October 31 & November 1, 2015
A Weekend Celebration
Mavens’ Haven in Lucile, Idaho
Presented by
Darcy Williamson, From the Forest
& Renée Silvus, Luminaire
We acknowledge our deep need for meaning in annual rites such as these. Ancient. Hallowed. We invite our community to assemble and re-create meaning in these two days full of custom, ritual and play.
You are welcome to stay Friday through Sunday nights. Event fee of $30 one day or $50 two days includes mulled berry beer, Mavens’ Haven Chai and other teas, appetizers, meals, vegetables for carving, ingredients for Soul Cakes, sauna, blessings, and other traditions.
Please bring family stories and an ancestor’s favorite dish for Sunday’s Feast. We welcome vegetable contributions for carving. You may wish to bring a favorite family cake recipe.
Consider for your costume, inhabiting an inspiring legend, spirit, animal, or person with qualities you wish to emulate.
Evolving Itinerary, meaning we are sure to tweak it.
Saturday, All Hallows’ Eve
Hallowed or Holy Evening
3:00 Dress Party, Main House. Sauna prepared upon request.
4:00 Vegetable Carving and Fortune Games, ongoing through evening. Traditional Games~ Bob, spin, or bite apples; eat Barmbrack Cake with hidden ‘charms’; count apple seeds; crack walnuts….
6:00 Blessings and Soul Lights
6:30 Sunset
7:00 Harvest dinner
Dame Halloween cuts the Barmbrack Cake
Bonfire and Prizes
9:00 Sauna
COSTUME PRIZES~
One Hour Massage
Framed Original Mushroom Paintings by Darcy
One Complimentary Retreat
One Night’s Stay in a Sheep Wagon
Sunday, All Hallows’ or Saints’ Day
Daylight Savings~ Fall Back
8:00 Sauna ready. Breakfast on buffet.
11:00 Make Soul Cakes
1:00 Ancestral Feast honoring an ancestor with a favorite dish
Soul Cake Exchange
3:00 Old Crow Ceremony and Blessings on the Bridge
Sauna hot all day.
More Information and Registration with
Renée at 634-3342 and [email protected]
Haven Lodgings~ $35 a night twin shared, $75 queen private, $50 queen multiple nights.
Samhain (SAH win)~ Celtic holiday on October 31 to mark the end of summer and the harvest. The dead were thought to revisit their homes this night, and spirits in general more active and present.
Allhallowtide~ liturgical period of these 3 days honoring the dead from All Hallows’ Eve to All Souls’ Day November 2.
Customs and possible origins
Costumes~ hide from the dead, scare the dead away, honor and invoke qualities of an animal or spirit. Guising~ dressing in costume and begging for coins or food.
Trick or Treat~ to obtain food for the feast or bonfire, trick the dead away from the festivities, provide treats for spirits or risk being tricked. Souling~ exchanging ‘soul cakes’ made for the dead for prayers.
Carving vegetables~ originally turnips, Irish immigrants in America found pumpkins a lot more fun.
Jack-0’-lantern~ based on Irish tale of a drunk named Jack who tricked the devil, couldn’t get into Heaven or hell, left eating a turnip, was punished with a live coal from the devil which he kept in his turnip, so wandered the earth with his ‘lantern’ looking for a place to rest.
Bonfire~ protection, cleansing, and divination.
Fruit and Nuts, Cider, and Bobbing for Apples~ from the Roman harvest festival honoring Pomona.
Ghost Stories, Candlelit processions and Graveyard meals~ honoring the dead.
Soul Lights~ lighting candles to help the dead find home.
Danse Macabre~ the dead return to dance to remind the living to play.
Home and Barn Blessings~ protection.
Divination Games~ invoking the aid of spirits present.
Food~ primarily vegetarian and fall harvests. Apples, barmbrack~ Irish fruitcake, pumpkins, corn, and soul cakes.