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Other Names: Feast of Remembrance, Feast of Apples, Hallowe�en, Ancestor Night, Feast of the Dead Information: Samhain was the last day of the Celtic New Year, representing a beginning and an ending. It was the end of the third harvest and by this time all of the crops would have been gathered in. The Goddess has changed to the Crone, who accepts the dead into her cauldron of rebirth, while mourning the Dying God. It was believed that the souls of the dead could not leave the physical plane until Samhain, and had to wait around until this time to �pass through the veil�. This veil between the worlds is especially thin, supposedly because the Dying God must pass through it on his way to the Otherworld. It is a night full of spirits, so it is traditional to invite ancestors to dinner by setting an empty place at the table or by leaving a plate of food outside, and you can leave lanterns outside to guide them to your house. There are also mischievous spirits around, so people carve pumpkins to scare nasty ones away. Samhain is a good time for banishing, as anything you don�t like about your life can be recycled with the old year. It is also a traditional time for divination and for meditating on the cycle of reincarnation, death, and a new beginning. Pumpkin pie Shortcrust pastry 3 eggs separated 425g pumpkin cut up into little bits. Use the sides of the pumpkin, not all the goo and seeds in the middle =) 225ml evaporated milk 225g sugar 1tsp cinnamon 1/2tsp ginger 1/4tsp nutmeg 1/4tsp salt First you have to rub margarine all round a 23cm cake tin a bit so it doesn�t stick and burn. Then roll out the pastry and use it to line the tin. Whisk up the egg whites till they go all fluffy and airy. In a different bowl whisk up the egg yolks and all the other ingredients until it�s all blended together. Fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture but do it quite gently. Put the cake tin on the oven shelf and pour the mixture in. You have to put the cake tin in the oven first because otherwise you�d have to carry the mixture to the oven and spill it everywhere, or that�s what I�d do anyway =) Cook it at 190C for about 45 minutes until you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean. Books on the Sabbats: Sabbats - by Edain McCoy The wheel of the Wiccan yea- by Gail Duff The encyclopedia of superstitions - by Christina Hole A Witches' Bible - by the Farrars Contributed by Dragonfly |