Samhain Biscuits

A la Waldorf I really wanted to start incorporating special foods into our seasonal festivals, and so for Samhain I came up with these biscuits.

As usual my boys enjoyed the mixing and the rolling... and the eating! But we've kept back a good amount of the biscuits to leave out tonight as an offering to our ancestors.

Today we'll look at lots of old family photos of people we never knew and wonder what these people might have been like.

The two colours of these biscuits is supposed to represent the two worlds side by side tonight, but I doubt that we will talk about that this year. For now I just want to create a nice, simple tradition for Samhain, the stuff that the boys will remember once they have grown. And who knows, maybe it's something they'll continue if they ever have kiddies of their own?

Do you have any family traditions you have created for this time of year?

Get Sowing!

Ostara is possibly one of the easiest festivals to include children in. The land is waking up and the time of new life and rejuvenation is upon us. Nothing illustrates this better than getting some seeds in the ground and letting the children feel the texture and scent of the earth.

Some seeds that you can plant now, which are absolutely perfect for planting with children, are peas. Peas are great - not only are they big enough for young children to easily handle, they germinate well and they will reconnect little guys with where their food comes from. There's no vegetable (in my opinion!) more delicious than fresh peas straight from the plant. Peas are also a fantastic choice if you have little or no space. In small spaces you can plant a small wigwam of peas - pretty as well as yummy, or if you have nothing more than a square foot you can grow them in pots, packed tight together and eat the young shoots in salads (also very yummy!). They can even be grown on the windowsill in this way.

Other seeds that can tolerate the low temperatures and are great for kids are broad beans. Not only are these edibles big ole seeds that are easy to handle, picked small they taste very nice and not at all like those tough old things you buy in the shops. They are also beautiful plants, especially the crimson flowered variety.

If flowers are more your thing how about giving the kids some love-in-a-mist (nigella) seeds to sow? These are much smaller but can be broadcast over some bare earth. They're easy to grow and have interesting feathery foliage that kids will love (fab for tickling!).

Are you sowing any seeds with the kids this year?

"A Book on Every Bed"

I thought this was a great idea. Even better if it lets me sleep in on Christmas morning. :)

Take a book. Wrap it. Place it on your child's bed so it's the first thing s/he sees on Christmas/Solstice/Holiday morning. "A Book on Every Bed" is an attempt to spread the love of reading from parents to children, to raise and foster a generation of readers.

This idea was inspired by one of America's favorite writers, David McCullough, who he woke up every Christmas morning as a child to a wrapped book at the foot of his bed, left by Santa. This tradition carried on with his children and grandchildren.

I found out about this idea through a column in the Denver Post.

UZU--Melia

How I celebrate the winter holidays

This time of the year, I celebrate the modern Hellenic (Greek) Pagan celebration of Heliogenna. It is a 9 day festival celebrating the gods, family and the return of light. It is arranged so that Winter Solstice is always on the fifth day of the festival.

• On day one of the Heliogenna, I honor the First Ones (the Protogonoi such as Gaia and Nyx) and the fey.
• On day two, I honor the Olympians (Zeus, Hera and company) and the Celestial gods (such as Selene and Eos).
• On day three, I honor the Khthonic gods (such as Persephone and Hekate) and the beloved dead (ancestors).
• Day four is the day I celebrate Demeter visiting Persephone and Hades to ensure her daughter is treated well and in doing so reconciling with her brother. When Demeter leaves, she brings Helios with her who has been tarrying longer and longer in the lower realms because of Demeter’s decree that nothing shall grow.
• Day five is Solstice, a celebration of Helios’ return and his promise to strengthen day by day. This is the day that my immediate family opens our gifts to one another.
• Day six of the Heliogenna is in honor of Demeter and all mothers, whether mortal, divine, blood-kin or heart-kin.
• The last three days are the day of thanksgiving and days to honor friends and family. The days to honor friends and family always fall on the 24th and 25th of December. This leaves the day of Thanksgiving as a floating day, depending on when the Solstice falls, it will either by the 7th day or the 9th day. This is the day to count your blessings and to give thanks wherever thanks is due. This year it falls on the 23^rd of December.

We always spend the 24^th aka Christmas Eve with my family. The 25^th aka Christmas Day, we celebrate with my Husband’s family and open gifts and empty stockings from Santa. In my opinion Santa is real in that he is the spirit of giving unconditionally, without expectations of return. As such he should be welcomed and celebrated with much enthusiasm!

