Thanksgiving is celebrated in America and is the fourth Thursday in November. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln described Thanksgiving as “fruitful fields and healthful skies”

Americans have a long weekend and plan a feast with family and friends and count their blessing and give gratitude for ‘harmony, liberty and industry across the nation’.

Thanksgiving began when the Plymouth Colony invited the local Wampanoag

Tribe to celebrate harvest with them in 1621. Early pilgrims were helped by the Native Americans to hunt and plant crops in unfamiliar landscapes. (more…)

Halloween may be all about fancy dress and trick or treating now, but you may not realise where some of the traditions and beliefs come from:

Black Cats

Black cats bad reputation dates back to the dark ages, when they were considered to be the ‘familiar’ of witches. Witch hunts were common in this time and elderly solitary women with pet black cats were often accused of witchcraft, the cat symbolised a demonic creature given to them by the devil. Medieval myths say that Satan turned himself into a cat when he socialised with witches. Over time however the myth has turned around and in the UK it is considered good luck if a black cat crosses your path. (more…)

The Autumn Equinox is also known as: Alban Elfed, Fall Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Mabon, Night of the Hunter Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Witch’s Thanksgiving, and the first day of autumn.

The word “equinox” was derived from Latin term “æquinoctium” which, in turn, came from “æquus” (equal), and “nox” (night). In Old English, the language spoken circa 450 to 1100 CE, called it efnniht. Alban Elued means in Gaelic, light on the Water and the sun is moving away over the water to shine on the Isles of the Blest, the Celtic Otherworld leaving the world with encroaching darkness. (more…)