Saints, Souls, and Apples

Okay, so I just got home from a 14 hour work-day (4 hours of which is travel time from my town to the big city). Exhausting, as usual, but I don't dread it a bit. It's a good paying job, it helps people, and I'm surrounded by a bunch of amazing individuals.

As promised, here's what went on during our super extended "All Hallows", when the Veil is thinnest, when the spirits of our departed -- according to our belief -- are granted free passes into our world as our honoured guests.

Why, I decided to make it a long holiday to bridge the two calendars (civic and lunar) was because I didn't feel comfortable choosing which to follow with regard to such a large and important event. If I had chosen the lunar date, I would've missed out on a large communal event. If I had chosen the civic date, then what am I celebrating the cycles of the moon for? So, I chose both. ANYWAY.

First Night of Remembering: 31 October / 16 Pyanepsion, night after the full moon

• Sunset, baked lots of apple pie (apples being the fruit traditionally associated with the Otherworld) and some dark bread, watched Hocus Pocus (a Halloween tradition for me and my late Dad for the past 19 years)
• Evening, covered the upper and middle portion of the Household Shrine dedicated to the Olympioi and Lares to make way for a 3-day ancestral memorial, offered apples and dark bread to the Ancestors at the House Shrine
• Laid out a candle by the door to burn through the night as a guide to visiting ancestors and for other departed loved ones to find their way to their families
• Last day of work before a long 4-day weekend (WOOHOO!) as All Saints and All Souls are national holidays here
• Shared some of my Apfelkuchen with office folks

Second Night of Remembering: 1 November / 17 Pyanepsion

• Daytime, visited the Houses of the Dead with my family (as did the rest of the country), party time for our Beloved Dead
• Evening, offered grain and honey to the Ancestors at the House Shrine
• More apple pie and candles by the doorstep

Third Night of Remembering: 2 November / 18 Pyanepsion

• Morning, visited the Houses of the Dead, poured milk and beer for the Ancestors by their tombs, and offered honey to the Pathfinders (Hermês and Hekatê as guides of the Dead) along the way to and from the cemetery
• Sunset, started a sacrificial fire and offered beer, grain, and milk by the fields for our ancestors tracing "back to the beginning", made the little paperboats with their names prior to the rite
• You guessed right, more apple pie for friends and family and candles by the doorstep for ghostly guests
• Midnight, old offerings to the Ancestors and Household Gods were buried outside

3 November / 19 Pyanepsion

• Morning, cleaned the house, opened the House Shrine, and new offerings of grain to the Ancestors and the Household Gods
• Between this time and the last night of the lunar month was decided to be the liminal period where daily offerings and prayers to the Household Gods may resume before the annual ancestral memorial officially comes to an end (at the end of the lunar month)

4 November / 20 Pyanepsion, 10 days before the new moon

• Celebrated the first harvest of rice (the country's staple grain), honours to Dêmêtêr, Korê, and Dionysos as Gods of the land's fertility
• Roughly the same time as the third and last harvest for our kinsmen in the Northern Atlantic, right before Jack Frost returns

7 November / 23 Pyanepsion, astrological date of the November Feast

• My first High Day as a dedicant and the birth of this blog
• Cooler days and nights begin as Amihan (the northeast wind) takes her place as Queen over the exiting King Habagat (the southwest wind)

The Last Night, when the old meets the new: 14 November / 29 Pyanepsion, last day of the lunar month

• Covered the upper and middle portions of the House Shrine again, leaving the lower part open for the Ancestors and the Khthonioi
• Honours to Hekatê and Hermês as guides of souls and as gods of the in-between, the traditional deipnon (dinner) for Hekatê laid out by the Household Shrine

Hekatê and Hermanubis

I forgot to add the garlic and roots

Last day before the rise of the New Moon, the Veil closes

• Annual honours to Plouto and Persephonê as King and Queen of the lands below and of Haidês, Land of the Dead, wishing the Ancestors and our Beloved Dead a blessed and prosperous afterlife
• Honours to Hermês for a swift and safe passage for our Dearly Departed as they return (free passes expire today as the annual ancestral partay ends) 
• Offerings of boiled rice and beans for the Ancestors as a parting gift (photo to follow as this will happen later)

And, because I'm totally OC, here's what didn't happen but could've:

• Offering of an apple for the Dead and sharing of a pomegranate for the Living on the last night (idea from Ceisiwr's Samhain ritual) - I forgot to buy a pomegranate! Do you think an orange would've went just as well?
• A soft prayer to ackowledge Death, our Coverer, and an apotropaic offering to send him away for another year

So, there. As I'm bad with endings, I'll leave you all for now. Wish me sweet dreams!