Samhain questions

[Selena Silverlynx]

Hi all,
I have a few questions for Samhain. Samhain is my first sabbat, and I would like to have a few ideas for it.
I do not prefer skulls nor skeletons, but I would like to invite pixies and fairies to my room and house.
Here are my questions:

1. What crafts can you do for Samhain?
2. How do I keep bad spirits from using my house as a spirit hotel? Do witch-bottles work, or do I need to make more stuff to keep them away?
3. What can I use my cauldron for on Samhain?
4. Can I invite fairies and nature spirits to my house, and if so, how do I make a nice stay for them?

Thank you!
Selena Silverlynx

[Firebird]

Hi Selena...This really is a Sabbat of endings as well as beginnings, a time to honor all who have gone before, and to remember our ancestors and linage. It is a time of release and letting go. A time to do the dark work, and really looking at that which does not serve you any longer. Burn it away in the fire.
Skeletons and skulls are the imagery of the season because we all will dance this dance of the dead someday.
I haven't the time right now to answer your other questions, maybe some else will chime in.

The Faye are available for play and mischief all times of the year, and I would imagine they would be open to all kinds of pranking if called forward at this Holiday.

Here is a sweet song about death...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16WqxSMCu0

and the lyrics if you want to sing along...

SHAKING OF THE SHEETS

[chorus:]
Dance, dance the shaking of the sheets
Dance, dance when you hear the piper
Playing, everyone must dance
The Shaking Of The Sheets with me

Bring away the beggar, bring away the king
And every man in his degree,
Bring away the oldest and the youngest thing
Come to death and follow me

[chorus]

Bring away the merchant who made his money in France
And the crafty banker too,
When you hear the piper you and I must dance
The dance that everyone must do.

[chorus]

I'll find you in the courtrooms, I'll find you in the schools
When you hear the piper play,
I'll take away the wise men, I'll take away the fools
And bring their bodies all to clay.

[chorus]

All the politicians of high and low degree,
Lords and ladies great and small,
Don't think that you'll escape and need not dance with me,
I'll make you come when I do call.

[chorus]

It may be in the day, it may be in the night,
Prepare yourselves to dance and pray
That when the piper plays "The Shaking Of The Sheets"
You may to Heaven dance the way.

[chorus x2]

Many Blessings for a Sacred Samhain, Firebird

[Altairtigris]

Lovely song, but now it's stuck in my head.I'm going to be humming it all day
There's a few of us having our first Samhain Selena, there's a few ideas of what people are doing, but I don't know how to put a link in for other threads sorry.

[Kassandra]

.


All I have time for this morning is question #1 Selena, as I have to run soon....but, here are some suggestions for crafts by our very own Alura: http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum ... ts#p176210

The basic vibe at this time of year is "gratitude," and "harvest." Sabbats, and most older holidays in general around the world, usually have an agricultural theme underscoring them (as opposed to newer holidays, which tend to be civic or nationalistic commemorations of one sort or another).

This time of year, holiday crafts are designed from whatever "fruits of harvest" are enjoyed by the people in the area. Squash are plentiful in (and native to) North America, so the "mainstream" version of Samhain here, Halloween, puts the most famous of squashes, the pumpkin, front and center in everything. The "traditional" crafts of Samhain reflect what was harvested by the cultures in Europe from which Samhain originated.

Look around your area...what plants could you harvest and incorporate into your celebrations? I believe in this way, we honor the Earth, and when we honor the Earth, we honor Goddess.

In my area, oak trees are everywhere and acorns of different sizes and shapes litter the ground, so I like to gather them up and do fun things with them. Acorns were vital to the survival of pre-colonial peoples here in California, and the spirit of the oak tree was/is revered by Druids in Europe. It's considered a special tree by many, so I'm honored to be in their presence! I count them as friends.

Oh, and by the way...pumpkin seeds!



.

[Selena Silverlynx]

.


All I have time for this morning is question #1 Selena, as I have to run soon....but, here are some suggestions for crafts by our very own Alura: http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum ... ts#p176210

The basic vibe at this time of year is "gratitude," and "harvest." Sabbats, and most older holidays in general around the world, usually have an agricultural theme underscoring them (as opposed to newer holidays, which tend to be civic or nationalistic commemorations of one sort or another).

This time of year, holiday crafts are designed from whatever "fruits of harvest" are enjoyed by the people in the area. Squash are plentiful in (and native to) North America, so the "mainstream" version of Samhain here, Halloween, puts the most famous of squashes, the pumpkin, front and center in everything. The "traditional" crafts of Samhain reflect what was harvested by the cultures in Europe from which Samhain originated.

Look around your area...what plants could you harvest and incorporate into your celebrations? I believe in this way, we honor the Earth, and when we honor the Earth, we honor Goddess.

In my area, oak trees are everywhere and acorns of different sizes and shapes litter the ground, so I like to gather them up and do fun things with them. Acorns were vital to the survival of pre-colonial peoples here in California, and the spirit of the oak tree was/is revered by Druids in Europe. It's considered a special tree by many, so I'm honored to be in their presence! I count them as friends.

Oh, and by the way...pumpkin seeds!



.

Kassandra, that really helped! Thank you very much.

[Selena Silverlynx]

Hi Selena...This really is a Sabbat of endings as well as beginnings, a time to honor all who have gone before, and to remember our ancestors and linage. It is a time of release and letting go. A time to do the dark work, and really looking at that which does not serve you any longer. Burn it away in the fire.
Skeletons and skulls are the imagery of the season because we all will dance this dance of the dead someday.
I haven't the time right now to answer your other questions, maybe some else will chime in.

The Faye are available for play and mischief all times of the year, and I would imagine they would be open to all kinds of pranking if called forward at this Holiday.

