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Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Halloween-Pumpkin
Halloween is coming! Have your pumpkin ready, your costume, witches brew and candy!
It's time to get spooky!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Halloween, Demons and Angels
Demons are much like Angels in that they are lesser beings who are usually under the authority of the prevailing Devil. They are always malevolent in nature, and seek to torment humans with their dark and wicked ways. The means by which they wreak havoc are threefold:
#1: In spiritual form they whisper evil thoughts into a person's mind, trying to corrupt them to do wrong.
#2: In spiritual form they restlessly wander the earth and torment others with their mere appearance.
#3: They actually possess someone and control their actions, usually causing them to harm others, or at the very least, themselves. This is called 'Possession', and even today it wreaks fear in many just by even mentioning it.
Another thing that is usually representative of demons in nearly every culture; they are usually grotesque in appearance, and more than likely half animal at least.
Perhaps one of the greater influences in restoring interest in demons and their study in the mid-20th century was Anton LaVey, the author of the Satanic Bible and the founder of the Church of Satan. LaVey believed that Christianity was a repressed religion, and the true power of Satanic belief was the lack of limits imposed on the believer. LaVey believed that man ought to have the supreme choice over his life, not a God, or any god.
Damned by the gods; feared by man; demons have made their home on earth, and they're here to stay.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Origin Of Halloween
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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