Topics

Halloween

Halloween Learning Resources Also, Halloween Arts and Crafts

To get this section started I will list everthing I have found on the net relating to Halloween that I have found or been sent. The first section relates to the history of halloween, the second to crafts etc that look like fun!(None of these sites are chosen with reference to any religious belief of my own – just pure interest and recommendations.)

History of Halloween

The Real Origins of Halloween

Excellent for nightmare busting (you or the children), this is a failry heafty defence of druids and pagans in the face of criticism of halloween by the modern church. Great for an adult or an older child, but you might want to vet it first to make sure it doesn’t interfer with any strongly held beliefs of your own.Personally i found it interesting and informative.

Learn about Halloween Creatures!

From bats to werewolves – how far dare you go!

The History of the Jack o’ Lantern

The sad story of Stingy Jack!

Monsters and Faeries

Every ghoul going! (in drop down format, which made me giggle!)

About – Halloween

A list of links to articles on Halloween. Kind of from the sublime to the… well.. who knows really! There is even an epitaph browser!

Openhere – Halloween

A good simple overview of Halloween, suitable for a younger child. The safety page is well worth a look.

Annie Halloween History Page

This seems to me to be a balanced US Christian page which manages to cover halloween from the celtic, christian and wicca point of view without bias or criticism – i think! I enjoyed the read and thought it portrayed the history of the US customs nicely.

The History Channel – Halloween

Similar to the others but more detailed in content – older children or adults!

Halloween Magazine

I’ve not checked out all the links but it seems a nice page.

Myths and Monsters

An article attempting to debunk the theories of satanic worship and abuse often associated with those who celebrate Halloween, including some interesting research on Samhain.

Autumn Project

Winter Links

Also Christmas

Here are some links I have collected from various lists and friends to get you started! Thanks mainly to Jacqui H and Tula for these, though there are others who inadverently contributed too. These are up in this format while i vet and review them so if anything doesn’t work or is unsuitable, let me know. Equally, if you have a link for anything winter related, tell me, whether it is craft, information or whatever. I would love to know!!!! (Email link to Webmaster at top left of page!)

I would recommend checking through the Activity Page Sites and Resources Page Sites as these tend to have regularly updated themes.

Gift Giving

Christmas Songs

Childfun – things to do and make.

Last minute cookies in a jar

Makestuff

Christmas around the World

Crafts and decorations

Craftsforkids

IdeaboxChristmasSpecial

FamilyCrafts

AtoZ Teacher Stuff – visit themes, then winter

Christmas at Enchanted Learning – just type Christmas in the search box – over 40 ideas at time of writing.

History of the Christmas Cracker

A bit of Santa history and jokes (parental supervision might be required depending on current belief status of small people!) This is just one of the links on this excellent site – enjoy!

Snowmen – nearly too silly for anything!

Needlecraft Project

Construct a Snowman

Snowman Puzzle

Snow – Learning Treasures

Christmas Stories and Poems

North Pole Christmas

Ostara

Ostara – a day from March 19th to 22nd. This year it’s on the 21st.

Also known as Spring Equinox, Eostre, Alban Eilir, and Lady Day.

With grateful thanks to June.

What it means

Ostara is a solar festival, being one of two days in the year when day and night are of equal length. Spring is here, and new life is starting to appear all around us. Days will now lengthen, and light will triumph over the darkness of winter.

Ostara is celebrated around the same time as the Christian festival ofEaster, which takes it’s name from a goddess of the spring and fertility – Eostre. Offerings of eggs and small cakes were made to her at the time of the Spring Equinox, and rabbits were sacred to her (she was said to take the form of one sometimes). There is a legend that tells how Eostre found awounded bird in the snow, and wanting to help she transformed him in to a hare so that he could survive the winter. The bird wasn’t completely transformed, and the hare could lay eggs! The hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as a thank you to Eostre.

Eggs were an important part of nutrition for people at this time of year. The food from the previous years harvest was getting low, but it wasn’t warm enough for crops to grow yet. Hence people would forage for wild birds eggs, which has lead to the custom of the Easter/Ostara egg hunts that we still have today.

Ways to celebrate

Ostara is a time for sowing seeds, to ensure that there is a harvest in the autumn.

