Those Christians again!

The Christian synchrobloggers have taken on another Pagan topic, this time Samhain. Most of their posts are in response to the secular Hallowe'en activities of trick-or-treating and the like, but some discuss aspects of our festival, Samhain:

• The Christians and the Pagans Meet for Samhain
• Who Stole Hallowe'en?
• Apples and Razorblades
• The Season of Samhain
• Making space for Hallowe'en
• Appropriating Halloween and Creating Liminal Times

Interesting. They are aware that Samhain is a nice wholesome festival associated with ancestors and remembering the Beloved Dead, and Steve Hayes pointed out correctly that in fact the ancient Pagan festival wasn't really about this - in fact the way it is celebrated now is almost entirely drawn from the medieval Christian celebration of All Saints and All Souls. I just wish all Christians (and all Pagans for that matter) would read up on the history - the best place to start being Ronald Hutton's excellent book, The Stations of the Sun. Anyway, it makes a nice change to see some sane and balanced views from the other side (to offset the journalistic silly-season).

If you want to celebrate Samhain the way the ancient Celts did, read Robin Herne's article about it. For myself, I like the Wiccan approach - commemorating the Beloved Dead and the ancestors (both people we admire and relatives who have died) and being aware of the underworldly connotations of autumn, as the sun descends towards the winter solstice.

If you've written a Pagan blog-post about Samhain or Hallowe'en, post a link in the comments and I'll write a feature about Pagan Samhain blogging, if there are enough.