This method of celebrating allows me to acknowledge my own spiritual beliefs yet celebrate with my Christian family too. I hope this year my 3 yr old son will show more interest in joining me in celebrating these special days. If not, there is always next year.

May you have a blessed Heliogenna and a wonderful new year!

Santa's Story

Here is a little story for children and adults alike that a blog friend sent to me in response to a post I wrote many moons ago (a post that inspired the creation of this blog!). I warn you that it is a bit long but well worth reading if you haven't seen it before already. It certainly got me to thinking when I read it!

Santa's Wisdom to Pagans
Author unknown

We had a nice, serene kind of Solstice Circle. No jingling bells or faked-out Christmas Carols. Soon after the last coven member left, Jack was ready to pack it in."The baby's nestled all snug in her bed," he said with a yawn, "I think I'll go settle in for a long winter's nap."I heaved a martyred sigh. He grinned unrepentantly, kissed me, called me a grinch, and went to bed.

I stayed up and puttered around the house, trying to unwind. I sifted through the day's mail, ditched the fliers urging us to purchase all the Seasonal Joy we could afford or charge. I opened the card from his parents. Another sermonette: a manger scene and a bible verse, with a handwritten note expressing his mother's fervent hope that God's love and Christmas spirit would fill our hearts in this blessed season. She means well, really. I amused myself by picking out every Pagan element I could find in the card.

When the mail had been sorted, I got up and started turning our ritual room back into a living room. As if the greeting card had carried a virus, I found myself humming Christmas carols. I turned on the classic rock station, but they were playing that Lennon-Ono Christmas song. I switched stations. The weatherman assured me that there was only a twenty percent chance of snow. Then, by Loki, the deejay let Bruce Springsteen insult my ears crooning,

"yah better watch out, yah better not pout."

I tried the Oldies station. Elvis lives, and he do Christmas songs. Okay, fine. We'll do classical ~ no, we won't. They're playing Handel's Messiah. Maybe the community radio station would have something secular humanist.

"Ahora, escucharemos a Jose Feliciano canta `Feliz Navidad'."

I was getting annoyed. The radio doesn't usually get this saturated with holiday mush until the twenty-fourth.

"This is too weird." I said to the radio, "Cut that crap out." The country station had some Kenny Rogers Christmas tune, the first rock station had gone from John and Yoko's Christmas song to Simon and Garfunkel's "Silent Night," and the other rock station still had Springsteen reliving his childhood.

"--I'm tellin' you why. Santa Claus is comin' to town!"

I was about to pick out a nice secular CD when there was a knock at the door. Now, it could have been a coven member who'd forgotten something. It could have been someone with car trouble. It could have been any number of things, but it certainly couldn't have been a stout guy in a red suit--snowy beard, rosy cheeks, and all--backed by eight reindeer and a sleigh. I blinked, wondered crazily where Rudolph was, and blinked again. There were nine reindeer. Our twenty-percent chance of snow had frosted the dead grass and was continuing to float down in fat flakes.

"Hi, Frannie." he said warmly, "I've missed you."

"I'm stone cold sober, and you don't exist."

He looked at me with a mixture of sorrow and compassion and sighed heavily.

"That's why I miss you, Frannie. Can I come in? We need to talk." I couldn't quite bring myself to slam the door on this vision, hallucination, or whatever. So I let him in, because that made more sense than letting all the cold air in while I argued with someone who wasn't there.

As he stepped in, a thought crossed my mind about various entities needing an invitation to get in houses. He flashed me a smile that would melt the polar caps.

"Don't you miss Christmas, Frannie?"
"No." I said flatly, "Apparently you don't see me when I'm sleeping and waking these days. I haven't been Christian for years."
"Oh, now don't let that stop you. We both know this holiday's older than that. Yule trees and Saturnalia and here-comes-the- sun, doodoodendoodoo. "

I raised an eyebrow at the Beatles reference, and then gave him my standard sermonette on the appropriation and adulteration that made Christmas no longer a Pagan holiday. I had done my homework. I listed centuries; I named names--St.Nicholas among them.

"In the twentieth century version," I assured him, "Christmas is two parts crass commercialism mixed with one part blind faith in a religion I rejected years ago." I gave him my best lines, the ones that had convinced my coven to abstain from Christmassy clichés. My hallucination sat in Jack's favorite chair, nodding patiently at me.

"And you," I added nastily, “come here talking about ancient customs when you--in your current form--were invented in the nineteenth century by, um...Clement C. Moore.

