answer: No, it's not. Many Heathens will go out and party or celebrate with pagan/Wiccan friends but it's not a holiday in Asatru/Heathenism.
Also different is the emphasis on Yule in Heathenism. In Wicca and other pagan traditions Samhain/Halloween is a major holiday and Yule isn't. In Asatru/Heathenism Yule is one of the major holidays (all 12 days and nights).
I didn't recognize you with the different avatar, brother!
Not sure if the Queen will return but I'll assume she was referring to the Christian religious holidays. The 4Th of July wouldn't fall into that category. Christmas/Epiphany, Easter, All Saint's Day, St. Valentines Day, & St. Patricks Day etc. all have pagan origins.
The closest thing in date & symbolic to Halloween on the Asatru Calender is Feast of the Einherjar on November 11Th. It is the day to honor the fallen warriors who have entered Valhalla.
Where as vicunas honor their ancestors on Samhain.
However that shouldn't stop anyone from taking part in secular reverie.
Halloween is not strictly Heathen however it is near enough to Winters Nights (a move able festival in October). Being a Reconstructionist not Asatru I can't answer whether or not you should move this festival to this date, in my family we do as it makes things socially acceptable and matches the traditions in my country. Also not being Asatru I do not celebrate the "Feast of the Einherjar" as I see this as a purely modern invention coinciding with Remembrance Day; Winters Nights in October however is documented in saga's with the most famous festival being the one at which Egil Skallagrimsson saved his friend Olvir by carving runes on the drinking horn.
No, we celebrate Winter Nights that is usually in the middle of October (though there is no specific date. We believe it was started with a seasonal "sign" not a date)
I celebrate Winter Nights with my kindred middle of Oct and then at home on Halloween so that it matches up with what my kids friend are doing. No sense in making it more complicated for them.
This kicks off the build up to Yule which is our new year and out big holiday. Winter Nights isn't that big of a deal for us.
Not by many, but some do perform rituals for their dead. Please realize that there was no "one organization, counsel or group that oversaw all of the Heathens as there is in many of the Christian churches. The beliefs were very general when compared across large areas of land. One town might have very different practices from the next because of their patron deity, livelihood, customs, needs or occupations.
I, as a ferret er, would for instance probably have different practices from a scribe or scald or whatever.
It never fails to surprise me how many of the modern "Astra"ARtc comment that "this isn't right" or "that isn't right" because of the influence of Christianity on the people who wrote the Eddas and Sagas. They those same people give the impression that there was "ONE particular way", or there was "ONE particular practice" in the old Norse Heathen religion.
Not per SE. Hallowe'en is a combination of the Roman Catholic All Saints' Day plus bits and pieces of leftover Celtic Paganism. However, IMHO the boundaries between the Living and the Dead really ARE thinner at that time of year! So, for me at least, there is no reason NOT to have memorials for the Dead at that time of year. Something I've found effective is an adaptation of a Wiccan (?) rite called a Dumb Supper, a meal eaten in silence in memory of the Dead. Offerings are made of course, and when I do it the food offering is at an empty place at the table in a position of honor. The quiet and reflection make a nice prelude to the following Sumbel. When we invited the local Wights to the meal, the air was literally thick with them! Hope this helps, Jordsvin
http://home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeathenNews
Halloween in Pagan Religions *ASATRU*?
