Samhain

i want to tell you as much as possible about our celebrations we liked to celebrate the changing of the season in different ways. I have already told you about Imbolc which marks the start of spring. The one I am going to tell you about today is Samhain which marks the bringing of winter, this was when we prepared to rest this was the end of the year there would be no more crops sewing that year. Any food that could be stored to get us through the winter was gathered. We also had great feast.

Like Imbolc we lit fires in our homes and we feasted and drank mead together but this wasn't the only part of the celebrations. I still find it amusing when I see children and sometimes adults dressed up in Halloween customs as I think back to disguising myself when I was younger so that I wouldn't be mistaken for a spirit and taken to the otherworld.

I remember one year I was about seven and I seen the men in the village putting on mask made of animal skulls, I told interest in this and decided that I wanted to try this myself what I didn't know these mask were made to be worn and I thought they were just putting animal skulls on their heads, so I picked up the nearest animal skull I seen near me and placed it on my head. Unfortunately I got this stuck on my head, my poor mother got worried that I wouldn't get it of but my father just laughed and told me to put my head down on a nearby tree stomp. With my head on the stomp my father took out his sword gave it small swing hitting the skull lightly till it broke. I was terrified at the time but now I can look back and laugh.

As a village we enjoyed scaring each other and even had a competition to see who could scare the most people, this was always fun because it was made a good tradition in our village and lasted many years. I remember one year my father didn't disguise himself and made people believe he was taken by the evil spirits that were able to enter the world at this time because it was at time of the year that veil between two worlds was thinnest. This also allowed the spirits of loved ones that had passed into the otherworld to come back and visit so people would set an extra place for them to eat and join the feasting. Least to say my father won the competition that year as he scared most of the village as we forgot he went missing so when he jumped out from were he was hiding we all jumped. My father then laughed and decided to share the mead he won with everyone he scared that was old enough to drink it. It was always celebrating in the village everyone was helping each other the was a big bonfire in the middle of the village that on the first night of the festivities each fire in every house was re lite from this big fire that everyone one sat around and took warmth from.

I missed these celebrations the year that I left the village after I was turned as it was just a month before these celebrations. I always found it hard to recreate these celebrations by myself and I didn't see the point in disguising myself with an animal mask to confuse evil spirits since I became one of the evils that people would have to hid from. I still lit a bonfire every year.

I remember one year that I was spending some time with Druids that I had become friends with over the years I had known these Druids after I started speaking to Cassandra it was her that had introduced me to their ancestors. We were sitting one night around a campfire in the woods when it mentioned that a new baby was due to born into the clan. The mother of this new baby was going to be the next druid clan leader. The father of this baby was also a good friend of mine for many years and I didn't know his connection to the Druids until now, I will get more into our friendship at a later stage. You see being a vampire at this stage I didn't always feel comfortable around them as I was dark and was a reminder of death and suffering but I felt that a celebration for this baby giving how important she was would be a great way to connect us together more. I made a start to create a large bonfire. Around the camp there was many other decorations going on. I went out into the woods and hunted a few animals in order to prepare a feast, I also created animal skull mask and capes from the animals so that nothing when to waste. I gave these mask to the Druids who were gathered and said it was a tradition for this time of my ancestors and that they used to live in this area.

The day came when Makaria was born the celebrations were underway and I thought as a nice gesture and to link with the traditions that I followed that time of year that I will bring protection from evil for the baby. So I put the fire out in the room and came back with a stick from the main bonfire in the middle of the camp and re lit this fire. Makaria was so sweet, she was the only one that didn't look at me as evil, maybe it was just because she was just born. I left her with her mother and told her I will always protect her when she needed me most. I spent to rest of the night drinking and making merry with the camp till the sun was about to come up. The mead was good and the feast was plenty although it didn't have any effect on me.

That was the last time I seen the Druids for a while but I always kept my promise to project Makaria as I often went back to see her and watch her from a distance to make sure she was safe.