"He laughed a rolling, belly-deep chuckle unlike any department- store Santa I'd ever heard.

"Of course I change my form now and then to suit fashion. Don't you? And does that stop you from being yourself?" He said, and asked me if I remembered Real Magic, by Isaac Bonewits. I gaped at him for a moment, and then caught myself.

"This is like `Labyrinth', right? I'm having a dream that pretends to be real, but is only made from pieces of things in my memory. You don't look a thing like David Bowie."

"Bonewits has this Switchboard Theory." Santa went on amiably, "The energy you put into your beliefs influences the real existence of the archetypal-- oh, let me put it simpler: "in the beginning, Man created God'. Ian Anderson."

He lit a long-stemmed pipe. The tobacco had a mild and somehow Christmassy smell, and every puff sent up a wreath of smoke. "I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than Bonewits tells it, but that's close enough for mortals. Are you with me so far?"

"Oh, sure," I lied as unconvincingly as possible.
Santa sighed heavily."When's the last time you left out hot tea and cookies for me?"
"When I figured out my parents were eating them."
"Frannie, Frannie. Remember pinda balls, from Hinduism?"
"Rice balls left as offerings for ancestors and gods."
"Do Hindus really believe that the ancestors and gods eat pinda balls?"
"All right, y'got me there. They say that spirits consume the spiritual essence, and then mortals can have what's left."
"Mm-hm." Santa smiled at me compassionately through his snowy beard.

I rallied quickly. "What about the toys? I know for a fact they aren't made by you and a bunch of non-union Elves."

"Oh, that's quite true. Manufacturing physical objects out of magical energy is terribly expensive and breaks several laws of Nature--She only allows us to do that on special occasions. It certainly couldn't be done globally and annually. Now, the missus and the Elves and I really do have a shop at the North Pole. Not the sort of thing the Air Force would ever find. What we make up there is what makes this time a holiday, no matter what religion it's called."

"Don't tell me," I said, rolling my eyes, "you make the sun come back."

"Oh my, no. The solar cycle stuff, the Reason For The Season, isn't my department. My part is making it a holiday. We make a mild, non-addictive psychedelic thing called Christmas spirit. Try some."

He dipped his fingers in a pocket and tossed red-gold-green- silver glitter at me. I could have ducked. I don't know why I didn't.

It smelled like snow and pine needles, and cedar chips in the fireplace.
It smelled like fruitcake, cornbread savory herbal stuffing, like that foamy white stuff you spray on the window with stencils.
It felt like a crisp wind, Grandma's hugs, fuzzy new mittens, pine needles scrunching under my slippers.
I saw twinkle lights, mistletoe in the doorway, and smiling faces from years gone by.
Several Christmas carols played almost simultaneously in a kind of medley.

I fought my way back to my living room and glared sternly at the hallucination in Jack's chair. "Fun stuff. Does the DEA know about this?"

"Oh, Frannie. Why are you such a hard case? I told you that it's non-addictive and has no harmful side effects. Would Santa Claus lie to you?"
I opened my mouth and closed it again. We looked at each other a while.
"Can I have some more of that glittery stuff?"
"Mmmm. I think you need something stronger. Try a sugarplum."

I tasted rum ball.
Peppermint.
Those hard candies with the picture all the way through.
Mama's favorite fudge. A chorus line of Christmas candies danced through my mouth.
The Swedish Angel Chimes, run on candle power, say tingatingatingating .
Mama, with a funny smile, promised to give Santa my letter.
Greeting cards taped on the refrigerator door.
We rode through the tree farm on a straw-filled trailer pulled by a red and green tractor, looking for a perfect pine. It was so big, Daddy had to cut a bit off so the star wouldn't scrape the ceiling.
Lights, ornaments, tinsel.
Daddy lifted me up to the mantle to hang my stocking.
My dolls stayed up to see Santa Claus, and in the morning they all had new clothes.
Grandma carried in platters with the world's biggest Christmas dinner.
Joey's Christmas puppy chased my Christmas kitten up the tree and it would have fallen over but Daddy held it while Mama got the kitten out. Daddy said every bad word there was but he kept laughing anyway.
I sneaked my favorite plastic horse into the nativity scene, between the camels and the donkey.

I came back to reality slowly, with a silly smile on my face and a tickly feeling behind my eyes like they wanted to cry. The phrase "visions of sugarplums" took on a whole new meaning."

