“Seannie! Are you and Michael ready yet?”

“Bridget, a real coat, please, and gloves.”

“Aunt Mary, why are we doing this? Can’t I stay here and play X-Box?”

“Brandon needs a hat, someone! And a blanket. It’s going to be cold.”

“Patrick!! Stop fussing with your hair! Lord, boy, sometimes you’re worse than a girl.”

“Michael gets to take the torch this year.”  “No fair!”

 

No, it’s not a trip to Frightland. Rather, it’s preparation for the celebration of Samhain – an old Celtic observance of summer’s end, a harvest festival. Nothing more sinister.

 

pooka  are shape shifting creatures; many believe Shakespeare's  derived Puck from pooka

 

“On November Eve they are at their gloomiest, for, according to the old Gaelic reckoning, this is the first night of winter. This night they dance with the ghosts, and the pooka is abroad, and witches make their spells…”  WB Yeats

 

The new year will begin at dusk. Cailleach (which simply means ‘old woman’ or ‘hag’) has tapped the earth with her staff to start the ground to freeze. The harvest is in, the weaker animals slaughtered and their bones thrown onto the pyre.

 

 

The bone-fires (bonfires) will draw the friendly spirits and ward off the evil ones. In olden times the custom was that each family should receive an ember to start a new cooking fire – the better to keep the home safe from lost and angry spirits in the coming year.

 

 

 

The broken moon always seems to speak more clearly this night. Tonight is when the gossamer veil between two worlds becomes thinner still and souls from the other world walk the earth. It’s said that on this night the burial mound of heroes are shared by the faeries and open.  Milk and barley are left out for the Sidhe (a supernatural elf or faerie).

 

 Oscar Wilde aka Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Canterville Ghost

 

“Aunt Mary, Brandon’s talking and there’s no one there!”  Well – they do say all young children have the gift of communicating with the spirits.

 “Mind your footing, kids.  The mist has started in.” 

 

 

Who knows?? Those tendrils of mist may be spirits dancing. Meantimes, dried twigs crack underfoot and the smell of burning brush and chaff fill the air. We left a laden plate at the table when we left – just in case one of the old ones should wander through – and a candle lit in the window to guide the dead home.  It’s said that if the flame flickers a spirit has visited. While most areas today prohibit them, there was an ancient custom of building two bonfires next to each other and people would walk between the two as a purification ritual. (One must have prayed for calm winds before doing so!)

 

 

It surprises me (though it probably shouldn’t) how many Halloween customs have come from the celebration of Samhain.  The whole idea of trick-or-treating can be traced to the custom of going door to door gathering food for the feasting, Treats were/are distributed to appease any roaming evil spirits, while costumes were worn to placate evil spirits who might be abroad that night. Samhnag – what we know as jack-o-lanterns -were originally carved from large turnips and set in windows to scare off angry spirits. A lovely use of turnips to my mind.

 

 

The spread of Christianity by definition, has always attempted to bridge the chasm between the living and the dead. Those who died ‘in the faith’ have always been honored, prayed for, and remembered in Masses and litanies. Records show that a festival of martyrs was observed as early as 270 A.D. and in the 4^th century such a feast day was celebrated in the spring of the year.  Pope Gregory III fixed the date for the feast of All Saints (also known as ‘All Hallows’) as November 1^st and this date was later formally adopted in 835 A.D. by Louis the Pious, making official what had already been spreading by consent (though not necessarily among the Celts).

 

 

Most Christian denominations celebrate the feast day with prayers, candle-lighting, litanies, and the reading or listing of names of deceased congregants.  In keeping with the solemnity of the feast. The Roman Catholic church deems it a Holy Day of Obligation (a day when “the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.  Moreover they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God,”)

 

 

 

Look up ahead. Brandon finally gave up the fight or his conversations exhausted him. Patrick carries him as though he’s a feather and Bridget’s with him just in case. Little does she know Patrick’s done this many times before. One of them is softly crooning to him. Seannie is pointing out something in the sky to Michael – a constellation? A galaxy only they remember?  I hear a muffled voice. The boys? It’s saying “Don’t forget.”  And we walk towards the warmth.

 

 

 

PS – I’m sure by this point you’re dying for a recipe for pumpkin bars or something. Alas, I’m not the one to speak on this. I can, however read wax drippings (it’s a gift.)  and,  in addition to throwing the Rune, throw out  one  perfect scent suggestion and Michelyn  picks  her perfume  for Halloween  -both from Liz Zorn.

 

-Mary Beth Devine, Contributor

 

 

MBD– Liz Zorn Green Oakmoss – listed notes are: citrus, clove, tuberose, rose geranium, oakmoss accord,  leather animal musk, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum, and woods. A potent woodsy chypre done with the touch of the faerie.

MC –Liz Zorn UnderWorld– I chose this fragrance  from Liz  not only  because  when I was younger I saw ghosts- "I see dead people" but thankfullyI  don't smell them (Liz has a  friendly ghost who lives in her home) but because it is the perfect perfume for Halloween. 

When I went trick or treating every Halloween it was  always a huge  dissapointment; I had childhood allergies of chocolate, cinnamon, and nuts -Three Muskateer bars, Reese's Peanut butter cup and the coveted Milky Way candy bars were taken out of my bag .  I was left with Sunmaid raisins.

Heidi Klum as the  Hindu Godess Kali

Fast forward 1995 ,I developed an intolerance to coffee and the aroma haunts me.  Underworld is a natural perfume  "an unusual pairing of vetivers from around the world, rich spice notes of cinnamon, ginger lily and clove, a touch of jasmine, roasted coffee, cocoa, rose leather and balsams, set into a light vanilla oud tincture' Liz sent me  sample quite some time ago and  it fed my constant craving  for  a fragrance that is both spicy, a bit sweet and  as  unusal as some of Heidi Klum's costumes.

Hey Kim Kardashian, I have her blue eyes

(My last  two Halloween costumes:  Linda Carter's Wonderwoman and Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8 ( just a wig and a yummie tummie slip); both as sexy as this fragrance)

To enter this draw for 11ml  of Green Oakmoss or 4.5 ml of underworld please leave a comment on  anything you found interesting  about Samhain, your favorite Liz Zorn fragrance,if you see dead people or ghosts name your favorite Halloween costume or treat. Draw endsNovember 1, 2011

Editor's note:  Redneck Perfumista , now you know why I am a candy girl. 

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume .