A Homemade Halloween

Has anyone else noticed how completely bonkers Vancouver is about Halloween? 

I think we can safely say that it appears to be a lot of peoples most beloved holiday. And who can blame them, the spookiness is all-inclusive, all religions are free to participate. And it demands people to be creative, to dress up as someone- or something else and play a part for a night (or week,) a un-expressed need many of us might have. 

There is no obligation to buy anything, and you're encouraged to feast and drink, or just watch scare movies.

Halloween can be homemade and be MORE awesome than store bought.  

Lets keep that going. Yes, all of us have caved to incredibly cheap and cool Halloween decorations (I have a great set of sparkly skeletons) but I want to display them alongside beautiful sticks found in the forest, a mini pumpkin from the Farmers Market and a mini witches broom from a local craftsman.  Nuts and dried poppies from the garden fit right in.

Homegrown garlic braids conjure up thoughts of Vampires and Witches, and maybe lonely cabins in the woods.

And homegrown pumpkins can stay out of the pantry for a few weeks and add to the decor of your home.  And once the holiday has passed, cook them for dinner.

The homemade aspect doesn't get more fun than with the costume. Putting ANY effort into a costume will make your Halloween more fun. Go to thrift stores, raid your closet, ask a friend what they have to spare and brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. I made this little skeleton costume for my girl using black pants and a shirt she already had, and a white dress shirt my husband was going to turn into rags. I sewed it with another mom friend for moral support, and my daughter loves it so much its hard to get her to take it off. To see her perform her skeleton dance for everyone who comes over is reminding me of why this holiday is so great. Hedonism unleashed, for once.

But there is a dark side to this holiday that I do not enjoy, and have a really tough time getting around. Candy.....

So much sugar, so many weird preservatives, and so much garbage. You want your kid to participate in the holiday and make fantastic memories, but you don't want them eating this junk.

This is a picture of my two year old's teeth. She has 7 cavities. We brush her teeth twice a day, and floss daily. She will be put under general anesthetic to get her needed crowns and fillings. We have HUGE reservations around Halloween candy. I am going to be handing out walnuts and gum to the kids who come to my house, and maybe a few apples....

Have you ever looked into the razor blades in apples rumour? I did, a little bit, and it seems like most of the cases were hoaxes, maybe with razor blades put in by the children themselves.  How tragic that this rumour has totally squashed a beautiful, local, seasonal, and waste free alternative to all the garbage we are currently feeding our younger citizens.

And lets not forget Halloweens roots. Samhain begins on the same night, and is the Pagan New Year. The time when the last of the harvest is brought in, and winter begins. There definitely is a little bit of magic alluded to, and a remembrance of all those passed. But mostly, it is a shift, to the inside, to the darker and colder time of the year, when the stakes are a bit higher as nature cycles beyond abundance to death, and ultimately, months later, renewal.

Lughnasadh or Lammas

Tomorrow is August first, the approximate date of the ancient Irish festival of Lughnasadh, a celebration that marks the start of the harvest and the beginning of summer's warmth declining to winter's chill. It was most often celebrated by picking berries, climbing to hill tops and visiting sacred wells.
My family and I went berry picking yesterday, not as a celebration of Lughnasadh, but because this is the season to do it. Which, I guess, is why I am so attracted to the Wiccan holidays, they are still so connected to the natural cycles, and they don't require lots of sugar and plastic to celebrate.

MMMMmmmmmmm! We do love berries. We also like hiking up the mountains around Vancouver, but we may not do this for a few weeks, as this time of year is so busy. 

Visiting Sacred Wells seems kind of funny to me, but likely because I've always grown up with indoor plumbing, I imagine that Wells were important to home life, and that some would be known to provide special water (maybe cleaner, maybe sparkling, or maybe infused with some mineral.) I don't even know how I would attempt this if I were to even try, but it does make me pause and consider how much the role of Water has changed for Humans over the last century.

There are two other common activities to perform on Lughnasadh, baking bread and getting married.

The bread make sense to me, it all ties in to harvest, and abundance. At this time of year, grain is just starting to ripen, and hopes are high that the harvest will be plentiful. Baking bread now seems like an act of faith, that there will be much more of this to come.

This is a sensible time of year to throw a big party, the weather is nice and food is plentiful. So getting Married, or Handfasted now would ensure that the union begins well, without undue stress. But Wiccans also believe that, as this time of year is the peak of summer (ruled by male solar energy), and the beginning of the longer nights of winter (ruled by female lunar energy) this is a time in the cycle when the Sacred Masculine and Sacred Feminine are in balance, are getting married themselves you could say. 

Ahhh, I wish our lives today in these big glass cities could still be so connected to these natural cycles that continue to occur. 

In a personal attempt to celebrate this lovely season, I will share with you a wonderful and easy biscuit recipe. I've never had success raising yeasted breads. But these biscuits always come out wonderfully fluffy.

Biscuits for Lammas

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

2tbs baking powder

1/4 cup milk

3/4 oil

1/2tsp salt

1tbs honey

Preheat oven to 450 degree F. Mix together dough, do not over knead. Either drop onto a baking sheet, or roll out and use a cup or cookie cutters to get your desired shape. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden.

Enjoy!