Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en!

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays, but I wasn't able to get this finished yesterday, so I'm posting today instead. :) 

 

Samhain (my favourite sabbat apart from Lammas) is coming up! This year it's on a Monday (31st October). I also celebrate Hallowe'en, which is thought to have originated from Samhain customs. In the past I've written several posts with ideas for celebrating and last year I did a round-up post linking to them all. During 2022 I've been writing posts sharing some links and ideas for the sabbats, rather than an in-depth post, so here is Samhain's. :)

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere Beltane is almost here! You might like my Happy Beltane! post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/04/happy-beltane.html

 

Samhain is the 3rd and final harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year, coming after Lammas in late July/early August and Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox in September. It marks the end of summer and the start of the winter season. Madron is the official start of autumn, but I think in the past summer and winter were seen as the bigger seasonal shifts. It is also thought to be one of the times of year (along with Beltane) when the veil between the worlds is thin. It is a cross-quarter sabbat and a fire festival, and takes places on 31st October, although some people may celebrate from 31st Oct to 1st November (sundown to sundown).

Summer-Autumn Update (2022)

It's already October, so it's time for my 3rd quarterly update- summer to autumn! You can see my previous updates at the links below:

Winter-Spring Update (2022): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/04/winter-spring-update-2022.html

Spring-Summer Update (2022): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/07/spring-summer-update-2022.html

 

In early July I went to a metal fusion belly dance workshop in Portslade with Lianna Greene, which was fun. It's been good to get back into dancing again this year (after the lockdowns and uncertainty due to the pandemic) although I'm not currently attending regular classes.   

I also went to Lancing Beach at sunset during July. It was more of a "gentle" sunset but still nice. Here's a photo:

 

Sunset at Lancing Beach.

Madron 2022

The week before last (Friday 23rd September) it was Madron, more commonly known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. (Some people will have celebrated on Thursday, depending on their time zone.) I wasn't able to get a post about it done last weekend, so I'm doing it today instead. :)

As I mentioned in the Celebrating Madron! post, my main celebration is baking and this year I made some pumpkin spice bars. The recipe is from Simply Taralynn: https://simplytaralynn.com/2022/09/05/delicious-pumpkin-spice-bars-with-maple-frosting/

It has a maple frosting because Taralynn (the blogger) isn't keen on cream cheese frosting. I considered making the maple icing, but in the end decided to go for cream cheese. I know it goes well with ginger things, so imagined it would be nice with pumpkin flavours. I used the (frosting) recipe from Taralynn's gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese frosting: https://simplytaralynn.com/2020/12/15/gingerbread-cookie-bars-with-cream-cheese-frosting-gluten-free-and-dairy-free/

I might make the gingerbread cookie bars in future!

I don't think pumpkin spice is easily available here, so I used mixed spice instead, which is apparently similar. You can make your own pumpkin spice though, here's a recipe from Little House Living that tells you how (see the Spice Mixes section): https://www.littlehouseliving.com/7-pantry-staples-start-making.html

Update 3/10/24: The link above now redirects to a similar post and I can't find the pumpkin spice recipe. But here's one from Don't Waste the Crumbs: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/homemade-pumpkin-pie-spice-recipe/

The recipe also requires pumpkin puree which isn't widely available in the UK either. I did buy some from Tesco before but they've stopped doing it. However, I was able to get some from Waitrose (America's Finest brand). 

The pumkin bars were nice. I wondered if the puree would make them too "gooey" but it all blended nicely. And the cream cheese frosting went well with them. Here's a picture:

 

I cut a slice out to show what the bars look like!