It should be no surprise that Halloween is celebrated enthusiastically at the Airbase; after all, resident spiders and bats are always hanging around, waiting to be acknowledged 😉

Most human residents know to deck their entrances with ghoulish apparitions if they welcome visitations from trick-or-treaters. I’m told groups of revellers will be setting off on their sugar acquisition trips at 6:45 pm on Weds, Oct 31st.

Acknowledging the natural cycle

Halloween has its origin in the solar cycle, it is one of the original cross quarter days.

A cross-quarter day is a day falling approximately halfway between a solstice and an equinox. These days originated as pagan holidays in Northern Europe and the British Isles, and were also independently developed in East Asia as four of the 24 Solar Terms. In some cultures, including ancient Irish and East Asian cultures, cross-quarter days mark the beginning of each season. Most of these days have since been hijacked, and have evolved into other celebrations. The four cross quarter days are:

Halloween – early November: Samhain, 立冬 (lìdōng)
Groundhog Day – early February: Imbolc, 立春 (lìchūn)
Labour Day – early May: Beltane, 立夏 (lìxià)
Lammas (harvest) – early August: Lughnasadh, 立秋 (lìqiū)

Enjoy the evening!