How long has it been," Santa asked, "since you played with a nativity set?-"
"But it symbolizes-- "
"The winter-born king. The sacred Mother and her sun-child. Got a problem with that? You could redecorate it with pentagrams if you like, they'll look fine. As for the Christianization, I've heard who you invoke at Imbolc."
"But Bridgid was a Goddess for centuries before the Catholic Church-oh." I crossed my arms and tried to glare at him, but failed.
"You're a sneaky old Elf, y'know?"
"The term is `jolly old Elf.' Care for another sugarplum?"
I did.

I tasted gingerbread.
My first nip of soy eggnog the way the grown-ups drink it.
Fresh sugar cookies shaped like trees and decked with colored frosting.
Dad had been laid off, but we managed a lot of cheer. They told us Christmas would be "slim pickings." Joey and I smiled bravely when Mama brought home that spindly spruce. We loaded down our "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" with every light and ornament it could hold. Popcorn and cranberry strings for the outdoor trees. Mistletoe in the hall: plastic mistletoe, real kisses. Joey and I snipped and glued and stitched and painted treasures to give as presents. We agonized over our "Santa" letters...by now we knew where the goodies came from, and we tried to compromise between what we longed for and they thought they could afford. Every day we hoped the factory would reopen. When Joey's dog ate my mitten, I wasn't brave. I knew that meant I'd get mittens for Christmas, and one less toy. I cried. On December twenty-fifth we opened our presents ve-ery slo-wly, drawing out the experience. We made a show of cheer over our socks and shirts and meager haul of toys. I got red mittens. We could tell Mama and Daddy were proud of us for being so brave, because they were grinning like crazy.
"Go out to the garage for apples." Mama told us, "We'll have apple pancakes."

I don't remember having the pancakes. There was a dollhouse in the garage. No mass-produced aluminum thing but a homemade plywood dollhouse with wall-papered walls and real curtains and thread-spool chairs. My dolls were inside, with newly sewn clothes. Joey was on his knees in front of a plywood barn with hay in the loft. His old farm implements had new paint. Our plastic animals were corralled in Popsicle stick fences. The garage smelled like apples and hay, the cement was bone-chilling under my slippers, and I was crying.

My knees were drawn up to my chest, arms wrapped around them. My chest felt tight, like ice cracking in sunshine. Santa offered me a huge white handkerchief. When all the ice in my chest had melted, he cleared his throat. He was pretty misty-eyed, too.

"Want to come sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas?"
"You've already given it to me." But I sat on his lap anyway, and kissed his rosy cheek until he did his famous laugh.
"I'd better go now, Frannie. I have other stops to make, and you have work to do."
"Right. I'd better pop the corn tonight; it strings best when it's stale.
"I let him out the door. The reindeer were pawing impatiently at the moon-kissed new-fallen snow. I'd swear Rudolph winked at me.
"Don't forget the hot tea and cookies."
"Right. Uh, December twenty-fourth, or Solstice, or what?"

He shrugged. "Whatever night you expect me, I'll be there. Eh, don't wait up. Visits like this are tightly rationed. Laws of Nature, y'know, and She's strict with them."

"Gotcha. Thanks, Santa." I kissed his cheek again. "Happy Holidays." The phrase had a nice, non-denominational ring to it. I thought I'd call my parents and in-laws soon and try it out on them. Santa laid his finger aside of his nose and nodded.

"Blessed be, Frannie."The sleigh soared up, and Santa really did exclaim something. It sounded like old German. Smart-aleck Elf. When I closed the door, the radio was playing Jethro Tull's "Solstice Bells."

Christmas or Yule?

Yule approaches.

