October 21, 2010

Christmas Looming - but first Halloween???

Halloween, don't get me started... Try reading this....

History

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)". The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end". A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year".

The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Another common practice was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.

The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.

Origin of name

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Up through the early 20th century, the spelling "Hallowe'en" was frequently used, eliding the "v" and shortening the word. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.


See? Here in the southern hemisphere where we are heading INTO SUMMER... it IS NOT HALLOWEEN!!!

Trying to teach my daughter that, is another story and even if she gets it she doesn't care because all she see's is an opportunity to dress up and have a party!

At this time of year, here in the southern hemisphere we should be celebrating the coming of summer and all it's bounty. Try this on for size??

History

In ancient Ireland the main Bealtaine fire was held on the central hill of Uisneach 'the navel of Ireland', one of the ritual centres of the country, which is located in what is now County Westmeath. In Ireland the lighting of bonfires on Oidhche Bhealtaine seems only to have survived to the present day in County Limerick, especially in Limerick itself, as their yearly bonfire night and in County Wicklow in Arklow[citation needed], though some cultural groups have expressed an interest in reviving the custom at Uisneach and perhaps at the Hill of Tara.

In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians started at Bealtaine. Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied with ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, such as the Aos Sí. Like the festival of Samhain, opposite Beltane on 31 October Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as particularly close at hand.

Early Gaelic sources from around the 10th century state that the druids[dubious ] of the community would create a need-fire on top of a hill on this day and drive the village's cattle through the fires to purify them and bring luck (Eadar dà theine Bhealltainn in Scottish Gaelic, 'Between two fires of Beltane'). This term is also found in Irish and is used as a turn of phrase to describe a situation which is difficult to escape from. In Scotland, boughs of juniper were sometimes thrown on the fires to add an additional element of purification and blessing to the smoke. People would also pass between the two fires to purify themselves.

The festival persisted widely up until the 1950s, and in some places the celebration of Beltane continues today.


See Halloween = the end of summer
Beltane = the beginning of summer...

There is a difference there right?


Now as for christmas, I am not CHRISTIAN....
But traditions are traditions so christmas is henceforth named "Family-mas" in my blog.
Unfortunately with my family "Giftmas" would also be appropriate!!

So with Family-mas getting ever closer it is time to start considering what gifts the children and various other family members, will be receiving. I am struggling alot with this. It is time to start writing lists, of things needed and wanted to try and work out an appropriate path to take.
Finances are not great either so it will be a struggle to get anything done early as we will need to wait on other things until the last pay before the day!!

2 comments:

  1. I'm with you on this one. Sure, I can see Halloween could be a fun thing to do, kids probably enjoy it, but it's an American tradition, so why do we have to import it and have it at the wrong time of the year? What's next, Thanksgiving? I will be celebrating Beltane again this year, by dancing around the November Pole rofl

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  2. There once was a vampy old witch,
    The thought of her near made me twitch,
    But she had a nice twin,
    With a similar grin,
    My thought? Which witch was which?

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