Let’s Talk About Pagan Festivals and Let’s Talk About Elements and The Pagan Wheel, by Siusaidh Ceanadach
Ms. Ceanadach is a Druid living in Scotland. In Pagan Festivals, she comments that a local nursery school (preschool in the US) asked her to put together a pamphlet about Imbolc, and later about other holidays, and this book came from that. This first book also includes a list of source materials, which is always helpful (though there’s no similar list in Elements).
For all that these books are meant to teach children, they seem to be lacking in pictures. There are a few black line-art images in each book, which is striking compared to the bright full color covers. It almost seems that they’re more intended to be a guide for adults who are teaching children.
Pagan Festivals covers the 8 Sabbats plus “The Moon” – for each topic there are notes for the adults, a story for the children, a few short prayers, a recipe of some sort, and a list of “things to do” – activities appropriate to the Sabbat (making bread for Lammas, for example), and in the moon chapter, things for dark, waxing, full, and waning moons (like putting toys in order at the dark moon, planting seeds in a waxing moon, and making a picture of a full moon for the full moon). The Samhain story talks about going to school to talk with a child’s teacher about Samhain vs. Halloween, the Autumn Equinox one is a story about children from the pre-Christian times in Europe, and the characters seem to switch back and forth from story to story. The stories and activities are appropriate for preschool through school age, and are clearly expecting parents and children to work through them together.
Elements also covers the 8 Sabbats, with a bit of information about the Sabbat and its elemental correspondences, a story, and some questions to learn about and answer for each. It’s a little more in depth, and the stories a little less specifically about the Sabbat and more about the theme of the Sabbat or the corresponding element. It seems this book is meant for a slightly older child. There’s actually only 3 pages detailing the elements and their natures. I’m a little conflicted about this book – it’s a nice book, but the Sabbats were already covered in the first book, and there really isn’t all that much on the elements.
On the whole, they’re both good books, but I think you’re better off buying the first one and then considering skipping the second.
Disclaimer: I purchased the books; all opinions are my own.
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