@Brainspore made this!
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People sometimes forget that Halloween is also about remembering and honoring those we knew and loved who have gone.
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Today (Día de los Muertos) even moreso!
This is the first since my dad passed in late summer. I recently decided to try learning how to play his old guitar as a way of honoring him. I’ve learned that I’m not exactly a natural talent when it comes to music, but then neither was he.
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Interesting. I didn’t really know the history of Halloween. I just gathered it was an old tradition that (like a lot of holidays) has changed in meaning over the centuries, and probably based on something even older.
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mum and i will be attending a dia de los muertos celebration in Islamorada, tomorrow. we will be bringing offerenda of marigolds, sugar skulls and the portraits of loved ones who have passed.
it is a celebration, foremost! we are there to remember, and have the favorite comidas y bibidas to share with those loved ones. there will be music, a parade of calaveras and artists performing.
@mrshiv, that this la dia celebration is at the foot of the Islamorada Storm Memorial, is not without forethought. there will be many who will offer marigolds and conch fritters to the hundreds of persons’ ashes underneath.
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Ok, afaik, it’s a conflation of things.
November 1 in the Christian calendar is All Saints Day, and November 2 is All souls Day, so the period is associated with the remembrance of passed loved ones.
It’s also at the end of autumn heading into winter, so it’s tied to thoughts of night and cold and protecting yourself from bad times.
It’s also associated with Celtic traditions. Samhain is 1 Nov, and November is Mí Shamhna. It’s also the ancient Celtic new year. Celtic religions saw liminal places and times as where the walls between realms were thin… Dusk, dawn, riverbanks, beaches, hillsides, and the change of the year. The Celtic traditions counted sundown as the start of the day, so the eve came before the day. So … The Twilight which marks the new year is possibly the most magical time of the entire year, when it’s most likely for visitors from the realm of the dead or the fae to visit.
Of course, how much of the ancient Celtic tradition, the Christian tradition, or the popular tradition feed each other, and when they rose to prominence, is a big complicated mess, lots of local traditions and church traditions and ancient history all mixing up into is hard to separate the strands.
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I just wanted to say that, paraphrasing Bilbo, “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve”, but I wish you be safe and big hugs.
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I’m trying to use this to help me.
I too just believe in me - and that’s reality.
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Do you fancy a cuppa at Tales of Tea at St. Mary’s- Guildhall in Cov? I think that’s about halfway between thou and I. If not, here’s a virtual cuppa 
.
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That’s fucking ace! Mari Lwyd with antlers!
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Honestly? No.
As of now, my workplace, my home, my family, and my own life are all in danger.
It’s not like everything was perfectly safe on Monday, but today I’m really feeling it.
On the other hand, glad to be back over here. I missed everyone; thank you for the reminder that this is here.
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Thank you for your service.
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I… don’t know. I’m equal parts disappointed in my country, angry, and terrified. (my job is safe, but me personally? I cannot say.)
Kitty needs a hug, and a kilo of the darkest chocolate available.
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Not remotely good. Somehow knowing others will be in far more danger doesn’t help.
It’s been really hard to explain to our kid in terms she can understand without scaring her. But we’ve always tried to talk about and explain the hard things of life and now isn’t the time to stop.
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Arthritis chose yesterday to fuck up my left knee – the one that I hadn’t scraped all the skin off of when I fell last weekend – and I couldn’t head upstairs for bed, so I tried to sleep in the recliner as best I could. I am also still getting over a cold. So, not great rest there.
I had been ignoring the election count last night for reasons of sanity. But I knew at 3:30 AM, if I didn’t check the news I’d just sit there worrying about it.
So at this point I’ve been awake for 10 hours, and though for the first two I was in too much shock, all of the other hours have hosted anywhere between one and three crying sessions.
I got a text from my brother (who is trans): “Love you guys. I figured I better say it now before they throw me in a camp.”
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I wasn’t doing well for a while before the election, so at this point I’m just numb and realizing I have to find the energy to get back into survival mode.
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Woke up feeling like shit. Currently chugging along like a madman on the elliptical machine until my heart forces me to stop. I’ll probably still feel like shit but at least I won’t have so much nervous adrenaline to burn off.
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Finally ended the workday. It has been a bad day, peaking at around 6’5 on the SUDS scale. Painful medical tests, weeks of rain (and disasters) and see people dear to me despair, extreme workload, is compounded into making a very uneasy day/week/month. Just feel tired.
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