Looking Back, Looking Forward

Oogie Boogie carved into a pumpkin. Pic from here.

My favorite holiday is quickly approaching. Even back when I was a devout Catholic, low these many (and by many I mean about 7) years ago, I adored Halloween. Once I began to research Paganism, mythology, and the ancient origins of commonly celebrated holidays, the end of October took on a whole new meaning for me as Samhain, the thinning of the veil. With only a handful of exceptions—to be precise, three years out of four of my college experience—I have made my Halloween costume, entirely by hand, since second grade. This year, I’ll be sporting my Xena-esque Warrior Goddess attire once again. I spent so long working on it last year (more on the construction here, here, and here) that it didn’t seem right to only wear it once. Unfortunately, however, I’ll be lacking the wolfskin cloak and bejeweled sword, as I accidentally left them in Virginia. Either way my costume will be awesome. I’m going to a party Saturday night to celebrate with some friends, which will be the debut of the costume, and some of us will be hitting a haunted house thingy too at some point. I can’t wait.

And because I love Samhain so damn much, and because this is going to be a hellaciously busy and stressful week for me leading up to that fabulous excuse to commune with the ancestors and access the energy of death and change, I’ll be posting a daily song. The first is “Jack’s Lament” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of my favorite movies of all time. Enjoy!