Halloween embraces the spooky and Samhain marks the Celtic new year, Día de los Muertos TRANSFORMS DEATH into a vibrant family reunion! 🌺 The ancient Aztecs believed death was just a portal to another dimension, not an end.

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS VS. HALLOWEEN

In Mexico, families lay out feast-worthy ofrendas (altars), sprinkle marigold petals to guide spirits home, and share pan de muerto (bread of the dead) with both the living and deceased. Meanwhile, the elegant LA CATRINA reminds us that death makes us all equal - whether we're wearing designer clothes or nothing at all! 💀✨

HOW IT’S CELEBRATED IN MEXICO TODAY

TO ACTIVATE THIS POWER: Choose your portal wisely! Will you light a Samhain candle for ancestral wisdom? Leave treats for Halloween's wandering souls? Or set an extra plate at dinner for your departed loved ones? 🕯️👺 🍽️

The choice of how you dance with death... is very much about how you choose to live. ❣️

Which iconic vampire are you? According to your sign. ♏🧛‍♀️

👩‍🔧👨‍💼 Are you sporting Halloween’s least boring, but ‘boring’ trend?

Lost Maya city and pyramids discovered via light detection! 💚

SAMHAIN MAGIC & RITUAL KITS
Upscale your Halloween traditions to include some time for working your ritual intentions or the closing of the year. Get quick ideas for a makeshift altar you can create today… or get a ritual kit for next year. When the veil is thinnest… work your magic!