Samhain (or All Hallows Eve, or Halloween) falls on 31 October, half way between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. The unseasonal seasons this year have created a very mixed collection for this photograph. Normally we would expect, on the verge of November, to be seeing wintry weather and some early frosts; but it's mild, wet, windy (a bit like September would normally be) and that sharp, musty smell of autumn in the morning air has not yet occurred.
In the earth calendar on which these posts are based, Samhain is the end of the old year and the start of the new. In 'normal' seasons, the vegetation of this year's growing season would be dying back; on trees and shrubs the tiny new buds of next year's growth would already be forming; this is the festival of both death and new life.
But the seasons are disordered and, as a consequence, the symbolism of the festival is not clearly seen in the natural world. As I gathered from my garden, I collected a mixed, muddled bundle. I have made two attempts at the photograph and I'm not really happy with either - both seem to be to be muddled and disordered. As I was about to start again, to attempt to make a 'better' image, I realised that, actually, my images faithfully reflect the disordered reality.
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