(Pic by Odd Todd)
Well our favorite holiday ( besides Thanksgiving or any other turkey related holiday which are close seconds, and seconds are always good especially re-heated) is coming up HALLOWEEN!!!
The day/night were weirdness is normal and normal becomes well, rather mundane. So here’s
a few thoughts on Halloween, or a quick blurb on the “origin” of Halloween or Samhain.
Going way back into “the mists” of time the original holiday was called Samhain by the old Celtic peoples.
Oddly enough the day was considered to be celebrated on November 1st and later Christians ( afraid of the spooky druidic tradition) had an All Saints Day on the 31st of October. The combination of the 2 became Halloween or Hallows Day.
The tradition marked the end of summer and the transition into the “dark half” of the year at sundown of the 31st. Traditionally a harvest festival and time to honor the dead. Also the day was considered to be a time when the veil of our world was the thinnest and ghosts and spirits ( as well as malevolent creatures) could pass into our world. People would wear costumes or disguises to confuse would be evil spirits and would leave out food to placate spirits.
Well there you have my bastardized abridged version, the holiday itself is much more complex and has many equivalents in other cultures such as Day of the Dead in Mexico ( November 2nd), and Asian and African cultures.
The origin of the Jack O Lantern or Jack of the Lantern, I found a great site that spells it out pretty well and is pretty much the way I understood it:
“Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who loved playing tricks on anyone and everyone. One dark, Halloween night, Jack ran into the Devil himself in a local public house. Jack tricked the Devil by offering his soul in exchange for one last drink. The Devil quickly turned himself into a sixpence to pay the bartender, but Jack immediately snatched the coin and deposited it into his pocket, next to a silver cross that he was carrying. Thus, the Devil could not change himself back and Jack refused to allow the Devil to go free until the Devil had promised not to claim Jack’s soul for ten years. The Devil agreed, and ten years later Jack again came across the Devil while out walking on a country road. The Devil tried collecting what he was due, but Jack thinking quickly, said, “I’ll go, but before I do, will you get me an apple from that tree?”
The Devil, thinking he had nothing to lose, jumped up into the tree to retrieve an apple. As soon as he did, Jack placed crosses all around the trunk of the tree, thus trapping the Devil once again. This time, Jack made the Devil promise that he would not take his soul when he finally died. Seeing no way around his predicament, the Devil grudgingly agreed.
When Stingy Jack eventually passed away several years later, he went to the Gates of Heaven, but was refused entrance because of his life of drinking and because he had been so tight-fisted and deceitful. So, Jack then went down to Hell to see the Devil and find out whether it were possible to gain entrance into the depths of Hell, but the Devil kept the promise that had been made to Jack years earlier, and would not let him enter.
“But where can I go?” asked Jack.
“Back to where you came from!” replied the Devil.
The way back was windy and very dark. Stingy Jack pleaded with the Devil to at least provide him with a light to help find his way. The Devil, as a final gesture, tossed Jack an ember straight from the fires of Hell. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed-out turnip…one of Jack’s favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. From that day forward, Stingy Jack has been doomed to roam the earth without a resting place and with only his lit turnip to light the way in the darkness.”
Well kids that’s something to think about next time you see a Jack O’Lantern eh?!!! -EvS
Well ending on that I want to leave a vid of one of my favorite bands that have always been all about Halloween and creepy things in my mind at least The Misfits