31 Days of Inspired Holidays: day 6: Decoration

I assume you didn't really have time yesterday to go through the decorations you found... so you'll have to do it today.

Pick a theme for your Samhain decoration. Most people don't think about this one minute. It's obvious. Halloween, black and orange, ghosts, witches, monsters, black cats, ravens, perhaps a little green and purple. Shadows and night and Gothic... but, firstly, this is not Halloween, this is Samhain. Our New Year. Secondly, black, night and horror is not automatically associated with Samhain. Maybe you prefer other colors. Maybe you would prefer a little more earthy harvest theme for your Samhain, with browns, oranges, yellows and greens, like pumpkins.

Plan your outdoors decorations. I don't like big, flashy light shows, but I like some lights outside. It is getting quite dark high up here in Sweden, so the little happy spots of light greeting bypassers in the gardens and windows is a welcome addition to the winter darkness.

This is Skogskyrkogården, The Woodland Cemetery, 

a UNESCO world heritage site

and a working cemetery in Stockholm, at All Hallows' Even. 

This is Swedish Halloween. 

A sober and serene holiday to remember the absent loved ones.

 Lights, of course, are not the only option for Samhain outdoors decoration. For example this: dancing gowns or this: ghost flowers would be interesting.
I really, really, really dislike the witches used as decoration. Like the "hanged witch" or "crashed witch". But, I doubt any witch would use decoration like that anyway. I suppose we all share the opinion.

Plan your indoors decoration as well. Start a walk-through at the door, and note where you might add a bit of holiday spirit with some holiday decoration. Don't overdo it, though. You don't need to fill every free spot with holiday decoration, and you shouldn't, either.

But some things to ponder and consider:

What do you want to show outside your home? Front door? Windows?

Are you allowed to decorate the front door? (In some residential areas the neighborhood doesn't approve certain decorations, some landlords don't allow anything outside your door, etc. Find out, also the fire hazard regulation and so on.)

Do you want a wreath or something else? What?

What is the first thing you see when you enter the home? What do you want it to be?

How do you plan to show the holiday cards, and in which room?

Mantelpiece, low bookcases, windowsills? They can be decorated very similarly. Do you plan to?

Do you plan to have specific holiday plants or flowers? Where? Which color?

Candles? See that you burn the candles safely and don't add burning flotsam close to flame. Never allow candles to burn alone in the room, unless you are 100% certain that if something happens and the candle falls over, it won't burn up the place.

In Denmark they have something called "kravlenisse" - "yule tomtes" made of paper that were attached to bookshelves, picture frames and other such places.

In Sweden there's a tradition to have "julbonad", a print with seasonal motif, usually with tomtes or a nostalgic illustration of a family celebrating ideal Christmas. This started probably sometimes in the 18th or 19th century, when country people wanted to make their sooty cottages nice for the feast, and added pretty pictures painted on paper - that was quick, easy and cheap way of decorating, and after the feast these pictures could be reused for the next holiday, or burned if they were too worn and dirty, and replaced with new pictures.

How about tabletops? How do you set the dinner table? Do you need to use one table for everything, or do you have several tables? Do you need special holiday centerpieces, napkins, flowers etc?

Do you plan on having a "candy bar" - or cake table - in the living room so that people can go and take some goodies as they watch the holiday movies, or what ever they do?

Do you plan on having a "crèche"? If so, where?

How about kitchen? Do you want to have special holiday textiles, potholders, towels etc?

Sofa and chairs, any special cushions or plaids for Samhain?

And so forth and so on.

Room by room decor planner printable

As you remember, yesterday I asked you to go through the holiday decor and see what needs to be cleaned, replaced, mended, thrown away or purchased. Add to that list when you have decided how you wish your home to be decorated.

It is good to collect ideas and inspiring pictures about holiday decor as well, and I love Pinterest as such a collection place. This is my Samhain board where I have gathered images and articles that inspire me.

#13 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I really love scavenger hunts, egg hunts and treasure hunts.

I have a memory of an Easter hunt when I was 5, but no-one else seems to remember so it might have been a dream... anyway, the memory is about searching the home for my "easter egg", which was a page of tiny paperdolls.

