Halloweens Here!
It’s the 31st October
and Halloweens
here!
Where did Halloween come from?
The word itself, "Halloween," has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day", is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
The still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would put out the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all sorts of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Now adays Halloween is more about trick-or-treating, in which children dress up in costume disguises and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing each doorbell and yelling "trick or treat!" Children dress up as Cats, Bats,
Witches, Devils and angels, or you could even dress up as a pumpkin!
Weird Halloween traditons:Bobbing For Apples For thousands of years, apples have been considered a symbol of love and fertility. The Romans celebrated their own type harvest festival called Pomona. This gay evening festival was dedicated to Pomona, the goddess of orchards and the harvest (or gardens and fruits) and it occurred around November 1st. As a tribute to the goddess for a bountiful harvest, the ancient Romans celebrated by offering nuts and fruits, particularly apples. Pomona merged with the Celtic festival of Samhain around 50 B.C. when the Romans conquered much of northern Europe. Most likely, our modern tradition of apple bobbing on Halloween stems from Pomona festivities. However, another resource tells us that apple bobbing is derived from the Druidic ceremony Ordeal by Watere. This signifies the passage of soul to the hereafter over the waters that separated them. It used to be called "snapping for apples".
Pumpkin Carving Traditionally, the jack-o-lantern was carved from a turnip, potato, or beet and lit with a burning lump of coal or a candle. These lanterns represented the souls of the departed loved ones and were placed in windows or set on porches to welcome the deceased. They also served as protection against malevolent sprits or goblins freed from the dead. Turnips and gourds were not as readily available in the Americas so the pumpkin was used and found to be quite an adequate replacement.Halloween Joke:
Q: Why did the Vampire subscribe to the Financial Times?
A: He heard it had great circulation
Another Satisfied Customer:
Dear Astral Travel,
I want to say that our group of Dartmouth students and professors found ourrecent trip with David to Old Sarum, Salisbury, and Avebury to be superb--itwas an utter success and deeply memorable. Our tour guide David was agem--passionate, articulate, highly informative but with a deft touch. Wehad a wonderful rapport with him and I hope you will convey our wholegroup's appreciation for his prodigious skills. He made the experiencehumanly and historically outstanding--a fantastic venture backwards in timeand history.Thanks to you and please convey our fond appreciation to David.
best regards,
Michael Ermarth and Barbara Will (and the Dartmouth students)
History Dept.Dartmouth CollegeHanover, NH.
posted by Londons Premier Tour Operator @ 1:32 PM
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