Thoughts on Halloween

An article by KnightRaven

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With Halloween just around the corner I sit here and think about how the past has shaped this Night.....

It started over 2,000 years ago in europe by the Celts. But at that time it was not halloween but Samhain (pronounced sow-in) a festival that celebrated their new year starting on November 1st.  The day marked the end of the summer and the gathering of food, the beginning of winter a cold and dark time.  That time of year was often essociated with the death of people.  The Celts thought that on the last day of the year (october 31) the lines that seperated the living the dead became blurred.  They belived that the spirits of the dead could come back to earth and affected how things happend. As in causing damage to crops and starting trouble.  Also they were thought to make it simpler for the Druids (Priests) to make predictions about what was going to happen.

To celebrate this time, Druids built large bonfires that were consitered sacred, where everyone gatered to make sacrifices of animals and crops to the God and goddess of there world. They would dress in costumes usualy made of animal heads and skins and attempted to read the fortunes of other people.

By the time Rome got involved it was around A.C. 43 and they started to combind the day with two of there festival the first was Feralia and the second was about the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Her name was Pomona. Feralia was the day that the Romens commonly commemorated the passing of there dead.  The other was a time to honor Pomona*.

By the time Christianity had spread in to that area, the pope designated November 1st to be "All Saints Day" a time to honor Martyrs and Saints.  Possibly to try to convert Celtic people to Christianity.  (The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas) Making the night before called "All-Hallows Eve, then it became known as Halloween.  Then at one point the church would make the day after All Saints day called All Souls Day. A day to honor the dead. It was alot like Samhain with bonfires, costumes that were of saints, devils and angels, and parades. The three days became known as Hallowmas. Hopeing to wipe out Samhain and other "Pagen" celebrations, the pope told his missionaries to use the beliefs and customs to convert the Celtic people. Telling them insted of cutting down a tree that people worshpped around to consecrate it to Christ and then allow the worship to continue.

This caused the "pagen" ways to be nearly erased in the world. The people who followed the old ways were branded as witches.

As time went by many cultures were found to have similar days in there beliefs. In Mexico it is called El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), they celebrated it around the same time as Halloween. Obon (Bon)Also now as The Festival of souls, that is in Japan on July 13 (Lunar calendar) or August 15 (soular calendar). The Chinese celebrate Ching Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day, it falls on the 5th or 6th of April (depending on calender). There is just too many to list.....

Lets skip a few hundred years to the time we live in, now the night is not known as a day to worship saints, or remember the dead. It is a day that children go out in costumes, going door to door asking "trick or treat" hopeing to get candy and money. Carving pumkins, watching horror movies, and pulling pranks.  Not knowing that at the beging it was so much more..

Mabey they will start teaching the past in schools...

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A few Little extras....

COLOR ASSOCIATIONS
Color ~ Symbolism
Black ~ death, night, witches, black cats, bats, vampires
Orange ~ pumpkins, jack o' lanterns, Autumn
Purple ~ night, the supernatural, mysticism
Green ~ goblins, monsters
Red ~ blood, evil



Horror Fims From 2004 till Now

2004
12 Days of Terror
Alien Lockdown (TV)
Alien vs. Predator
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
And Then They Were Dead...
Anonymous Rex (TV)
Assault on Precinct 13
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Blood Angels
Creep
Cube Zero
Dawn of the Dead <REMAKE>
Dead & Breakfast
Exorcist: The Beginning
Frankenfish (TV)
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
Godsend
Grudge, The <REMAKE>
Malevolence
Puppet Monster vs. Demonic Toys (TV)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Saw
Screaming Dead
Seed of Chucky
Shaun of the Dead
Spectres
Toolbox Murders, The (TV)
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Unseen Evil 2
Yogen
Zombie Honeymoon


2005
2001 Maniacs
Alien Apocalypse (TV)
Alien Blood (TV)
Alien Express (TV)
All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos
Amityville Horror, The <REMAKE>
Ancient Evil 2: Guardian of the Underworld
Attack of the Sabretooth (TV)
Boogeyman
Boy Eats Girl
Call of Cthulhu, The
Chaos
Cold and Dark
Crow: Wicked Prayer, The
Cry_Wolf
Cursed
Dark, The
Dark Water <REMAKE>
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium
Descent, The
Devil's Rejects
Doll Graveyard
Doom
Exorcisim of Emily Rose, The
Eye 10, The
The Fallen Ones (TV)
Fog, The <REMAKE>
Frankenstein Reborn
Hellraiser: Deader
Hellraiser: Hellworld
Hide and Seek <REMAKE>
House of Wax <REMAKE>
Kakurenbo
King Kong <REMAKE>
Land of the Dead
Lunacy
Mangler Reborn, The
Murder-Set-Pieces
Neighbor No. Thirteen, The
One Missed Call 2
Prophecy: Uprising, The
Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis
Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave
Rings
Roost, The
Shadow: Dead Riot
Tamara 4
The Ring Two <REMAKE>
Saw II
Tomie: Beginning
Tomie: Revenge
Venom
White Noise
Wolf Creek


2006
Abominable
American Haunting, An
Candy Stripers
Covenant, The
Desperation <TV>
Final Destination 3
Grudge 2, The
Hills Have Eyes, The <REMAKE>
Hostel
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer <DIRECT to dvd>
Omen, The <REMAKE>
Pulse <REMAKE>
Re-cycle
Room 6
Saw 3
Scary Movie 4
See No Evil
Severance
Silent Hill
Slither
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Train <DIRECT to dvd>
Stay Alive
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The
When a Stranger Calls <REMAKE>
Wicker Man, The <REMAKE>

List from Wikipedia.org


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*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.

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All info from old notes of mine that I took out of books years ago and Wikipedia
please don't mind the spelling

Happy Halloween everyone
Marie Shaw - aka KnightRaven