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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 14114
[History]
Date Posted:
10/16/2005
9:44:26 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 11,273
RSS: 17,687
Comments: 14
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Modern Pagans
Author: Alan Hindle Source: The Only Magazine
Title: MODERN PAGANS
Halloween, Samhain, Pope Gregory’s All Saints Day
Of all the holidays celebrated in the West, Halloween is the least co-opted by Christianity– though not for lack of trying. While Pope Gregory in 601 AD exhorted his missionaries to remold Pagan events to more malleable themes, there were just too many powerful human themes underlying Halloween to cast even the subtlest veneer of “respectability” over it.
The Celtic Druidic festival of Samhain (“Sow-een”) was the principle date in the Pagan calendar, effectively their New Year, marking the end of summer and the time of harvest. Also, it was believed to be the time of the year when the boundary between this world and the next was the thinnest, and the dead could be felt walking amongst the living on their journey to the next world. All Saints Day, which had previously fallen in May, was moved to November 1st as a shout out to all the saints too obscure to warrant their own day. All Hallowed Saints Eve, falling now on October 31st ( the night of Samhain), was therefore modified by the church to emphasize the dead spirits as evil.
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Community Thoughts: There are 14 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Legends, Urban And Otherwise | Oct 17th. at 11:08:18 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Well, the watermelon vampire at least is a new touch on urban legends. As for candy poisonings, we've had those tales for years but nothing ever came of it despite the fact that one could get their treats X-rayed in many places because of pins and razor blades that were also thought to be in candy and fruit.
As for the varcolac- that looks to be a variation on the Greek "vrycolos" an ancient revenant that arose from the dead to prey upon the living- a result of either neglected or poorly done funerary rites.
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| Forgot To Add | Oct 17th. at 10:25:57 am EDT
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Titania (Smallville, New York) - Email Me
There was a link to snopes.com included in the comments at the end of the article. At the end of the scopes article is a link to a Jack Chick tract on Halloween. It has the potential to induce laughter so intense that there is a posibility of pi$$ing your pants.
Find More info -- HERE
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| Vlad Not The Only Error | Oct 17th. at 10:19:38 am EDT
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Titania (Smallville, New York) - Email Me
The pumpkins referenced are suspect. I don't know about the Slavic countries, but there were no pumpkins in Ireland, they used turnips. The tradition of carving pumpkins did not start until the Irish brought their Samhain/Halloween traditions the US and found the native squash much easier to carve. With that in mind, I must take the rest of the information posted in this article with a large grain of salt.
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| Fun Stuff | Oct 17th. at 4:57:39 am EDT
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Autumn Damiana (San Jose, California) - Email Me
As most of my pagan friends read the articles posted here, I'm thinking it might be fun to carve a vampire face on a watermelon this year and set it next to my jack-o-lantern... see how many people get it and laugh. :)
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| "The Vampire Watermelon" | Oct 16th. at 3:48:32 pm EDT
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Civilwolf (Hornell, New York) - Email Me
Sounds like a new Tim Burton film.
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| Perhaps... | Oct 16th. at 2:51:03 pm EDT
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ElspethR (Houston, Texas) - Email Me
the "vampire watermelon" is the more vegetarian version of the standard vampire? Regardless, I am thinking my Slavic forebears had a bit too much homebrew when that one came about. :)
Hmmm, maybe Anne Rice can start a new series..."Interview w/a Greengrocer Vampire"?
Oh, okay, maybe not! :)
Elspeth
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| !! Vampire Watermelon!! | Oct 16th. at 12:01:12 pm EDT
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Denise (Bremerton, Washington) - Email Me
Now, What are you suppose to do with yourself if you get turned into one of those? In all seriousness,I really enjoyed that article!
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