These images archive a public celebration of Samhain (Hallowe’en) in Paganistan (the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area). This particular holiday represents the ending of the year as we head into the darkness of Winter Solstice, and is traditionally thought of as a time when the “veil” between the worlds of the living and the dead grows thin. 

Samhain rituals often incorporate themes of contact with the Otherworld of the Dead/Ancestors/Fae, and/or with ancestral traditions in some fashion. This year’s theme focused on the dying of the Horned God of the Witches as a form of sacrifice, with the final image representing the God speaking from “beyond the veil” as a Primal Ancestor.