Sunday, October 10, 2010

Origin of HALLOWEEN or SAMHAIN


ON HALLOWEEN STRANGE SIGHTS ARE SEEN



WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME?
Samhain or “Samhuinn” is pronounced “sow-” (as in female pig) “-en” (with the neutral vowel sound)

Samhain became the “evening” of “All Hallows” (“hallowed” = “holy” = “saint”) which was eventually contracted into “Hallow-e’en” or the modern “Halloween.”

Samhain was the beginning of the Winter or Dark Half of the Year

The day before Samhain is the last day of summer
THE VEIL
Being “between” seasons or years, Samhain was (and is) considered a very magical time, when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past, present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination. I have been recently been watching the series the veil with Boris Karloff where he tells real stories of strange and unexplainable happenings that occur because of a thin veil where strange events, including the dead coming to visit the living occur. Here is a short clip of his intro of this fascinating vintage show.


There is some evidence to indicate that three days were spent celebrating this festival. Something that I wish was observed today, as I adore this festival

A PERIOD OF NO TIME

Samhain, from 31 October to 2 November was a time of no-time and in the past it was considered a time when chaos could reign. apparently time was abolished for 3 days and people could do crazy and uncharacteristic things during the celebration men dressed as women and women as men. For example farmers’ gates were unhinged, peoples’ horses were moved to different fields, and children would knock on neighbors’ doors for food and treats in a way that we still find today, in a watered-down way, in the custom of tTrick-or-treating on Halloween.

A TIME TO CONTACT THE DEAD
It is believed that during this time, those who are gifted or participle in ritual, could safely travel between this world and the World of the Ancestors to ask for guidance and inspiration rather than view these visitations as sources of fear or dread.



It was also a perfect time for divination or “fortune telling”



THE ANCIENT CUSTOM OF TICK OR TREATING



The term “trick or treat,” didn't appear in print until 1939! It seems that during the med-evil times that when these adults begged for beer and what not, if they came upon a home that was less than generous, they may have come back in the wee hours of the night and pulled some prank on them, this is thought to be the origins. Then in the 1930’s adults sought out ways to control the previously harmless but now increasingly expensive and dangerous vandalism. Towns and cities began organizing “safe” Halloween events and householders began giving out bribes to the neighborhood kids as a way to distract them away from their previous anarchy. The tradition has taken root .

WHY DO WE WEAR COSTUMES?


They were intended to scare away the unseen spirits of the night .It has been very interesting to me to see what has happened to Halloween costumes in the years that I have been alive. As a child we dressed up scary, period.



The wicked witch is scary!

Ghosts,goblins, witches, Frankenstein and occasionally an alien or for the boys cowboys and Indians were acceptable. I have all my adult life, been a witch., a telling indicator about my character, but each year I faithfully don my witches hat and black dress and pointed shoes. Today , at a party or out in the bars , we still find out fair share of spooky, those older than 40, but the attire is clearly leaning toward SEXY.



The tradition of dressing scary was to frighten away the evil sprites, demons and those entities that passed through the veil and could cause us motels harm. The scary lite pumpkins were meant to do the same, to frighten .Now we are deliberately trying to SEDUCE them!! Our ancestors would be horrified, think about it, this would seem a type of heresy. why would any one want to attract the forces from beyond?



This is our perception of today's witch and she devil

Whereas in 1914 as seen in this vintage postcard the witch is ugly, frightening and hovering over her boiling cauldron of evil brew.
As seen as far back as with Shakespeare with his Macbeth witches

Bonfires were a central part of the old Samhain/Halloween tradition and still are in places around the world, and are a part of this family's tradition. Why bonfires? once again to fight off the darkness and keep those that are in the dark where they belong. Another device to frighten off the evil spirits of the eve when they can easily move into our realm of the living.


Visit this blog right now and pick up many free downloads of die cut vintage Halloween images such as this one














Enjoy this spooky collection of some
of the fun associated with this special holiday.
Two items are featured from funkyfindzonine.artfire.com

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Creepie babies and other fun things that go pump in the night

Ghost lovers love FASHION TOO



Handmade Jewelry

This is a very interesting and steam punk influenced collection created by an artisan from artfire and on of my recycled suitcases was featured .I thought it has an eerie fear and wanted to share it. For those of you who have heard of STEAM PUNK but arnt really sure what it is, I thought I would define it, it is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. it also involves an era where steam power is still used such as in the 19th century or Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.

Because of the popularity of steampunk with goths, punks, cybergoths, industrial music fans, gamers, and geeks, there is a growing movement towards establishing steampunk as a culture and lifestyle.

To get a real feel for the fashion and what not I suggest that you watch a movie, and the best has to be The city of lost children released in 1995.
He sure has a Mayan profile




It is very popular with jewelers and other artisans right now and I took my hand at it with my creation of this case . It is dark , mechanical and very futuristic with the slant on mad max way of our future days, everything is pretty bleak. I created this case with two aims in mind, steam punk , and halloween , see how it fits into both rather well? Lets face it, steam punk is spooky and scary, if we saw a ghost dresses in some of these horrors, what would we think?

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