Here is a sweet song about death...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16WqxSMCu0

and the lyrics if you want to sing along...

SHAKING OF THE SHEETS

[chorus:]
Dance, dance the shaking of the sheets
Dance, dance when you hear the piper
Playing, everyone must dance
The Shaking Of The Sheets with me

Bring away the beggar, bring away the king
And every man in his degree,
Bring away the oldest and the youngest thing
Come to death and follow me

[chorus]

Bring away the merchant who made his money in France
And the crafty banker too,
When you hear the piper you and I must dance
The dance that everyone must do.

[chorus]

I'll find you in the courtrooms, I'll find you in the schools
When you hear the piper play,
I'll take away the wise men, I'll take away the fools
And bring their bodies all to clay.

[chorus]

All the politicians of high and low degree,
Lords and ladies great and small,
Don't think that you'll escape and need not dance with me,
I'll make you come when I do call.

[chorus]

It may be in the day, it may be in the night,
Prepare yourselves to dance and pray
That when the piper plays "The Shaking Of The Sheets"
You may to Heaven dance the way.

[chorus x2]

Many Blessings for a Sacred Samhain, Firebird

Thank you, Firebird, for your information!

[Kassandra]

.

Kassandra, that really helped! Thank you very much.

Sure, no prob.



I never heard the term before, so I just looked up "shaking the sheets," and it, er, means "copulation" (sex). ....sooo, maybe someone from UK could briefly explain how that relates to the death theme/Samhain...or maybe firebirdflys knows? Anybody? I'm not making the connection. lol A little help, thanks.



.

[Firebird]

I have a friend who plays a lovely version of this on the harp, we like to sing along with the chorus...
I remember the first time I heard her play it, I was thinking its like getting under the covers...Yes? and stirring up some excitement, eh? Yes, copulation would be my guess, then I started to think. This is a song of sex, why is it known as this dance of death? I remember thinking like ghosts and sheets...a great way to imitate a super natural being with a sheet over you head? naw, that can't be it. I remember hearing that an orgasm is referred to as a small death, I think the heart can even stop for a second....but then I realized if the copulation resulted in a child, not only was that life, but ultimately death too....and then there is the rise and fall of the "staff" metaphorically speaking the God that gives his life so that we may live (as in the Grain cycle).
I found another version of the song from the 1500's (I had thought Steeleye Span was the author...turns out it may be unknown)


The Shaking of the Sheets (2)

Can you dance the shaking of the sheets,
A dance that everyone must do:
CAn you trim it up with dainty sweets
And ev'rything that 'longs there-to?
Make ready, then, your winding sheet
And see how ye can bestir your feet
For Death is the man that all must meet
For Death is the man that all must meet.

Bring away the beggar and the king,
And every man in his degree ;
Bring away the old and youngest thing,
Come all to death and follow me;
The courtier with his lofty looks,
The lawyer with his learned books,
The banker with his baiting hooks. (2x)

Merchants, have you made your mart in France,
In Italy, and all about,
Know you not that you and I must dance,
Both our heels wrapt in a clout;
What mean you to make your houses gay,
And I must take the tenant away,
And dig for your sake the clods of clay? (2x)

been throughWas the thought of Bonn
How suddenly in Oxfordshire
I came, and made the judges all aghast,
And justices that did appear,
And took both Bell and Barham away,*
And many a worthy man that day,
And all their bodies brought to clay. (2x)

Think you that I dare not come to schools,
Where all the cunning clerks be most;
Take I not away both wise and fools,
And am I not in every coast?
Assure yourselves no creature can
Make Death afraid of any man,
Or know my coming where or whan. (2x)

Where be they that make their leases strong,
And join about them land to land,
Do you make account to live so long,
To have the world come to your hand?
No, foolish nowle, for all thy pence,
Full soon thy soul must needs go hence ;
Then who shall toyl for thy defence? (2x)

And you that lean on your ladies' laps,
And lay your heads upon their knee,
May think that you'll escape, perhaps,
And need not come to dance with me.
But no! fair lords and ladies all,
I will make you come when I do call,
And find you a pipe to dance withall.

And you that are busy-headed fools,
To brabble for a pelting straw
Know you not that I have ready tools
To cut you from your crafty law?
And you that falsely buy and sell
And think you make your markets well
Must dance with Death wheresoe'er you dwell.

Pride must have a pretty sheet I see
For properly she loves to dance
Come away my wanton wench to me
As gallantly as your eye doth glance;
And all good fellows who flash and swash
In reds and yellows of revell dash
I warrant you need not be so rash.

For I can quickly cool you all
How hot or stout soever you be
Both high and low, both great and small
I nought do fear your high degree.
The ladies fair, the beldames old
The champion stout, the souldier bold
Must all with me to earthly mould.

Therefore take time while it is lent
Prepare with me yourselves to dance;
Forget me not, your lives lament
I come oft-times by sudden chance.
Be ready, therefore---watch and pray
That when my minstrel pipe doth play
You may to heaven dance the way.

From Popular Music of the Olden Time, Chappell
Published in 1568; referred to in play produced ca. 1560.
RG

This is a copy of the Digital Tradition Folk Song Database, available from mudcat.org


Since I don't read music, I don't know if the melody is the same as the other song, I tried to copy the music but it would not let me, here is the link to the page if you want to try and play it.
http://www.8notes.com/scores/6264.asp

BB, Firebird

[-Dark-Moon-]

Wow, I will have to try and find the sheet music for this and check it out - I play the harp myself, among other things...must be the Irish fairy genes in me....

[Firebird]

Arrrr indeed lassie as you have this Holiday coming soon!
FF