Hallowe'en 2011

Another Hallowe'en come and gone, another year I keep pronouncing "Sow-en" as "Sam-hane." I just can't break myself of that habit, I always see "Sam-hane" whenever I read "Samhain". Other practicing pagans must have this problem, I can't be the only one.

Sowen/Samhain/Hallowe'en, call it what you will, it was yesterday. And, I did virtually nothing to celebrate. Bad pagan, bad pagan! It was supposed to be a super busy day with work and a class in the evening, I wasn't even going to be home for the trick-or-treaters. Honestly...I hadn't planned ahead or done much of anything. I didn't have any decorations, was at a loss for a ritual that I could do in a rush with my bf hanging over my shoulder, and didn't even have a pumpkin.  Halfway through the day I found out that my class was canceled for that night, so I came rushing home after work to get ready for trick-or-treaters. Woohoo, small children in adorable costumes! I've never gotten to hand out candy before, so I was definitely looking forward to it.  I live in an apartment, but my balcony is on the main floor facing the road so I figured we'd at least get some people coming by. I sent the boyfriend to the store to pick up a pumpkin along with dinner, but wouldn't you know all the pumpkins are gone by 6pm on Hallowe'en night. Not to fear, Martha Stewart to the rescue! I used an idea out of last year's Halloween magazine (I bought it to read on a flight. Don't judge me! :P) and carved a butternut squash instead!

The Screaming Squash

Not too shabby, eh?

Despite my wonderful carved creation, we didn't get a single kid at our balcony, not a one. *sad face * :( I had to resort to yelling at people I knew walking down the street and forcing candy on them. Okay, it was just one person. But he did take the candy. Then we invited some friends over and ate the rest of the candy while watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on Blu-Ray.  And that's it. C'est tout.

So a very last-minute and un-pagan-y Halloween. I just couldn't find the energy to come up with my very own Samhain ritual, and now that the holiday has passed I probably won't. Also, I still feel very stupid doing rituals if I know that someone (aka the boyfriend) could walk in while I'm doing it. How about you? What did you do to celebrate the witches' new year?