I know that this is often a time of some contention for some of Pagan types! Some of us feel very strongly about NOT celebrating Christmas, and some of us embrace it. Who is to say who has the right of it? I personally feel the two are so similar in message and actual celebration that I tend to celebrate my Yule at Christmas time with the rest of my community. It also makes it easier for my children!
For me part of the pagan message I want to pass onto my children (and this is simply true to my path, but maybe not yours?) is that of the importance of community. The pagan culture is a vibrant and diverse one, but regardless of if my children ever decide to chose it for their own, they are still a part of the wider culture of our community. To me this is as important from my pagan perspective as the pagan culture that I chose to identify with. I am heavily influenced by the desire to make the world a better place while we live upon it and this is only ever achievable within the community. It's when we work together that we make the biggest difference and change works so much better from within, be it change of people's opinions towards the pagan community or helping people show more respect towards their physical environment. Despite being a part of the Pagan community we are all a part of the culture of the place in which we were raised or now live in, and that is equally as important to me.
This Yule thing seems to one of those hot topics that can so easily divide Pagans. In the past I've seen quite heated online debates about celebrating Christmas as Pagans! But does the view point need to change when you go from being a Pagan to being a Pagan-parent?
For me one of the beautiful things about the various flavours of Paganism is their tolerance and the way they so easily embrace a whole tapestry of other cultures and beliefs into the fold. Now, I know this is a broad and sweeping statement, and not altogether a correct one because certainly there are many Pagans who are not tolerant and open to other beliefs. No group of people is perfect! But in general terms the message of Paganism is a tolerant one.
When we have children I think it becomes more important to open ourselves up to those holidays we don't consider Pagan for our children's sake even if before we might have been against celebrating them. Ultimately religious choice is theirs, but to make an informed choice they have to be aware of other religions
What do you think about celebrating Christmas as Pagans? How important do you feel it is to celebrate as part of your community?

Tree Advent Calender Tutorial

Hi everyone.

I'm a new contributor to Pagan Parenting Resource Blog and I'm very excited to share a project with you that I've been meaning to get to for a couple of years now.  Advent calenders are lots of fun for kids since they add to the anticipation of the holidays and give the rather abstract idea of time a more concrete reminder.
My son is almost 3 and so the holidays are just becoming something that he remembers and looks forward to.

I would recommend this project for children 3 and up.  My son helped as much as he was interested which lasted until the painting was done.  The great thing about this project is that most of us with kids will already have this stuff lying around so you don't need to buy much at all.  For clarity I have compiled a supplies list but do substitute whatever you have that will work.  This took me one full day to complete.  If you have older children that can help out more it could be a half day or less depending on how elaborate you get. 

While traditional advent calenders count down the days to Christmas ours counts down to xmas eve or Santa's arrival.  Another option is to count down to the Winter Solstice which brings the sun's rebirth.  If that is more to your liking you may want to change the design to a spiral sun instead of an evergreen tree.  The sky is the limit on how you can interpret this for your family.  Have fun!

Supplies list:

• 1 package of pipe cleaners (various colours)
• 1 large and sturdy piece of cardboard or cardstock for mounting
• 2 cut up egg cartons
• green paint
• red paint
• brown paint
• white paint
• 1 package of treats for each day (I used chocolate covered almonds)
• scraps of fabric and ribbon or yarn to wrap almonds
• scissors
• hole punch
• glue
• green construction paper
• paint brushes
• buttons, cording, old holiday cards for making tree ornaments

 

To begin layout your tree to the desired size

Next cut out a strip of construction paper and punch a hole in the top

punch a hole in each of your egg carton pieces

loop a piece of pipe cleaner through the two holes and tie

be sure to leave enough extra pipe cleaner to attach your ornaments to the tree later on

Glue the strip of paper to the cardboard.  Egg piece should be able to flip up like so

Continue for each following row

Once they are all glued down proceed with painting the tree shape and each carton green

Next create your tree ornaments out of pipe cleaners, buttons, beads or ribbon.  Remember they have to be small enough to fit into the egg cartons

Next wrap your candies, chocolates or treats

Finally put each treat and ornament in its place and display.

For older children you can put in suggestions of activities that you'll do together or poems and sayings of the season.  Each year can be different for variety or you can keep the tradition as it is for sentimentality. 

I'll be back each month with a new craft project to share with your kids.  It's great to meet you all and I wish your families the happiest of holidays this year.

The Tree of Thanks

This is something I found in a book on family crafts at my local library - unfortunately I can't remember then name of the book any more. It is particularly seasonal for Mabon as not only is Mabon about thanksgiving for the harvest, it was also sometimes a time to honour tree spirits.

Find, (or ask a tree nicely for) a branch that you can bring inside the house. A good place to site it is in the entrance hall if you have one, or in the family living room - somewhere that eveybody passes by. Beside the branch place a bowl and make (get the kiddies to help too!) yourself a pile of autumn coloured leaves to put inside the bowl.
As each family member and any friends and extended family that come to visit pass by they can take a leaf, write on it the things that they are thankful for and place it on the branch that you have brought inside. You could use sticky tack for this, or if you have time you could hole-punch each of the leaves and thread it through with ribbon or string so that people can hang their leaves on the tree.
The more the merrier! If your family is of mixed religions this is a nice little family ritual that can appeal to everyone.

