Samhain Magic Book

I made this little booklet as a short and simple introduction to Samhain for children.

Print out, color, cut away the margins and fold into a book. For folding instructions see my article magic one-sheet-of-paper mini book.

My Samhain Playlist

1. Before All Hallows Eve – Caiseal Mór (The Well of Yearning)

2. The Gates – Reclaiming & Friends (Let it Begin Now: Music from the Spiral Dance)

3. Pass Through the Portal – Abigail Spinner McBride (Family of Fire)

4. Let the Fire Begin – Mary Jane (Eve)

5. No End to the Circle: Goddess Invocation – Reclaiming & Friends (Let it Begin Now: Music from the Spiral Dance)

6. Demeter’s Song – Reclaiming & Friends (Let it Begin Now: Music from the Spiral Dance)

7. Ancestor Chant – Sharon Knight & T. Thorn Coyle (Songs for the Waning Year)

8. Men of Erin – The Elders (American Wake)

9. All Soul’s Night  – Loreena McKennitt (The Visit)

10. Lyke-Wake Dirge – Pentangle (Basket of Light)

11. Samhain Eve – Damh the Bard (The Hills They Are Hollow)

12. Alison Cross – Malinky (Last Leaves)

13. Fires at Midnight  – Blackmore’s Night (Fires at Midnight)

14. Dante’s Prayer – Loreena McKennitt (The Book of Secrets)

15. Breaths – Sweet Honey In The Rock (Good News)

16. The Unquiet Grave – Solas (Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers)

17. So Spricht Das Leben (So Sayeth Life) – The Mediaeval Baebes (Worldes Blysse)

18. Samhain Night  – Jenna Greene (Wild Earth Child)

19. In The Wind – Lord Huron (Lonesome Dreams)

20. Tam Lin (Child 39) – Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer (Child Ballads)

21. When We Are Gone – Reclaiming (Second Chants)

22. Farewell, Farewell – Fairport Convention (The Best of Sandy Denny)

23. The Parting Glass  – The Wailin’ Jennys (40 Days)

24. Beloved – Mumford & Sons (Delta)

25. May it Be – Voces8 (Enya/Lord of the Rings)

26. Dance in the Graveyards – Delta Rae (Carry the Fire)

You can listen to them all on one playlist here.

Salt Dough Samhain Skulls

One of the easiest, yet meaningful, salt dough crafts is making salt dough skulls, in honor of your ancestors and beloved dead, for your Samhain altar.
Mix up a batch of salt dough, or use the last lump of salt dough left over from another project. You may wish to personalize a salt dough skull for a specific ancestor blending in scented oil, dried herbs, or flower petals that remind you of that person. To shape each individual skull:

1. Roll kneaded dough into a ball shape. Flatten the bottom by tapping on the counter top or table. Shape the dough into an oval at the front, so that the front of the skull is facing out, not up (like a picture in a desk frame, as opposed to a picture laying on the table). Push in the lower sides of the face with your thumbs, to create cheek hollows. (If you like, hollow out a cavity in the bottom of the skull to keep a small ancestor memento.)

2. Use the end of a wooden spoon to create eye sockets.

3. Cut slits (or a triangle) with a butter knife for the nose.

4. For the teeth, cut three horizontal lines below the nose.

5. Finish the teeth with vertical cuts.

Set your salt dough skulls on wax paper and let dry completely. Turn over every day for even drying. This make take several days or a week or so, depending on size of skull, heat, and humidity. When completely dry, they can be painted and decorated, if desired. This same shaping method can be used with fondant to make sugar skulls.

Kids’ Activities for Samhain / Autumn Equitherm

EXPLANATION & INFORMATION

• “The Ancient Celtic Festivals and How We Celebrate Then Today” by Clare Walker Leslie and Frank E. Gerace (for ages 9-12)

• The Halloween Book of Facts and Fun by Wendie C. Old (for ages 8 – 11)

STORIES

• “Tam Lin” by Jane Yolen (for ages 6-12)

• “When the Wind Stops” by Charlotte Zolotow (for ages 4-8) Use this book to introduce the concept of rebirth/continuance of life.

• “Tales from the Otherworld” from the book “Myths and Civilization of the Celts” by HM Matell

• “Cailleac Bheur” from “The Enchanted World of Fairies and Elves” Time-Life Books

• “Voyage of Bran” from “Names Upon the Harp” by Marie Heaney (for ages 9-12)

• “Idunn’s Apples of Youth” from “D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths” by Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (for ages 5 and up)

CRAFTS

• Make your own masks & costumes. Suggestion: use your costume to honor and remember one of your ancestors.

• Carve a turnip or pumpkin.

• Make skull necklaces/bracelets- look for skull beads in import shops and craft stores, or make your own.

