Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies

 

With Christmas here,

these cookies are perfect.

Halloween to Build Bridges

Halloween is special, it originated as a Celtic pagan festival when the souls of the dead roamed their old homes and evil spirits played tricks on the living.

But it isn't Satanic and it doesn't mean it can't be fun...for everyone.

We think Pagans have a great opportunity to remove barriers and build bridges with the rest of the world by inviting friends and neighbors to join in on the fun.

The Pagan Kitchen celebrates Samhain with our own rituals, but we also have a good time with Halloween. We don’t know any Pagan who celebrates Halloween conjuring up evil spirits like the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus, you probably don't either.

Yes, Halloween has pagan roots, just like most holiday’s and we're proud of that.

But these holidays can be celebrated and enjoyed by all.

LifeWay Research conducted a survey and found that 59 percent of Americans think the dark day is “all in good fun.” 14 percent will celebrate but “try to avoid the pagan elements.” 

There are those who are concerned with the holiday’s pagan roots, where  21 percent of Americans and 23 percent of Christians “try to avoid Halloween completely.”

“As popular and pervasive as Halloween has become, there is still a sizeable minority that avoids at least some elements,” says Scott McConnell, vice president of Nashville-based LifeWay  courtesy of LifeWay Research

Halloween in Japan

Over the past ten years, Japan has shown more interest in Halloween, with all the scenery, visuals and costumes that you'll see in the video below.

Trick or treating isn't big in Japan, but the appeal of Halloween in Japan is the fun and costumes, so the holiday ends up being mostly for adults who want to dress-up. Costume parties become a focus for many establishments or in private homes.

Halloween Activities in Japan 

Halloween celebrations are often held in September and October. Tokyo, Osaka, and Kanagawa are the most popular destinations for costumed fun, but more cities across the country are embracing the holiday each year.

Events usually take place in shopping malls and amusement parks and include street parties, parades, flash mobs, zombie runs, and costume parties at bars. However, the Japanese celebrate their spooky season in August, which is when they usually enjoy telling ghost stories and visiting haunted attractions.

Theme parks around Japan bring in some of the biggest crowds for Halloween thanks to their many diverse events:

• Tokyo Disneyland: Events include a massive parade with more than 100 floats and performers, haunted attractions and performances, and dance parties with ghosts and goblins. At sundown, the parks' many characters transform into ghostly versions of themselves to haunt the streets.
• Universal Studios Japan: Halloween Horror Nights features haunted houses and other scary activities, including a special holiday-themed movie ride. Like at Disneyland, characters at Universal will transform at sundown.
• Shibuya Hikarie Retail Complex: The International Costume Contest invites guests to compete in a variety of categories including scariest costume and best cosplay. 

• Sanrio Puroland: The costumed characters at this indoor theme park known for its Hello Kitty-themed area will transform into spooky ghosts and goblins at night. You can also expect to find themed parties and celebrations throughout the month.

Halloween Jello Shots

1. Ready to party with Jello Shots?
2. From Delish.com
3. 2 cups tonic water
4. 2 packages Jell-O (two flavors; pineapple and orange)
5. 1 cup water
6. 1 cup vodka
7. Make the first layer: Pour one cup of tonic water into a pot over high heat. 
8. Once it comes to a boil, add the pineapple Jell-O mix. 
9. Whisk until the mix has dissolved, then pour in half a cup of water and half a cup of vodka. 
10. Stir to combine.
11. Pour the Jell-O into shot glasses, filling them about 2/3s of the way up. 
12. Place them in the refrigerator to chill for about 30-35 minutes.
13. Make the second layer: As they set, start making the Orange Jell-O, following the same process used for the Pineapple Jell-O.
14. Top each of the pineapple Jell-O shot glasses with the orange Jell-O mixture. 
15. Return the shots to the fridge to set, about 2-3 hours.

Pet Halloween Reminder

Halloween/Samhain HAVE FUN

Halloween/Samhain is very close. 

The holidays are meaningful for Pagan families and it's also a lot of fun.  

Just because you’re Pagan, doesn’t mean that Samhain has to be solemn. 

All the fun of costumes and trick-or-treating are a big part of Samhain tradition. 

It's a great family activity to learn the meaning behind the masks, including the more somber aspects of the holiday, along with the fun, food and games.

This is a time for families to join together and celebrate with respect, having fun at the same time.

Together, families can watch scary movies, set up and decorate your family’s shrine along with the Halloween decorations.

For us, it's less about formality and more about being yourself and creating great energy.

Halloween Coming Soon

We honor Samhain for the special Pagan day that it is.

Samhain is a Pagan religious festival originating from the ancient Celtic, usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to welcome in the harvest and usher in “the dark half of the year.

Pagans generally believe that the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down during Samhain, allowing more interaction with the “living.”

Having said that, we also love the season of Halloween.

We love Halloween for all the obvious reasons that both Pagans and non Pagans celebrate. 

