Halloween

[revelations]

897 Another Pagan festival is upon ushttp://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7228339658863227941&q=origins+of+halloween&total=40&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7

[phoebe]

I was going to do a Samhain thread on Halloween
as I do like to post threads at the pagan festivals
because there is still so much misunderstanding about
these special times of year.

Since you have got there first, and I haven't written
my own article yet, I shall just do a copy and paste:

Samhain

Samhain is popularly known today as Halloween, a contraction of the words "Hallowed Evening", and it retains much of the original form and meaning it had long ago in Celtic lands, despite the efforts of the Church to turn it into an observance of feasting and prayer for their vast pantheon of saints. The Church began calling it Michaelmas, the feast day of St. Michael, but the old Samhain holiday proved to be too potent a drawing card for one lone saint to combat. So it was renamed the Eve of All Saints, or All Hallows Eve, which precedes All Saint's Day, and is still one of the holiest days in Catholicism.

The pagan Samhain is not, and never was, associated with evil or negativity. It has always been a time to reaffirm our belief in the oneness of all spirits, and in our firm resolution that physical death is not the final act of existence. Though death is very much a part of Samhain's symbolism, this Sabbat also celebrates the triumph of life over death.

While it is true that Samhain is no more evil than any other holiday, it is also a fact that evil does exist, and pagans have always been aware of this. Our ancestors sought to protect themselves on this night by carving faces in vegetables to place near windows or at the perimeters of their circle. These were the forerunners of our present day jack-o-lanterns. These carved pumpkin faces are probably relics of the even earlier custom of placing candles in windows to guide the earth-walking spirits along their way. Today it is still a custom in Ireland to place candles in the windows on Samhain night and to leave plates of food for the visiting spirits.

There are two possible sources for the origin of the Samhain Sabbat's name. One is from the Aryan God of Death, Samana, and the other is from the Irish Gaelic word "samhraidhreadh", which literally means "the summer's end". Samhain marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter for the Celts, with the day after Samhain being the official date of the Celtic New Year. The reason the Celts chose this point in time as their new year rather than Yule, when the rest of Western pagans celebrate it, was because the sun is at its lowest point on the horizon as measured by the ancient standing stones of Britain and Ireland.

This is also a time for harmless pranks, lavish feasting, circle games, and merrymaking which can be teasingly blamed on nearby spirits ;) (ala Loki, Abbot, Lord of Misrule etc.)

Samhain bonfires, called balefires in paganism, were once lighted on every hilltop in Britain and Ireland as soon as the sun set on October 30. The word "balefire" comes from the word "boon", which means "extra". The fires serve the purpose of containing the energy of the dead god, lighting the dark night, warding off evil, ushering in the light of the New Year, purifying the ritual space or home, and being the focus of ritual. In many parts of the British Isles these balefires are still lighted on Samhain to honor the old ways.

The idea that evil spirits walk the earth at Samhain is a misinterpretation of the pagan belief that the veil of consciousness which separates the land of the living from the land of the dead is at its thinnest on this night. This does not mean that hordes of evil entities cross this chasm. Some pagans believe this veil is made thin by the God's passing through it into the Land of the Dead, and that he will, for the sake of his people, attempt to hold back any spirits crossing into the physical plane whose intent it is to make trouble. In nearly all the Western pagan traditions, deceased ancestors and other friendly spirits are invited to join the Sabbat festivities, and be reunited with loved ones who are otherwise separated by time and dimensions of existence.

Some modern scholars claim that Samhain's traditional 'trick or treat' custom was derived from a ploy to to scare away fairies and other mischievous spirits, but it has overtones of being a custom of a much later period, perhaps one which grew up around the Burning Times. During the Burning Times, masking and dark clothing hid the identities of witches going to their covens so that they might escape detection. The mask also had the added benefit of frightening away any inquisitor who might happen upon a lone figure in the woods.

http://www.witchway.net/hallows/lore.html

[revelations]

898http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5116454425075609752&q=the+history+of+halloween&total=314&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

[revelations]

899http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1077540724317334372&q=the+history+of+halloween&total=314&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

[phoebe]

lol
Having now watched the video
I have to say what a complete and utter
load of bollocks!
(Excuse my French)

How can a certain day be evil?
This festival is to do with the sun fading into winter.
The pagans (from the word paganus meaning country dweller :rolleyes:)
had to live by the cycles of nature.
The pagan festivals mark these cycles.

Regarding sacrifices -
If animal sacrifices occured, they were
ritually slaughtered and then eaten!
Do you think that is any different to what happens
in slaughterhouses in order for you to eat your
sunday lunch?
Well it is different, in that it is more humane,
and the ritual would be to give thanks for the
animal giving it's life...
We nowadays don't bother with such things
we just breed animals for food and treat them
abominably before they are killed for food, giving
little or no thought to the 'sacrifices' that we make
so that we can eat a steak.

Videos such as this are dangerous, fear mongering rubbish.
Do some real research and visit some real pagans
before you post such piffle.

btw, I take it that you are Christian?

[phoebe]

The part about Dracula is complete rubbish also.
'Dracula' is a fictional novel.
'Vlad the Impaler' however was a real historical figure.
He was a rather ruthless ruler who liked
to enforce his laws by empaling people who
broke them.
What he has to do with Halloween, aside from that
people like to dress as dracula during their celebration
of the modern day corruption of this ancient festival,
is beyond me :rolleyes:

At least if you are going to post something
post something that has at least some bearing on reality.

