ValkyrieMom Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Do you guys add anything to your studies for Halloween? Are there some good/educational books/websites on Pagan traditions and the like? Do you get together with other HS groups for Trick or Treating? How do you tie Halloween into HS or do you just keep it separate and don't mix the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I'm working on it. We're taking the week "off" and I'm going to go through all the traditions that led up to what's done today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Funny isn't it? I'm of Paganish pursuation, but completely ignore Halloween. To me, it's not pagan, it's American! :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2cents Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 We aren't Pagan or any religious affiliation. We celebrate Halloween as a fun holiday. We have done unit studies over the past few years though so the children would be familiar with the origins. One year we studied the animals/insects associated with Halloween. Last year and this year we read books and short stories by well know horror and sci-fi authors. I don't do our Halloween theme studies with others but we do have friends that come over for our annual Halloween party and trick-or-treating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Not really for Halloween, but we probably will when she's older. We've gone into the pagan traditions involved with Easter and Christmas though. No book rec's--I just explained what I knew. Again, maybe when they're older I'll get some books, esp if they're interested in what our culture took and changed into our current holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&Rs Mom Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Do pagans do something different on halloween? We've taught about the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead, and the Catholic feast of All Saints Day, and how our current halloween cultural stuff evolved out of those. I usually just add it in with either history or religion the week before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) Originally, Halloween (Celtic holiday called Samhain) was a Druid holiday with 3 days given were people acted crazy. Men dressing as women and women dressing as men. Unhinging gates and leaving them in ditches. Moving horses from one neighbors field to another neighbors (without their knowledge). And children would go from house to house begging food or treats (were trick or treating comes from). However, the underlying reason that Halloween was celebrated was b/c they believed that these 3 days were the best time to cross over to the other side and visit with the spirits of the departed. They believed that these 3 days the veil that separated this world and the world of ancestors was drawn apart on those nights. It is very interesting, but since my kids aren't that old we don't go into all of it. All the pagan holidays were eventually turned into Christian holidays or done away with altogether when the rise in Christianity began. They created or scheduled the Christian holidays at the same time as Pagan holidays to help with the conversion of pagans or in an attempt to keep them from going back to Paganism during the time of their Pagan holidays. It is very interesting to read about how Christianity used different things to their advantage to further the conversion of those to Christian, but it isn't a topic that will come up until my children are much older and can understand some of the politics behind religion. Edited October 9, 2009 by OpenMinded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 We celebrate Samhain with all our friends, including support group and co-op buddies. Each year, I teach them about the pagan origins of the holiday. We have bonfires, the works. The kids love it, and the parents do too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Do pagans do something different on halloween? We've taught about the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead, and the Catholic feast of All Saints Day, and how our current halloween cultural stuff evolved out of those. I usually just add it in with either history or religion the week before. Here are the traditional celebrations for the wheel of the year. Like in most other religions, Pagan families vary widely in how they celebrate. http://paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/wiccan_and_pagan_calendar_2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValkyrieMom Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 I don't know why I'm so dumb coming up with ideas for this. Halloween has become just a family night in. Costumes get expensive and they just get covered up by coats, snow boots and hats. It usually snows the week before, at least in the mountains and is freezing! We carve pumpkins and roast the seeds, spread Nutella on apples and roll them in candies and eat them with popcorn while we watch Nightmare Before Christmas. It's been a big hit, but I'd like it to be more educational. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I don't know why I'm so dumb coming up with ideas for this. Halloween has become just a family night in. Costumes get expensive and they just get covered up by coats, snow boots and hats. It usually snows the week before, at least in the mountains and is freezing! We carve pumpkins and roast the seeds, spread Nutella on apples and roll them in candies and eat them with popcorn while we watch Nightmare Before Christmas. It's been a big hit, but I'd like it to be more educational. We love Nightmare Before Christmas!!! Our son's cub scout pack is having a camp out but I am positive we aren't allowed to mention any of Halloween's origins as we are supposed to steer clear of witches in the games and such. It would have been fun too. They are telling scary stories and having a hayride through a haunted maze. I'm sure there will be a bonfire, but for some reason witches were banned from the festivities. I had a terrible desire to come as a witch after hearing one game was being changed or altered b/c of witch in the title of it. Another favorite movie for Halloween is Hocus Pocus!!! We love it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forevergrace Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 We love Halloween, supposedly the most magical time to talk w/the dead. However, we celebrate the "Day of the Dead." Pretty huge in Arizona. Or you could celebrate it Japaneses style, there it is known as "O-bon." They celebrate for three days. We have the most beautiful coloured flags flapping in the wind, (Mexican style, think Frida Kahlo) and we make homemade sugar skulls. Really, really love Halloween! Just ordered dd's costume, she's going to be a Monarch Butterfly. I don't know what we (dh and me) are going to be. Forevergrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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