One thing I liked about Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was the coded treasure hunt...
"Richard G. brown, Dan's father, put together many types of treasure hunts for the kids when they were young that were challenging, yet fun. His dad would map out this treasure hunt carefully, and the kids had to unlock codes to find their Christmas gifts for example."

#12 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Pick one of the silly, odd, unusual holidays celebrated during the time of the countdown and make it a tradition.

For example, March 1st is National Pig Day.

15th of March is "Everything-You-Think-Is-Wrong Day", "Ides of March", "Incredible Kid Day" and "Dumbstruck Day", followed by "Everything You Do Is Right" and "Freedom of Information" day.

You could also look at the Catholic Saint Calendar, and remember that most of those said to have lived around 300 c.e. are actually Pagan Deities and not people.

Then there's the Pagan calendar. March 11th, for example, is Creation Day, celebrated in honor of the Creation of the world by Odin, Vili and Ve.

#11 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Record the 30 days + 12 days of Sabbath with "Ostara daily" scrapbook.

It doesn't need to be elaborate, just take a photo every day and write about something that's in your mind that specific day.

You can make this a family thing by letting every member of the family write or draw something.

You could also write a family newspaper or magazine of the Ostaratide :-)

#10 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

You could pot an orange tree or lemon tree and use that as your spring- and summertime holiday tree.

Hang up the decoration in the tree already a month before the holiday with fairylights, and have a family gathering under the tree each night before the Holiday.

You can have a sleep-over under the tree.

You can have movie nights under the tree.

You can wrap season appropriate books under the tree and open one every night and read it out loud. (If you can't find a book to fit your purposes, write and illustrate one, with the whole family.)

You can have a "camp fire" and sing-a-long under the tree.

You could also tell stories about your own childhood and the family traditions there. (And if you are unfortunate enough not to have any good memories to share, share someone else's memories and stories you have read, stories that inspired you to create new memories for your own family. Do this even when you have good memories :-D)

#9 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Play holiday themed games. 

If you can't find any, make them yourself. Most board games have a really simple construction. My favorite game was "Star of Africa" - a Finnish classic board game, where the players traveled through Africa trying to find a diamond, the Star of Africa... There are dozens of versions of Monopoly and Ludo (Parcheesi/Pachisi) is pretty straight forward game to copy, then there's the Candyland, and snakes and ladders and the ever so lovely Mystery Date :-D

So - make a game of Demeter's search for Persephone, for example. Simple Snakes and Ladders format would fit this nicely. Those helping her would be "ladders", those mocking her "snakes".

#8 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I love singing together... how the family gathers around the piano and sings familiar songs...

There are so few spring songs around, and that's a pity. You could take your favorite carols and write new lyrics to them. After all, that's what has happened during the last 1000 years in Europe, people took the familiar tunes and wrote a new, meaningful text to them and then sang them so often people got used to them, and started singing them too.

You could go caroling with your family. In Sweden there is a tradition around May Day, that the university students gather around to sing spring songs as a choir. Nothing stops you from doing that already at Ostara. It is spring and it is a lovely thing.

#7 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I read "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" as a child (I think I was 10 or so) and I was charmed by the descriptions of Catholic Easter traditions in Austria back in 30's... I created my own tradition that year.

In Finland we have a habit of taking in twigs a couple of weeks before Easter so that they would bring out green leaves for the Holiday. In Finland the only spring flowers around are pussywillows... it's usually still full winter. These twigs are then decorated with feathers and paper chains and tassels.
It is another tradition in Finland that the children are dressed as witches and they visit the neighborhood homes with these twigs, and switch the people with these twigs, and then leave the twig to the family. This is old Finno-Ugric magic - decorated twigs were lashed (or waved... magic wand, anyone? :-D) to whip off the evil spirits, and this switching is done for health and luck. (It's practically just touching the people with the twig, not whipping.) Then the children visit the households again on Easter Saturday to collect their reward, which is usually candy, and especially chocolate eggs with surprises.

So - I have Asperger's so I wasn't going to visit anyone if I could avoid it. I decorated the twigs, and then on Palm Sunday I took my decorated twigs and walked around my parents farm and blessed every field and grove by crossing the air to the four compass points and then tying the twig to a tree or pole in the middle of the area.

Now, if you don't have a farm - and don't wish to do this in your town - just take a walk around the town and especially the parks and forests and fields around it, and see how the spring has sprung.

