A time for collecting stories : Festivals & Celebrations

Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, Halloween, even the names sound ancient. Traditions stem from stories shared, feats reported through tales and legends, extraordinary records stored in time. The oral tradition is ripe at this time of year. Families prepare to Trick or Treat their neighbours children. What has become a candy feast was once a time to gather legumes, slaughter the beasts so that food would be aplenty over the winter months. Giving thanks was the central theme.

Festivals and Celebrations bring us together, whether in belief or tradition community gathers to mark these special dates in the calendar. Halloween evokes memories of our youth, some among us remember the glee of anticipation for going door to door. We would rehearse tricks in case we were called upon to perform. A song, a skit even a short play,all these and more live in us today. Halloween, with the leaves turning, the cold seeping in the windows and doors and the rains transport us back to that time when we were the performers.

Tell these stories to those close to you. All unique, all your own, only you know how you experienced that period in the way you did. Begin remembering the sounds of the laughter, the colour of the street lighting, the sound the apples made when they dropped into your bag of treats.

Be the teller,