Ceramic pumpkin lantern/tealight holder, painted

Thanksgiving - Autumn Equinox Festival.

Among the Germanic peoples, the Thanksgiving festival lasted three days, from September 21st to 23rd. They held a great feast and drank mead. The gods were thanked for the harvest. They left a sheaf of corn in the field so that Odin's horse Sleipnir also had something to eat. A wreath was braided from the last cut of corn. As an offering, the last apple was also often left hanging on the tree.

Sometimes, a harvest fire was lit for this purpose, and it was also customary to throw a small fruit offering, grains of corn, and other gifts into the fire.

 

Samhain (so-called Halloween) is one of the four great Irish-Celtic festivals and takes place on the night of October 31st to November 1st. It is a festival of the dead, where ancestors are remembered. During this time, it was believed, the souls of the dead also returned to their homes. The festival also celebrated the end of summer, the bringing of cattle into the stables.

 

Customs and traditions sometimes differ or overlap in various cultures. Samhain and also the autumn sacrifice festival are of pagan origin, sometimes persecuted by the Christian church, reinterpreted, or used/abused for their purposes.

 

It is up to us to revive the old customs in their original tradition....