All Hallows Eve

This All Hallows Eve, I will be out of town.

I am giving myself a much needed vacation and break from it all and going on a yoga retreat.

This will be my first time going as a student (in true Miss Madison fashion, I lead one before I attended one.)

I will be in Sedona, AZ with Seane Corn at Sedona Mago Retreat Center.

Chakra Balancing Flow

I'm so freaking excited.

One thing that I love and was really attracted to about this retreat is that it starts on Halloween... All Hallows Eve.

"Many of the traditions that we associate with Halloween ­— including dressing up in costumes, going trick-or-treating and carving jack-o’-lanterns — are modern interpretations of Samhain (pronounced saw-win). Gaelic for “summer’s end,” Samhain is an ancient Celtic festival celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1; this falls about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. The festival marks the end of harvest season and the beginning of the darker, colder half of the year. During Samhain, people bring cattle down from their grazing pastures and choose which animals to slaughter for winter. Households take careful stock of their pantries and food supplies in order to prepare for the long, cold weather ahead. Unlike the Gaelic festival of Beltane, which celebrates life and growth, Samhain honors the darker side of things.

Samhain is considered a “liminal” time, as it straddles the line between the abundance of summer and the harsh realities of winter. The liminality associated with the evening of October 31 creates a window during which some people believe spirits can easily enter the world of the living. Believers think that during Samhain the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and deceased family members and friends can return to their previous homes to bestow gifts or seek revenge. To appease the wandering spirits, the Celts would place a dinner plate at their table and bowls of food or treats by their front door. People took special care not to offend any wandering spirits, and if they left their homes they would disguise themselves with masks and costumes to avoid recognition. Eventually the tables were turned, and the masked citizens started imitating the spirits they once feared by going door-to-door demanding treats and threatening to perform mischief of their own.

The term “Halloween” is a result of Catholic interference with Samhain in the year 609. All Saints Day is a Roman Catholic holiday that honors and remembers all Christian saints both known and unknown. Pope Gregory IV decided to officially move the date of All Saints Day to November 1, the same day as Samhain. All Saints Day is also called “All Hallows” because “hallowed” means sanctified or holy (for those of you who know The Our Father prayer, think of the part “hallowed be thy name.”) The evening before All Hallows was a popular time to celebrate, so the term “All Hallows’ Eve” was used quite a bit. Eventually the term All Hallows’ Eve morphed into Halloween as we know it, and along the way it snatched up and mingled with many of the Samhain traditions that had already been happening for thousands of years.

The history of Samhain reminds us that we once celebrated holidays because of a shared human connection that resonated with the Earth’s cycles — the weather, the moon, the harvest — instead of a celebration of consumerism or "heroic" dominance. This year I plan on skipping the tacky costumes and the individually packaged candy bars."  -motherearthnews.com