Happy Samhain and Halloween.

My favorite witch drawing.
Isn't she cool?


Happy belated Samhain and Halloween! :)

It was a beautiful day here on Halloween. Clear, sunny and perfectly warm. Much different from where we used to live, where it almost always snowed while we were trick-or-treating. That was a fun time :D

So for this year both of my brothers were dressed as black, harmless ninjas with wooden swords and masks up high over their noses. My little sister was a VERY cute pink flower fairy, with two sets of wings and a pink tutu, who was fearless of walking straight into an oncoming crowd of adults and children. Both the boys had a fabulous time and insisted that we go again later that night. Haha!

We went to a shopping square in the afternoon, where they were holding a sort of trick-or-treating activity. It was more for the younger kids, who would be too tired later in the day, or who would be scared out of their wits by the gross, disgusting, and nightmarish zombie, vampire, blood-covered costumes that, for whatever reason, a lot of people are wearing lately. I really don't understand why people like to dress in such scary and gross costumes. What is the point of doing that? It's made my mom upset about how disturbing it is. "We're supposed to be honoring our ancestors, not making fun of them." Is what Mom said the other day and I totally agree with her. We should honor and worship the loved ones that have left us, not mock them. I think why we do it, is because we don't have any idea what happens after death, and dressing as zombies is a way to try deal with death. To cover up our scared feelings, by making it more scary and for some people entertaining. But then again I'm pretty sure that when people talk and dress like zombies, what they're doing is subconsciously addressing their fears about death. It's hard to put into words what I think.

But anyway, after all this talk about zombies, I looked up the etymology of the word Zombie and I learned this: "1871, of W. African origin (cf. Kikongo zumbi "fetish;" Kimbundu nzambi "god"), originally the name of a snake god, later with meaning "reanimated corpse" in voodoo cult. But perhaps also from Louisiana creole word meaning "phantom, ghost," from Sp. sombra "shade, ghost." Sense "slow-witted person" is recorded from 1936." From this site. Isn't that cool? Gosh I LOVE etymology!



So continuing with Halloween. . .
 


Morgana from the TV show Merlin.
My cloak looks a lot
like hers. :)

 For Halloween, my WONDERFUL Mama made an awesome dark blue cloak that flows behind me when I walk in such a magical way, it's SO cool (I'm going to wear to the super market, the fabric store, my surfing meetings, and all around the house.) I also wore a dried eucalyptus-leaf-flower crown that I bought at the Northern California Ren Faire on my birthday, and my wooden sword. I decided I was Morgan le Fay.
 
 
 
But for some reason, I didn't get the same excited, happy, feeling that I usually get that makes me feel super jumpy and excited for Halloween.
Trick-or treating lost is excitement for me.
I totally was lagging on decorations this year.
I didn't think much about costumes or candy.
It was weird and I was a little disappointed at my lack of enthusiasm for the holiday.
I know why. I feel like I've started going through a growth spurt of the mind (as well as body!). I've started thinking about things as a adult, more than I did last year. I'm starting to change and grow up.
 
I still want to celebrate that day , just differently. I want to start celebrating Halloween, not as Halloween like a little kid with candy and scary costumes and not like a lot of adults with scary movies and parties, but as Samhain. I'd like to start doing more Pagan stuff. I'd like to start celebrating all the Sabbat days, with more things to celebrate than just fairies bring gifts in the morning. I'd like to bake food for that day, go outside and celebrate the day, whatever it is, like the Celts did thousands of years ago. I'd like to read stories about the day and learn as much as I can. I want to try being more Pagan than we are now. I think it would be lots of fun for every one. :-)
 
So anyway that wraps up Halloween. It was still loads of fun and I now cannot wait for Thanksgiving! my 2nd favorite holiday (Talk Like A Pirate Day and my Birthday are on the same day, which makes it my favorite day out of the whole year ;) Hahaha!)
 
So now to my readings:
 
I'm pretty sure that nobody is very much interested in what I have been reading lately. I'm mean if you're not a big reader it's just going to seem very boring I'd guess.  But I've been using this blog to help me keep track of how many books I've read, when I read them, and what the books were. You understand? Since I read so much, it gets quite confusing to remember all that. And I like to see how long it takes me to finish a big book.
 
I'm now about a quarter way through the 6th Harry potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. It took me four days to read the 5th book, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', which was 870 pages long. ;) It was REALLY good! (also this will explain that lack of reviews and posts. I have had my nose in the HP books non-stop for the past two weeks. Hahaha!)
 
I've been listening to Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery. There have been a few really sad scenes (one scene gave me the chills it was so sad). But the rest has been totally Anne.
The Anne of Green Gables stories get better and better with each book! They are very enjoyable and a nice change from the 'omg-they're-going-to-die-next-page Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series. Haha!
 
I received a new book from the sugar sprite (a little sprite that comes on the night of Halloween and trades our unwanted candy for a gift *wink wink wink* ). It's Adam Hart-Davis's book 'What the Past did for us'. I have only read the introduction, but even that is great! I love how Adam writes his books. It makes history exciting! :D In it I'll be learning about the history and inventions from
The Britons,
The Mesopotamians,
The Egyptians,
The Indiaians,
The Chinese,
The Greeks,
The Romans, 
The Arabs,
and The Mesoamericans.  
 
Isn't that GREAT?!? I'm so excited! It's going to be filled with the little tid-bits I love, from all over the world! *Sighs*
 
And I'm going to read The Teenage Liberation Handbook, this time from the beginning. Mom and I read about half of it last year, but not straight through.
 
That's most everything I want to say for now. I'll be back soon though, I have a feeling! Mwheehee!
~Rhanna~
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