We love it because it brings the best out of us. 

On Halloween you don’t have to wear the emotional mask one many people put on for other holidays.

Samhain and Halloween are meaningful holidays for Pagan families and it's also a just lot of fun.  

Just because you’re Pagan, doesn’t mean that Samhain has to be solemn. 

All the fun of costumes and trick-or-treating are a big part of Samhain tradition. 

It's a great family activity to learn the meaning behind the masks, including the more somber aspects of the holiday, along with the fun, food and games.

This is a time for families to join together and celebrate with respect, having fun at the same time.

Together, families can watch scary movies, set up and decorate your family’s shrine along with the Halloween decorations.

For us, it's less about formality and more about being yourself and creating great memories.

For all the people who love corn mazes, pumpkin carving, cheesy horror movies, fake cobwebs, and the endless supply of cupcakes, we are among and with you.

Halloween, with all its tacky, silly goulishness, is the best holiday. We salute the people who love it, we have something very much in common with you.

This is our only holiday with Pagan roots that still remains a non-Christian holiday. 

Even though Christmas and Easter have Pagan roots, the Church took them over long ago. 

Halloween is different. 

They tried to take it over too by declaring All Saints Day but somehow they were never really able to erase Halloween’s Pagan roots.

Could it be that in the deep recesses of our minds, we didn't want to let go of the real meaning of Samhain and Halloween? 

It’s Not Too Early To Plan Ahead

Weeks Away

This is Halloween by Broken Peach

 

Pumpkin Spiked Horchata

This is not only easy, it's delicious.

Let's get started.

Toss the rice and water in a blender, pulse it a few times, add a cinnamon stick in it, and let it soak overnight. 

Then mix the other ingredients over the stove to melt then stir everything together, and you’ve got yourself an outrageous beverage.

Spiked Pumpkin Horchata

Prep Time: 24 hours

Cook Time: 4 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

This is a classic Mexican Horchata recipe that is spiced up to include pumpkin, cinnamon sugar, and alcohol.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice
• 5 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup full-fat canned coconut milk (or milk of choice)
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 12 oz. spiced or vanilla rum
• cinnamon sugar for rimming glasses
• cinnamon sticks for garnish

Directions

1. Add rice and water to the pitcher of a blender and blend until the rice is chopped into small pieces. About 1-2 minutes.
2. Pop cinnamon stick into the pitcher, cover, and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight is best.
3. Once mixture has soaked, strain the rice milk through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth that's been placed over a pitcher.
4. While milk is straining, whisk together pumpkin puree, coconut milk and sugar in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. About 3-4 minutes.
5. Remove pumpkin mixture from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
6. Stir the pumpkin mixture into strained rice milk until well mixed.
7. To serve, add ice and 1 1/2 ounces of rum to a glass rimmed in cinnamon sugar, top off with with the pumpkin spice horchata, and stir with a cinnamon stick.

I Put a Spell on You by Kris and Julie Andrews

Kris and Julie Alberts honoring the movie "Hocus Pocus 20th Anniversary" and Halloween coming up, decided to feature this video to a medley of "Come Little Children" and 

"I Put A Spell On you."

We think the video is great, hope you enjoy it.

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

" Hocus Pocus " Medley

Performed by Kris and Julie Alberts

Music Arranged and Produced by their dad Albert Asriyan.

Pumpkin Ideas

Here are a few other ideas...

Vintage Halloween Costumes

As Halloween/Samhain approaches,

let’s look at the vintage costumes from years past.

Trick or Treat

 

Historians trace trick-or-treating to a few different ancestors. 

One is the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the transition to the new year, and the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. 

The ancient Celts believed that during this night, the realms of the living and the dead overlapped and that spirits both good and bad could walk among the living. 

To confuse and ward off the evil spirits, the Celts would sometimes impersonate them with costumes of white clothing and masks or blackface. 

If they encountered a spirit during the feast, the costumed Celts would be mistaken for spirits and left alone.

As Christianity began to influence in the British, the old Pagan customs were Christianized and adapted to help sooth the Celts’ conversion. 

Three Christian holidays—All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, together known as Hallowmas—were placed on the same days as Samhain. 

All Hallow’s Eve eventually got shortened to Hallowe'en, and then Halloween, in conversation.

 

Going around the neighborhood for treats is most likely a form of souling, which started in the Middle Ages, also in the British Isles. 

Soulers, mostly children and some poor adults, would go to door to door during Hallowmas and collect food or money in return for prayers said for the dead on All Souls’ Day. 

A secular version of souling, called guising, eventually sprang up and is first recorded in Scotland in the 19th century. 

Guisers went door to door and earned food treats or money by offering a small performance, like telling a joke or singing a song. 

Some accounts of both these traditions make note of “fantastic costumes” that borrowed both from Samhain and British mummery. 

(They also mention soulers and guisers carrying vegetable lanterns, precursors to the jack-o’-lantern.)