Halloween in NZ at Beltane time: Trying to please everyone

Here in our home it’s the second week of our spring break school holidays. It’s rained for most of it and the forecast is for yet more rain 🙁 We have escaped into the fresh air whenever possible, but the rain definitely makes us all feel a bit cranky and fed up (especially when the alternative would have been running on the beach every day).

So with the rain lashing down I turned to the Internet to seek out some craft ideas. Originally I was going to look at Halloween – Samhain, but have to say I’m not particularly into Halloween (in the tacky, commercial way) and it irks me to even think of this traditionally pagan festival in our season of ‘Spring’. We should be dancing around May poles and jumping over Beltane fires according to the ‘Wheel of the Year‘ for the Southern Hemisphere…

“The beginning of Summer – Summer is a comin in!

Beltane was an important festival in the Celtic calendar. The name originates from the Celtic god, Bel – the ‘bright one’, and the Gaelic word ‘teine’ meaning fire, giving the name ‘bealttainn’, meaning ‘bright fire’.

This is the beginning of the ‘lighted half’ of the year when the Sun begins to set later in the evening and the hawthorn blossoms. To our ancestors Beltane was the coming of summer and fertility. Nature is in bloom and the earth is full of fecundity and life.” – Credit: New Age, UK

Every year I explain this to my children, but they still want to ‘go trick and treating’ (something I’m just not into… but will reluctantly accompany them if they really desire). The shops have ‘Halloween’ costumes and decorations on display and ‘Capital E’ in Wellington always put on a ‘Big Halloween’ event (this year an Alice in Wonderland ‘Queen of Hearts’ themed event). I know it’s never going to change and my children just want to have a bit of fun, but I can’t help  saying ‘bah hum bug’ to Halloween in our Spring!

So, to please everyone we will do a trick or treat in the neighbourhood and head along to Capital E, but we’ll do some Beltane crafts and incorporate a celebration of the LIGHT too!

Here’s some craft ideas I’ve found and which we plan to do…

• Make a Floral Crown for Beltane
• Make an Altar Maypole Centrepiece – a miniature Maypole to decorate a table
• Beltane Crafts and Activities – including weaving and how to dance around a Maypole
• Tea light lanterns from glass jars – hanging ideas and glass painting ideas and simple home-made tree lanterns.
• Chinese paper lanterns.

And on the Saturday 29 October I’m going to throw a ‘Light Party’ – I’ve always intended to do one and last year I read about blogger, Simone, over at Great fun 4 kids, ‘Bright Light Party‘. It looked and sounded amazing (she is Queen of the Party Planners!). So, I’m going to give it a go and celebrate the light this year!