The rains have been torrential this Summer and early Fall. Storms lasted days, even without coastal hurricanes carrying heavy winds this far inland. The ground was soggy and remained puddled for days. The creeks were often full and galloping. One day, state roads in two out of three directions from Earthaven were closed due to landslides. (All roads to Earthaven have been repaired and are now open.) Still, ours is hardly the bioregion most slammed by climate change.

Saturday night (October 5) rained heavy and long, and the creeks couldn’t hold their contents. We lost the Forest Garden footbridge, more buffer area around the first bridge, and a ton of brush was washed downstream. Leaping waters dug huge crevices into the edge of the nearby road, rutting it up royally.

The next morning, circuitous footpaths to the Hut Hamlet were taken to avoid the lake that had settled between the Free Store and the playground.

There’s been nothing like it since the hurricane of ’96 that pushed the tree trunk bridge downstream, shoved two vehicles aside, and sent river rocks across the then bridgeless ford.

Emergency work parties, sand bag brigades, and other “call out the troops” events happened daily for a couple weeks. Huge kudos go to contributors of hours and efforts in the rain, with and without boots, and in pretty high spirits! We’re blessed that temperatures remained balmy.

The Earthdelver Orbo (physical infrastructure management group) assessed damages and options for the short and long term. Ideas for rebuilding or relocating the lost footbridge and other considerably more expensive options are coming forward—ideas we’ve had the privilege of keeping in the future up until this very wet season.

We’re now in the long holiday season that started with last week’s Halloween/Samhain events and the annual Ancestor Feast. Next comes our community Thanksgiving, featuring the bounty of our gardens and farms. And, in the lead up to Winter Solstice, Christmas and New Year’s, we’ll be getting ready for the Bizarre Bazaar on December 8th (y’all come!). To ensure that everyone can get in an out of the community safely, we are double timing road and bridge repair while sharing the juiciness of community efforts to rally and rebound, becoming stronger and more connected for our trouble.

And yet,

it’s turned into the most beautiful autumn ever, exuberant display of these communities of trees turning vivid with the cold, and expressing their joy at having lived among these creatures once again. They return, like Persephone, to the underworld; that is, their Spirits return there.

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A cold and rainy day didn’t keep the pumpkin carvers away. There is a full week of activities at Earthaven Ecovillage to celebrate Halloween and one of my favorites is the annual pumpkin carving.

I went over to the Council Hall with my eight-month-old, Oakley, inside my rain jacket. I wasn’t sure how much I would be able to participate with him there but wanted to hang out anyway. I always loved pumpkin carving as a kid and was excited to introduce the tradition to him on his very first Halloween.

Before I even got in the building I noticed a small group of musicians standing in the middle of the room. It hadn’t been pre-planned, but what a treat to have live bluegrass music at this event.

A happy group of kids and their parents, along with a few witches, were already elbow deep in pumpkin guts when I got there. Some people were also hollowing out huge turnips and I learned that turnips where the original jack-o-lanterns. Legend has it that there was once a man named Jack who was so bad that when he died even the devil wouldn’t take him into the underworld and he was left to eternally wander the earth with his lantern. When European people came to America they brought their vegetable lantern carving tradition with them. I can only imagine how excited they were to learn about pumpkins, which I can tell you from direct observation, are a lot easier to carve than turnips. The challenge, however, did not stop Earthaveners from giving it a try and several beautiful turnip jack-o-lanterns sat next to the pumpkin ones decorating our Council Hall for the Samhian Ancestor Feast a few days later.

I saw a pumpkin getting carved with a pretty intricate face, one with a moon and stars, and one being cut into many curved ring layers. There were still pumpkins available so I thought I would give it a try and see how far I could get on a carving project of my own. I put Oakley on the floor and to my surprise he was perfectly happy playing with and tasting the pumpkin guts while I cut out super basic, classic triangle features.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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The air is brisk and cool, the leaves turn the beautiful shades of autumn, the summer is gone and the season calls us inward. It is time to prepare for winter—not only physically for the cold but a slowing down in other ways too.

We are approaching Halloween, All Hallows Eve, a cross-quarter holiday between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. In many cultures, this is the most sacred of days. All over the world people honor and communicate with the dead at this time, as it is said that the ‘veil between the worlds’ of the living and the dead is at its thinnest.

The Celts celebrated their new year, called Samhain (pronounced “Sow-in”), on the eve of November. They believed the spirits of the dead walked the earth on this night. To protect themselves, people would wear masks or cross-dress to trick the wandering dead.

Trick-or-Treating has its roots in a medieval custom of the British Isles called “souling.”  Dressed in masks and costumes, the poor would go about offering prayers to a family’s departed relatives in exchange for soul cakes (little oatcakes or square pieces of bread containing currants) or a handout of apples, nuts, or copper coins. The more gifts they received, the more prayers they would promise to recite to expedite the passage of the deceased souls from limbo to heaven.

As we have grown up disconnected from our ancestors and our grief, many of us have made an effort to incorporate these elements into our lives. To that end, we hold a Samhain Ritual and Ancestor Feast at Earthaven each year. We bring pictures and mementos of our ancestors and beloved dead to the altar. We also bring a potluck dish from our heritage for the feast. While we feast, we give toasts and tell stories about our ancestors and loved ones who have crossed over.

Of course we also have our share of fun at Halloween! The kids trick-or-treat around the village in a big group and our Halloween costume party is one of the best of the year.

As the days grow darker, we remember that we are in the ‘cauldron’ of the year, the dark time of change, until the sun is reborn at Winter Solstice. Encourage yourself to slow down. See what changes are afoot. As the veil between the worlds grows thinner and thinner, take a look around. Who knows what you’ll see?

Kaitlin Hetzner is a ritual and ceremony leader at Earthaven, organizes special womyn’s gatherings under a Red Tent, lends a terrific hand to our office and administrative work, and just became a Full Member!

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          For the second year in a row, Kaitlin Heitzner (in photo) and River Otter organized an Ancestor’s Feast in the Council Hall the night before Halloween. Attendance seemed to be double last year’s turnout, and I had the best celebratory experience in recent memory. Besides the care and beauty with which our ceremonial goddesses prepared the space, the smudging, songs and silences along with the turkey, tales and toasts to the ancestors helped create deep and abiding memories of both the sacred and the sumptuous.

We will never, never lose our way

Next week the eight days of Chanukah begins, so I’m rooting around for the Menorah and the special candles that honor the power of the Unseen. Soon after, we can look forward to another SpiritWalker delight at Solstice. It’s the season of celebrations—a time to honor what we have, who we are, where we’ve come from, and what is yet possible for us all.

Arjuna da Silva is an Earthaven founder and the Airspinner.

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