Happy Halloween!

 Tamala is here!

This year has been so chilly so early that it's really felt like Autumn here, and I've been impatiently waiting for Tamala to arrive!

I don't think I'll ever top last year's post on Tamala so here's a bit of it:
" “The Feast of the Dead is a feast of the unity of the Family of the Faithful, inseparable even by death. It is the feast of the darkening of the year in preparation for the coming Light of the Daughter at Nativity. It is the festival of the continual presence of Dea in every part of life – even those that seem most frightening – and in this it has always been a feast of the welcoming and dispelling of all that is fearful in the joy and laughter of the community.” (from CoMG)

Though the ECE appendix on holidays doesn't mention it, I've always seen the three-day festival of Tamala as directly corresponding to the three-day span of days of All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. All Hallows, according to church traditions, began as a vigil for All Saints' Day, while others make the connection to Celtic origins. This is a time where we believe "the gulf between the physical and other worlds" (ECE pg 268) is made easier to cross -- or, in other words, the veil is thinner -- though for Filyanis, this is not the *only* time of year this happens. (Other ghost seasons are midsummer and midwinter.) "

We're dressing up in costume and going to visit a small tourist-y town nearby as they've got a trunk-or-treat type deal down the main street that they've expanded for this year as it was such a success last Halloween! I'll also be taking the time to visit the graves of our beloved kitties who passed last year at extremely venerable ages and saying a prayer for them. They've been visiting in dreams the past few nights as we get closer to the festival. As mentioned in the post today for the start of Werdë, this month is of special significance in the Catholic calendar as prayers are said for the deceased throughout November. Say a prayer for those who have gone on today. Set out supper for any passing ancestors, and enjoy the holiday! 🎃

(I kind of got carried away with making Tamala photos this year, so there's lots! Maybe I should have saved them for the next two years, but ah well -- time will tell if it was a silly decision to post them all at once, I suppose, haha.)