[revelations]

Do you realise that Halloween is an important day for the Elite, a day when they carry out ritual sacrifices?
lol
Having now watched the video
I have to say what a complete and utter
load of bollocks!
(Excuse my French)

How can a certain day be evil?
This festival is to do with the sun fading into winter.
The pagans (from the word paganus meaning country dweller :rolleyes:)
had to live by the cycles of nature.
The pagan festivals mark these cycles.

Regarding sacrifices -
If animal sacrifices occured, they were
ritually slaughtered and then eaten!
Do you think that is any different to what happens
in slaughterhouses in order for you to eat your
sunday lunch?
Well it is different, in that it is more humane,
and the ritual would be to give thanks for the
animal giving it's life...
We nowadays don't bother with such things
we just breed animals for food and treat them
abominably before they are killed for food, giving
little or no thought to the 'sacrifices' that we make
so that we can eat a steak.

Videos such as this are dangerous, fear mongering rubbish.
Do some real research and visit some real pagans
before you post such piffle.

btw, I take it that you are Christian?

[revelations]

ALWAYS TALKING SHIT AINT YOU, ALWAYS TROLLING OTHER PEOPLES THREADS SPEWING YOUR CRAP ONTO THEM. WHY DONT YOU MAKE A THREAD "ALL BY YOURSELF"... FOR A CHANGE!
The part about Dracula is complete rubbish also.
'Dracula' is a fictional novel.
'Vlad the Impaler' however was a real historical figure.
He was a rather ruthless ruler who liked
to enforce his laws by empaling people who
broke them.
What he has to do with Halloween is beyond me :rolleyes:

At least if you are going to post something
post something that has at least some bearing on reality.

[phoebe]

Do you realise that Halloween is an important day for the Elite, a day when they carry out ritual sacrifices?

It may well be, although I have never
witnessed any such thing.
However...
in line with 'their' usual modus operandi,
they take something and corrupt it,
which then puts the opposite of it's true meaning into
the subconscious minds of the public.

Ghosts, demons, evil at halloween etc
we are even told it is the time of evil (how can it be?
unless god himself is evil?)
It is not - it is the time when the veil between
worlds is thinnest.
Jack-o-laterns were used to ward off mischievous spirits.
Trick or treat came from the old custom of going 'a-souling'.
The poor would go begging from house to house,
and the housewives would give them treats called 'soulcakes'.
The 'soulers' would promise to say a prayer for the dead in
return for a soulcake.

The elite have corrupted this as they have all the other
pagan festivals, and turned them into a way to make money
and most people have no idea of the original meaning.
It doesn't however mean that these festivals are evil
or that they belong to the elite, any more than the
energy that the elite use in their rituals belongs to them.
The energy just IS.
It can be used however anyone sees fit.
Any real witch/pagan will tell you this.
How it is used is down to the intent of the witch etc.
The law of three fold return tells us that whatever energy
you put out, you get returned to you times three.
Anyone practicing black or dark magic knows this equally
and they will get that returned to them just as anyone else
does, it's a natural law.

[phoebe]

ALWAYS TALKING SHIT AINT YOU, ALWAYS TROLLING OTHER PEOPLES THREADS SPEWING YOUR CRAP ONTO THEM. WHY DONT YOU MAKE A THREAD "ALL BY YOURSELF"... FOR A CHANGE!

Quote:Originally Posted by phoebe
The part about Dracula is complete rubbish also.
'Dracula' is a fictional novel.
'Vlad the Impaler' however was a real historical figure.
He was a rather ruthless ruler who liked
to enforce his laws by empaling people who
broke them.
What he has to do with Halloween is beyond me

At least if you are going to post something
post something that has at least some bearing on reality.

Instead of accusing me of trolling
and spewing shit...
why don't you try to prove/show that I am wrong
about Vlad/Dracula?

Another person who doesn't like it that someone
else disagrees or has more knowledge on a subject
than they do.

:rolleyes:

Seriously though, are you Christian?
I'm just asking because if you are then it
would explain a lot to me.
The christians took all the pagan festivals
and planted their own festivals on top of them
to 'cover them up' as it were.
Just as they put their churches on the ground
where all the old pagan temples were...
stealing the energy for themselves.

I am very interested in this subject
and it would be really good to have a discussion
with you where you don't call me a troll
or try to tell me I'm spewing shit just because
we have a different perspective.

Please?

[revelations]

OK pheobe... fair comment. I was raised as a catholic, but recently i have doubted my religion. :confused:

[phoebe]

Thank you :)
I wasn't raised with any religion
but I can understand how difficult it must be
to be raised as such, especially when
you grow older and begin to question it.

I don't think that the roots of any religion
is wrong - god is the creator and made us
to reflect himself.
It's the subtle details and conditioning
that gets in the way, I think, of seeing
the real truth contained within the
religious texts.

So...
I guess as a Catholic you were told that
halloween is of the devil?
I can't say much else apart from that you
could do some proper research yourself
instead of just believing what the video
you posted says without question.

Think about it:
How can a specific DAY be evil?
Unless god is himself evil?
Better to say that god incorporates all that is,
even that which we would call 'evil' and that
at certain special times, these things are
closer to us than usual.
It is a beginning of the times of darkness (winter)
and the pagans weren't afraid to look that in the face
and acknowledge it as part of themselves.