You could take with you a small offering, as small as you wish, seed bombs or nuts and seeds for birds if nothing else.

Bring in things to create a Nature Table with

Don't forget to take photos.

#6 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Make ornaments and decorations together.

Most people love to create things with their hands, and there are tons of ideas for crafting with children, that are quite suitable even for adults who are not too used to make things with their hands.
Engage the whole family and friends.

Have one of the crowd read season appropriate books out loud for the rest of the group and arrange some nice things to be eaten, in the spirit of Swedish Glögg party or Super Bowl Night... (Yes, you could make eggnog. It's good for Ostara too. Or carrot juice ;-))

#5 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Make holiday goodies together, the whole family.

Make candy. Bake cookies and cakes and other things to be frozen. Bake casseroles and other such things to feed the crowd. Do it together with the kids, let them be part of the preparations, make them your sous-chefs. It teaches them how to cook, it gives you together-time and food need to be prepared in any case, so why not make it in good time beforehand and together - why not make it a great family tradition?

My father is great in the kitchen, so is my brother, my husband, my brothers-in-law... there is absolutely no reason why men should be excluded from this tradition. Besides, boys need to learn to feed themselves too. A man in a kitchen is not less manly... on the contrary. One of the things my husband wooed me was to make me spaghetti carbonara in the middle of the night... the way to a woman's heart goes through her stomach too :-D

Also, you can share your plenty with your friends, family, neighbors and the shareless in your community. It doesn't take much more effort to double the batches and give away half of everything.

#4 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I like making cards and I love getting cards.

It doesn't need to get expensive, as you can use the scrap post as "fancy paper" for your cards. Also, your kids' art - and your own - is absolutely adequate as card decoration. It's at least better than sending some store-bought picture-perfect and soulless cards.

Monica Dunkley's children's artwork :-) I love these :-)

Again, there are tons of ideas for card making on-line.

The postal fees might be horrifying, but you could take a day off and deliver the cards yourself with the kids, as a holiday tradition.

#3 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

bunny kisses countdown calender

One of the big things about Christmas in my childhood was the advent calendars. We used to compare the "gifts" at school, and I was very envious to those who had the tiny plastic toy calendar...
Use the dozens of Christmas countdown calendar/activity lists as inspiration and decorate it to suit the Holiday. For Ostara you would make it in pastels or yellows and greens and decorate with eggs, chicks, baby lambs and bunnies, and early spring flowers, or what ever you associate with Spring Equinox.

I think the lists of stocking stuffers are excellent to help you fill the boxes or pouches, if you go for a gift calendar, but remember that children are not greedy, and would accept something as simple as a candy or nice picture.

You can create your own collector trading cards... for example with deities. There's plenty of resources on-line to help you do this. (I really like the idea of pentagon cards... more witchy, I think :-D)

You could even create your own trading card game, so the kids can play it during the holiday to stay out of harm's way...

The point with this is to help the children to endure the long wait for the holiday and make it more exciting and special. Human beings are made that way - if we make a "big deal" of the waiting time, the event that is being waited for gets bigger too... but use the opportunity to share your beliefs with your family, make the countdown about why you celebrate Spring Equinox. So - why do you celebrate it? What is the meaning of this holiday for you? What is the message of Eostre to you and your family?

#2 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I love Edain McCoy's Sabbaths, especially because of the correspondences lists in the back of the book... but - the correspondences are pretty weird, when looking at them more closely. "Mythical creatures of Ostara: unicorns, merpeople, dragons, pegasos..." What? Why?

To me unicorns are connected to Beltane, together with the White Deer and goats, especially considering the sexual connotations. (Only a virgin can capture the unicorn, which lays his horn on her lap...)

Merpeople... I don't think about sea when I think of Ostara. To me merpeople are connected to Midsummer and beach. Well... perhaps Beltane...

Dragons, just like other firey mythical beasts, are connected to Imbolc.

Pegasos... Epona, the horse goddess, had two main celebrations; June 13th (old Midsummer) and December 18th (close enough to Midwinter), and I have to say both days suit better to associate with all equines than Ostara. Midsummer for "wild" horses, Midwinter for riders and hunters.

So - what is left? Easter bunny?
No, serpents. Not dragons but worms... also knows as wyrms and wurms - the wingless, not fire breathing giant serpents.