• Make salt dough skulls to represent ancestors.

• Make a Silver Branch: find a fallen tree branch- not too big or small- a good size to hang on a wall close to your home (or personal) altar, perhaps the size of a long wand. Paint it silver with craft paint and let dry. Attach silk apple blossoms and silver or gold bells. You can use the silver branch to mark the beginning of rituals, or as a purification tool (the sound of the bells drives away malevolent spirits away). The Silver Branch is a symbol of the Celtic Otherworld, the Isle of Apples.

• Make an Ancestor Doll in the likeness of one of the ancestors for the ancestor altar. Use his/her favorite colors. If the ancestor had a favorite flower, attach one to the doll. If you have a scrap of fabric or an accessory that belonged to that her/him, use that too. You can also scent the doll with the ancestor’s favorite scent. One easy doll making method is the yarn doll. Kids old enough to use a knife could make an apple head ancestor doll (start well in advance of the holiday).

ACTIVITIES

• Learn about your ancestors, visit graves and make grave stone rubbings.

• Commit to memory the names of your direct ancestors, back as far as you can.

• Play some traditional Samhain games like snap apple Jack’s-Alive and snapdragon.

• Find a hidden charm in barmbrack or colcannon.

• Watch movies or video clips that explain the Origin of Halloween: The Halloween Tree, and also some short “bet you didn’t know” Halloween clips from the history channel website.

Countdown to Samhain – a holiday planner

October 1st – 7th

• Carve apple-doll heads, slice and dry apples for crafts.

• Set up an ancestor shrine.  (Add objects to shrine as the month progresses.)

• Obtain charms for Barm Brack (a ring, a coin, a stick, a pea, and a thimble), as well as any other supplies needed for Samhain crafts.

October 8th – 14th

• Work on Samhain crafts and decorate home.

• Plan Samhain feast and make a grocery list.

• Make costumes for kids (or help them make their own).

October 15th – 21st

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Carve turnips and/or pumpkins.

• Make treat bags for trick-or-treaters.

October 22nd – 28th

• Do food shopping for Samhain feast & treats.

• Make sugar skulls and decorate with icing.

• Make popcorn balls and caramel apples.

October 30th

• Bake Barm Brack and any other dishes for the Samhain feast that can be made ahead.

October 31st

• Visit graves of loved ones and ancestors, if possible.

• Cook the Samhain feast.  (Keep warm in crock pots for later in the night.)

• Light candles on ancestor shrine at dusk.

• Treat the trick-or-treaters (or take kids trick-or-treating).

• Observe ritual and have feast.

Introducing Samhain to Children

As much as I can, I like to make the holidays meaningful for my family. Raising my kids Pagan has been important to me, but also fun.  Just because you’re Pagan, doesn’t mean that Samhain has to be solemn. All the fun of costumes and trick-or-treating are an integral part of Samhain tradition.  Making sure your child learns the meaning behind the masks, and including the more serious aspects of the holiday, in addition to the fun and games, makes Samhain complete.

As for introducing kids to the meaning of Samhain- that can be a little overwhelming. There is so much information to relay. It is best to start with the simple explanation that…

Samhain (pronounced SOW-in) means Summer’s End. It is the Celtic New Year
and a time for commemorating and remembering our ancestors and Beloved Dead.

Let your child help you set up and decorate your family’s ancestor shrine. This is a good time to talk to kids about death, rebirth, the Otherworld, and the cycles of life. Teach her/him the song We All Come from the Goddess by Z. Budapest. (If your Pagan tradition isn’t goddess-centered, substitute the appropriate word in place of “goddess”.) Reassure your child that nothing ever truly ends, just changes. To further illustrate the point, read When the Wind Stops by Charlotte Zolotow.

Books that help explain Samhain:

• Myths and Civilization of the Celts by H.M. Martell contains an excellent description of the Celtic view of the afterlife titled “Tales from the Otherworld”.

• An excellent source for teaching kids more of the history behind Samhain, as well as crafts, jokes, and other fun stuff is The Halloween Book of Facts and Fun by Wendie C. Old.  It has really great information on Samhain, put in terms that kids can understand.

• Another good source is Ancient Celtic Festivals: and How We Celebrate Them Today by Clare Walker Leslie and Frank E. Gerace. It is a nice reference book for Celtic feast days and was written for kids ages 8 to 12.

Other sources:

• The Halloween Tree is a movie based on a Ray Bradbury book. The animated story very elegantly explains some of the history and meaning behind Halloween. I recommend viewing the movie instead of reading the book; Bradbury took a lot of liberties with historical information about Samhain, and a lot of those inaccurate details didn’t make their way into the movie.

• Also see my article Kids’ Activities for Samhain/Winternights.