Take a walk in the countryside or through the woods, and notice the new growth on the trees and plants. See if you can spot any new birds nests in the trees.

Ponds should be full of signs of renewed life, as they’re usually teeming with tadpoles now.

Bring some beautiful daffodils in to the house to signify the arrival of spring.

Leave a sweet offering outside. Honey, chocolate or sweets for instance.

And, of course, an egg hunt! Or an egg and spoon race!

Things to make and do

Decorate eggs with paints and dyes. Try techniques like marbling
or jewelling.

Sow some seeds, maybe in an egg shell. You could decorate the eggshell with a face, and grow cress inside as the hair. Do this with the egg lengthways to produce a hedgehog.

Make bunny bread

Make chocolate birds nests. Use cornflakes, rice snaps etc, coated in chocolate and placed in to cake papers in a nest shape. Put some edible eggs inside, either shop-bought or made from marzipan, fondant icing etc.

Make bunny ears

Things to Eat

A celebratory meal should include fresh new shoots (bean sprouts, leafy
greens), fruits, seeds, and boiled eggs:

http://www.fieldsweknow.com/or.html

http://www.geocities.com/annafranklin1/osfood.html

http://www.spirit-paths.com/ostara_recipes.htm

Other Information

Take a raw egg outside just before the moment of the Equinox, and folklore says you should be able to balance it on it’s wider end, unsupported. This is supposed to be due to gravity being balanced at this moment, but scientists have declared the practise as superstition. Why not just try it for the fun of it :o)

Imbolc

Imbolc – February 2nd
Also known as Imbolg, Oimelc, the Feast of Brigid, and Candlemas.

This page has been contributed by June from the MuddlePuddle List – thank you June!

What it means

Imbolc translates as ‘in the belly’, so this should give you some idea of what this festival is about – the early stirrings of Spring in the womb of the Earth. The seeds are starting to stir in the ground, despite the cold. One of the other names for this festival, Oimelc, means ‘in milk’ This refers to the beginning of lactation in cows and ewes, as this is the time of year that calves and lambs are born. It is a Fire festival but with the emphasis on Light, celebrating it’s return as the days grow longer with the return of the Sun.

Brigid (pronounced Breed) is a Celtic Goddess who rules over midwifery, healing, fires, inspiration and much more. For a short piece on how her attributes were transferred to the Christian St Brigid and more general information on her, click on her name.

Ways to celebrate

Imbolc is traditionally a time for purification, which has given rise to spring-cleaning! Brush those cobwebs away and start afresh.

As this is a time of rebirth and new beginnings it’s also an appropriate time for thinking about what you’d like to accomplish, for making attainment goals, choosing a new skill to learn.

Make an offering of milk to the earth as a token of fertility, just pour the milk on to the ground.

Bring the Light in to your home! Lighting candles in every window is traditional, as is leaving them to burn down. Obviously this isn’t always practical, or safe, so I tend to only do this in the room I’m spending time in.

Things to make and do

Make a Brigid’s Cross in her honour, and as a symbol of protection for the coming year. You can use grasses, reeds, straws or rushes, whichever you have available. If the stalks won’t bend easily then pre-soak them for a short while in water, it will make them more flexible. Full details are shown here:

It could be fun to make the candles that you light in your windows after dark. You should be able to buy kits or basics for candle-making at a local craft shop, and probably many places online.

In keeping with the early stirring of Spring aspect of the festival, plant a seed in a pot. The pot can be decorated by hand, with whatever symbols you find appropriate. Suggestions would be the Sun, lit candles, or Brigid’s Cross.

Make butter

Imbolc colouring page

Things to eat

A celebratory meal should include things made of milk, honey, green shoots, seeds and soda bread:
Esmereldas Imbolc Recipes
Red Deer & Elenyas Imbolc Recipes
Recipes for a White Goddess
Aradias Grove

Other Information

If the weather is good on Imbolc it is supposed to predict a long winter, whereas if it’s bad then winter is almost over.

If the sun shines bright on Candlemas Day,
The half of Winter’s not yet away.
or
If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There’ll be two Winter’s in the year.

In America Groundhog Day is on February 2nd, which is also to do with predicting when Winter will end.