For growing ranks of pagans, October 31 means a lot more than Halloween

[rug]

A pagan altar constructed for Samhain, the pagan new year, which is October 31.

October 31st, 2011
09:54 AM ET
By Susanne Gargiulo, Special to CNN

As pumpkins, witches and faux cobwebs have taken over much of North America for Halloween, Clare Slaney-Davis is preparing an October 31 feast that some would consider much spookier, with table settings for her grandparents, a great-aunt and other relatives who have passed away.

As she and her living guests eat, they'll share stories and memories of loved ones they've lost.

Slaney-Davis, who is based in London, isn't preparing the feast for Halloween. Instead, she and pagans around the world are celebrating Samhain, the beginning of the pagan new year, a night when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is believed to be the thinnest of any time during the year.

That's why it's a night devoted to ancestors. "We honor them, and we recognize that we don't live in a world of people who are merely dead or alive," says Slaney-Davis, 46. "Ancestors are central to us."

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/31/for-growing-ranks-of-pagans-october-31-means-more-than-halloween/

[kestrel91316]

1. One of my clients is a folklorist and anthropologist who specializes

in pagan traditions. She is also pagan herself. Very interesting client (and lots of fun).