Why I No Longer Set Up Ancestor Altars at Halloween
Halloween, Scorpio season, Samhain, All Soul’s Day…
No matter what you name this time of year, ancestors become a popular theme about now.
It is believed the veil is at its thinnest these days, and that the spirits around us are close. People build altars to honour the dead. We burn candles for our ancestors, maybe leaving out their photographs or favourite libations in remembrance.
Maybe you already have an ancestral practice for this time of year. Maybe you’ve only heard bits and pieces of these ideas, your curiosity piqued by beautiful altar photos on Instagram or blog posts that offer some quick tips about ancestral work.
I used to follow all of that advice. Each October, when the Sun moved into Scorpio, I would start to set up an ancestor altar. I would adorn it with candles and mementoes, photographs and seasonal offerings.
And then, as we got into mid-November and Halloween had come and gone, I had no idea what to do with that altar.
So I would disassemble...