More Apples

To me this time of year is all about apples! These activities work equally as well for both Mabon and Samhain, and yes you guessed it - they're all based around the apple theme.

How about styling a still life scene for your children using apples? Give them a range of materials to experiment with (e.g chalks, oil pastels etc) and print off some famous still life pictures from the internet. For small children simply label the prints with their name, date and the artists name. For older children you might provide more indepth information on artists or encourage them to research their favourite on their own.

Maybe you could juice some apples? On the BBC show 'The Edible Garden' Alys Fowler and her friends make their own apple press using a drill mechanism. You could try this for a really hands on project with older kids! I will try to track down a video clip to post!

How about some divination? Ever heard of the apple peel divination? If you manage to peel the apple whole you can then throw the peel over your shoulder. The fallen peel will then give you the initial of your true love. Little girls of a particular age will enjoy this!

You could have a Pomona banquet ~ place a bowl of apples on the table and enjoy them together after a meal in honour of Pomona. A lovely informal way to introduce children to the Roman Goddess Pomona.

There are a wealth of stories involving apples that are also wonderful to tell with children. A lovely book I have found is 'The Apple Pie Tree' by Zoe Hall ~ a story that tells the life cycle of the apple for ages 4+. It also has a section in the back on how bees pollinate flowers and an apple pie recipe!
The old favourite 'Snow White' features the enchanted apple,but for something different how about telling your children the tale of Thomas the Rhymer? Thomas, a 13th century poet was whisked of by the Queen of Fairyland and given an apple of inspiration to eat. There is a Steeleye Span song telling this story that I remember as a favourite from my own childhood.
Other apple stories from myth and folklore that you might find interesting are those of Iduna and the magic apples for those wanting to teach their children of some Norse myths. For Greek inspiration you could tell the story of the Golden Apples of Hesperides.
And of course, Avalon is also called the 'Isle of Apples' so you might chose to tell your children stories of the Round Table. Children might want to illustrate these stories, or they might want to write their own apple stories.

If you wanted to move away from myth somewhat you could also tell stories of Issaac Newton and his apple as an introduction into looking at gravity. You could also tell the story of William Tell's task of shooting an arrow upon his sons head. For older children this story really does have a lot of lessons.

I hope I have at the least provided you with some inspiration!

Apple Day

I would like to tell you all about a lovely little festival, held mostly in the UK (but I see no reason why it should be limited to the UK) that I suspect isn't even on most Pagan's calendars.

Apple day has been held on October 21st since 1990 and was initiated by the charity Common Ground. The humble apple becomes the symbol of 'physical, cultural and genetic diversity' and events are held around the UK. It is a day to encourage locality, a day to encourage people to find all those old local varieties of delicious apples and discover the unique and colourful stories of these varieties that belong to the land we live on. It is a day to very much honour the spirit of place, the distinctiveness that each place has instead of the 'global' locality that we have become.

A festival to celebrate our connection to the land we live on and hear her stories sounds like a beautiful addition to the pagan calendar to me, and our family will certainly be taking part in the celebrations! If you would like to take part but can't find any celebrations near to you (which of course is the whole point!) then you could always have your own celebration! If you can find your way to a local farmers market to discover some local varieties of apples for you family to taste this of course would be perfect. Ask about the histories of these apples, where they come from - lots of them have their own stories. Spend a quiet evening telling local tales to your children - the internet is a valuable resource for things like this... I have discovered old tales of a 'stick man' that walks our local roads and the story of Joe Blunt who was accused of cheating by his mother-in-law and so hung himself on a local track way - his ghost now can be heard claiming his innocence. Everywhere has its stories.

Or how about drawing maps with your children to celebrate apple day? As part of Common Ground's work they encourage the drawing of parish maps - not to exact measurements and direction but to embody a true reflection of a place according to its residents. These maps are supposed to reflect what people think is important about their area rather than relay precise details. Why not make maps with your children to show what they love about their home and the places they think are important and then talk about how each persons drawings are different and how they are the same. You might even take a walk to find the wild edibles in your area, as apple day is all about eating locally, and you could add to your map the places you find local edibles?

Mummies and daddies might also be interested to know that Common Ground have also been involved in the publication of numerous books covering subjects that pagan hands would itch to hold, mainly focusing on place, local customs etc. For those of you living in the UK, or interested in its old customs Common Ground have also been involved in a wonderful website that keeps you up to date throughout the year on what local customs and festivities are coming up.
http://www.england-in-particular.info/