What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
What an auspicious time for this writing prompt. What are my favorite holidays? The word “holiday” means holy day, and I treat certain days as holy sometimes with reverence and sometimes with joy. I have two favorite holidays: Beltane and Samhain. Beltane, otherwise known as May Day is tomorrow, May 1. It is a time of growth and joy. The green world has new growth all around. Trees have put out green leaves and plants have started to sprout. Colorful flowers are in bloom. Birds are building their nests and are mating. Activities I like to engage in are dancing around the Maypole, weaving colorful ribbons around the pole, divination and watching the sunrise as the days get longer. To learn more about Beltane and divination click Beltane and Ogham. My other favorite holiday, Samhain otherwise known as Halloween is across the Wheel of the Year from Beltane and for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere is about six months from now. The Wheel of the Year is an arrangement of holidays or sabbats that looks like a wheel with eight spokes, one for each holiday. The holidays are about six weeks apart. Samhain signals the end of the growing season and is a time for rest. It is the end of the old year and for some is the beginning of the new year. Others like myself treat it as the end of the old year with and in between time, the new year beginning on Yule, the winter solstice or on Imbolc, February 2. Samhain is a time to do divination and to revere ancestors. People often hold a Dumb Supper which is a supper eaten in silence in honor of ancestors. To learn more about Samhain click Samhain: A Time for Endings.
Have a blessed and joyous Beltane! To my friends in the Southern Hemisphere have blessed and meaningful Samhain!
Auburn Greene
My Inner Wiccan 