Pagan Children's Books Samhain Newsletter

Check out the Pagan Children's Books Samhain Newsletter! You can sign up for the newsletter HERE. Samhain is just around the corner! Check out the trick-or-treating alternatives - tell us how you like it on our FB page!

Blessed be! Samhain is the beginning of the Dark of the Year, the time when the veil thins. We have settled in for the school year schedule of drop-offs, pick-ups, parent-teacher conferences, concerts, etc. (Shout out to the home-schoolers, where conferences involve muttering to yourself after bedtime...lol !) The weather is noticeably changing now, with chill winds and cooler weather. My kids got pumpkins, and an interesting lesson. The squirrels, looking for bonus calories before winter, ATE the kids' pumpkins! Talk about a teaching moment! Squirrels like pumpkins a lot. Who knew? There are some tricks to keeping the squirrels away from the pumpkins, but it can also be a good way to teach kids about life cycles and the needs of local animals. ABC Book of Goddesses is a great choice for holiday gifts, or bedtime reading! Trick-or-treating is becoming more and more difficult. I've heard parents express fears over everything from cars not watching for kids, to hate crimes targeting minority religions. It is sad to think about, but that's where our world is at. Because the candy-fest can be so tricky (see what I did there!), I've put together some common alternatives: Boo at the Zoo - many zoos will have a special event where the kids can dress up and get candy. Check your local zoo to see if they have something like that. Bonus: your kids won't be the only ones monkeying around! Night at the Museum - museums also are frequent party places for Halloween/Samhain. See if your area has a children's museum and what they've got planned. Community Centers - these often have a more secure trick-or-treating option, or even a full-fledged party! Unitarian Church - the UU Church is often a de facto center for Pagan families. And, regardless, they can be pretty well counted on to have activities that aren't based on pushing any belief systems. Trunk-or-treat - some communities will put together a trunk-or-treat, where the kids go car to car, instead of door-to-door. It generally is less walking, more handicap accessible, and less risky.

Back to School Pagans: Minority Religions

I love the new school district we are in. Both my kid's are attending schools with a pretty huge variety of cultures, religions and ethnicities and races represented.

My son makes friends with kids from Iran. My daughter has friends who wear hijab. I've spoken to women who shared pictures of their daughters' human ceremony (it's a celebration marking a certain coming-of-age for the girls, similar to a bat mitzvah or First Communion). Both kids are sent home with papers in 3-7 different languages.

The interesting part, though, is that as a Pagan mom, I feel like I am more (painfully?)  aware of potentially stepping on religious toes. My son was making plans for his Muslim friend to join us for Pagan Pride in a year. I told him we needed to make sure his parents were okay with that first.

It seems that being a minority religion creates a kind of double-edged sword. Not only do we get to live in a culture that aggressively assumes we are Christian, but then we become so aware of how that hurts us, we go to extra lengths to not do that to others.

While this definitely makes us more empathic, we can find ourselves in some passive aggressive situations. A few that I end up in often:

• Grandparents suggesting that any reluctance on my part for letting the kids do things through their church is an unfair judgment on them or their religion.
• Family arguing that I'm at fault when I refuse to stay in communication with family members who use said communication to tell me I'm condemning my kids to Hell. 
• People telling me that my religious choice means THEY won't get to spend eternity with me in Heaven... then crying about that.
• People using the "what if you're wrong" logic, then giving me a blank look when I ask them the same question.
• People acting like my choosing a religion that is bullied and discriminated against is somehow "easy", just rebellion, or about hurting them.

The point is, Paganism is hard. We are a minority. We are discriminated against. And, in many ways, it's getting both better and worse.

But I love that my kids are exposed to ideas that aren't just Christian or our immediate family. That's something to thank the gods for.