Ah yes, Hallow's Eve and Hallows, quite possibly the most significant holidays in our calendar. Everybody loves it. It's great fun. Yes, we embrace the whole thing from Trick or Treating, the haunted houses, the corn mazes, even the switch witch. It goes on all month and then on November 1st we clean up and get ready to celebrate the Feast of the Dead, aka Samhain the following Saturday.

Halloween is a modern holiday with roots in ancient practices. For the past few decades, it's been somewhat controversial. Some modern Pagans ignore Halloween or directly oppose its celebration as an insulting adulteration of ancient Pagan practice. Some Christians also oppose the celebration of Halloween as Pagan or Satanic, even though it is a blended holiday and their spiritual ancestors as much involvement in its evolution into its modern incarnation as ours. And there are many parenting groups who worry that Halloween celebrations put children in danger. That all being said, many folks fully embrace the Halloween celebrations as a secular holiday and all around good time. For some of us, the celebrations continue through the entire month of October, with and without the kids.

It is, of course, up to you to decide whether you will embrace the modern Feast of Fools that is Halloween. It allows us to wear a persona that is not our own (or maybe is more our own that the one we usually present) and behave in ways that are unacceptable under normal circumstances. Haunted houses and horror movie marathons allow us to explore our deepest fears while corn mazes and hayrides out to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect raw material for the Jack O'Lanterns get us out into the fresh autumn air.

For kids, the highlight of the festival is often Trick or Treating; going door to door gathering treats from the neighbors. Concerns about safety have put a damper on many neighborhood celebrations, but local communities often host trick or treating events with local businesses. In my part of the country, antique cars are all the rage and Trunk or Treat events allow folks to show off their old cars while providing entertainment for the kids. The end product is a bagful of candy.

For us, these events fill the space between Autumn Equinox and Samhain.

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