[OnyxCougar]

Day Five (Thursday) [Halloween]
Samhain (sow-in [sow rhymes with cow]) is one of the most celebrated of the Wiccan holidays, as it is the day that DIVIDES years for witches. It is the day in between years, and part of neither the old or new year. It marks the beginning of the cold season, and is the opposite of Beltain, in that respect. The word Samhain is actually derived from two gaelic words meaning "warm end". This "in between-ness" is not limited to Wiccan years, however. It is also the time that the veil between the worlds is thinnest. The ancient Celts believed that when one died, they went to a place free of hunger, pain or thirst, called "Tir nan Og" to wait for rebirth. The separation between this world and Tir nan Og is thinnest on Samhain. Many witches practice divination on this day, believing that their ancestors can make contact across the veil and guide them on this day. This was also the time that the Celts traditionally brought their herds in from the fields and culled the weakest animals to match the livestock's winter food supply. This meant a day of feasting as well, as they had alot of meat from the culling, and a time to preserve the remaining meat for the coming winter.

We were in Croatia, a land that had been inhabited, historically, since Jesus was a baby, and Zagreb itself was at least 900 years old. There is alot of history there, countless people lived and died in the area, and it was particulary important to me, as my maternal grandmother's mother and oldest sister were born in the old Czechoslovakia back in the early to mid 1800's. In a sense, I was very close geographically to my grandmother's family roots. We have so little information on the Koprovic/Sprc line that it is very difficult to track them down. The only document we have to go on is my grandmother's delayed birth certificate from Oklahoma, which indicates her father's name as Koprovic and her mother's maiden name of Sprc, both born in Czechoslovakia. Not even a city there, just the country. Keep in mind that Czechoslovakia, in the 1800's, encompassed ALOT more area than it does today, the political borders were very different. It is entirely possible that they could have been from a region which is now Poland, Hungary, Austria, or Yugoslavia, which is now Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia and Hercegovina/Czech Republic/Montenegro.

In the morning we had breakfast (I was becoming a fan of bacon, eggs and bread with butter on it), and Hrvoje called. There was no hot water and therefore no heat in his last-minute apartment. He wanted to know if they could come over and stay with us until he found something else. "Sure," Ivan said, "come on over." So they said they would pack up and take a taxi to the house in the evening.

Later on, Ivan and I went to Volovcica Trg, and wandered around for awhile. He went into a little (and I mean little, like big enough for three people to stand in) store in the Trg, looking for a spatula. We didn't find a spatula, but I spotted a mask, and went "Ooooo!" Ivan bought the mask for Kelle, and also got a set of playing cards (he's really interested in Blackjack. I'm teaching him how to play.). He also was thinking of her drawing ability, so he bought her a package of colored pencils. We left, and I called out, "Hvala! Denja!" as we left the store. Hvala (vah-lah) [Thank you] and Denja (djane-yah) [Short for Dovidenja, Goodbye, or God be with you.] I got into the habit of doing it, and still catch myself occasionally saying it as I leave a small store. Hvala! Denja! It's just one of those things Kelle and I noticed ourselves doing. If you call us and we answer the phone with, "Molim?" (moe-leem), don't hang up. It's us answering the phone by habit.

There is a "china shop" next to the bakery in the Trg, but it's more like a dollar store. We had passed it every time we went to and from the trg, but Ivan hadn't wanted to go in. This time I made him come in, and I found a whole bunch of different little masks. Ivan became excited and we bought one of each for Kelle. We were looking for plain paper and a pencil sharpener for her too, and now we needed to find wrapping paper for these masks. The lady in the store told Ivan about the stationery shop down the street, so we left, (Hvala! Denja!) and went there. It was getting dark, and we were expecting Kelle and Hrvoje back at the house in a little bit.

It was chock full of goodies, so I picked a blue foil wrap and a purple marbley looking paper. Ivan picked up this container. It is a heavy cardboard notebook shaped box that opens up flat, but when you close it, a blue elastic band holds it closed. He picked one with this funky design on it, so I plucked it from his hands and picked a white one with cyan and navy blue anchors and other navy-ish designs on it. We got her paper, an eraser, a sharpener, and a regular pencil. Taking our loot home, we scrambled to wrap everything before they got there, and I got the last mask in the metallic bag about a minute before they walked in the door. Ivan couldn't wait to give her the bag, and when she opened it, she opened the art stuff first. Ivan explained he wanted her to draw him a picture when we were in Preko. She looked at everything and was pleased. So I made her open the other little packages. She saw the first mask and started crying. After all the masks were open, she had them arranged in front of her, and Ivan remarked how it was his birthday, but Kelle got all the presents.

We put everything away and I broke out my tarot and beast cards. Kelle's particular gift manifested itself and we went on a quest through Zagreb that culminated in 4 icicles getting home at 11:45 pm. We watched some croatian news (in Croatian, of course) and went to bed.