In modern day western culture, our death holiday (Halloween) and our harvest celebration (Thanksgiving) are celebrated separately. Not so for the ancient Greeks.

Demeter was not a death divinity–she was the goddess of grain and she fed the world–but her story is closely tied together with her daughter, Persephone, Queen of Hades. Because of that tie, her celebration was one of both joy and sorrow. Check it out.

I particularly like the idea of ritual insults. I guess today’s version would be a celebrity roast.

Every holiday, our soldiers serve away from home, and through my interviews with military spouses, I’ve become involved with one particularly worthy cause: Operation Santa. I’ll be writing more about them, and encouraging you to get involved. I’m also going to be collecting donations at writer’s meetings, and such, so you’ll probably get sick of hearing from me. Consider this the first salvo. Please check out their website and consider making a donation.