What has this to do with anything?

Elf on the Shelf... It's not an old tradition, but I like it. Copy the construction and sew yourself a bendable doll with a little velcro on hands/paws, and start hiding the little doll around the household, like it was Elf on the Shelf. For Ostara you can make a bird or a bunny that reports to Easter Bunny, and have a surprise egg for the child who finds the little mischievous rascal.

Use the endless list of Elf-on-the-Shelf ideas on-line or harmless, kind and nice pranks and practical jokes, like putting some nailpolish on soap, as inspiration of what your shelf-sitter doll could do.

Now... perhaps it's a bit much to have 8 pranksters visiting your home every year, but... I kind of like it :-D

#1 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I always loved the family acting sessions from Little Women... That is something the whole family can do together and the props are easily made of old bedsheets and paper. Preparing the play includes a lot of practical education options. It is also a great way of introducing your faith's stories to your children.

You can also create a display, scene or diorama to illustrate the story. I love the Neapolitan presepios with dozens, sometimes hundreds of elaborate dolls... As you collect these dolls year by year, it becomes a wonderful holiday tradition.

The best known stories for Spring Equinox are the meeting of Persephone and Demeter and Cybele and Attis. There is also one about Freya and Idun from the Norse tradition. Nothing much is known of Eostre, the Goddess that gave name to Ostara. The arena is thus pretty much free for you to create your own legend which to illustrate. You can also create a diorama in which all of these stories and others you like are being illustrated.

13 ways of creating fun and frugal family traditions for Spring Equinox.

(If you wish to pin this to Pinterest, my pin is here...)

Holiday traditions are wonderful. In my family there were some traditions for Christmas, a couple more for Easter and Mayday, something for Midsummer and nothing much for the rest of the year. We didn't celebrate All Hallows' Eve, Pentecost or any other of the Christian holidays.
When I grew up I found myself fascinated by the equinoxes and solstices. There's something matemathical about these things... it makes the Creation to a giant clock, and I have always marked these days in some manner. Then when I realized I am a Pagan, I found the days in between these quarter days... All Hallows', Candelmass, Mayday and Loafmass... To my big surprise the Autumn feasts are not being celebrated... There is no harvest feast in Finland. There used to be Michaelmass, but that's for Autumn Equinox, but nothing for Loafmass...

About a decade ago I noticed that while Christmas is made into a BIGGIE on the internet, the rest of the Pagan sabbaths are virtually ignored. Sure, Beltane and Samhain are big, but... it's like participating in an event within the Pagan community is enough. There are no Lughnasadh-mad people out there trying to promote the ideals of for example Lughnasadh to the whole world.

So - my dream is to reach a world where every Pagan holiday is celebrated a month before the day and during 12 days. Just like Christmas.

Now, I have been a "bad" girl, and let things go without doing much about it. I have been collecting information and writing my books on Pagan sabbaths for the last 15 years, and it doesn't show in my home. If I cannot change myself, how could I even think of changing someone else, and not to talk about the whole Pagan community! No, I have to be the change I want to see, Gandhi was correct in that. I have to step up to my expectations and create a "holiday all year long" home.

Most of the holiday traditions are new, not even 100 years old. People create their own traditions by combining how things were done when they were children, how they wished things were when they were children and what is practical and suitable in their lives at the moment.
You don't need to have a family history of generations behind the tradition and you don't need to stay by the traditions of your own religion. After all, Christians never did, and see how well it went for them...

So - 13 ways of creating fun and frugal family traditions for Spring Equinox.

I will be posting more about each of these later, but here's the "master list" ;-)

#1

Re-enacting the Spring Equinox stories by acting or creating a diorama

#2

"Elf on the Shelf"

#3

Countdown calendars.

#4

Make greeting cards together

#5

Prepare the holiday goodies with the family.

#6

Make ornaments and decorations together.

#7

Take a walk in the nature

#8

Sing together 

#9

Play holiday themed games.

#10

Make the Easter tree the centerpiece of your home during the season.

#11

"Ostara daily" scrapbook

#12

Pick one of the silly, odd, unusual holidays celebrated during the time of the countdown and make it a tradition.

#13

Scavenger hunts, egg hunts and treasure hunts.