Monday, August 24, 2009

Halloween’s Day


Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. 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. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year. One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Halloween’s Day

Oct. 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, observed with traditional games and customs. The word comes from medieval England's All Hallows' eve (Old Eng. hallow = “saint”). However, many of these customs predate Christianity, going back to Celtic practices associated with Nov. 1—the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Witches and other evil spirits were believed to roam the earth on this evening, playing tricks on human beings to mark the season of diminishing sunlight. Bonfires were lit, offerings were made of dainty foods and sweets, and people would disguise themselves as one of the roaming spirits, to avoid demonic persecution. Survivals of these early practices can be found in countries of Celtic influence today, such as the United States where children go from door to door in costumes demanding “trick or treat.”

Trick or treat, you're so neat.

Give me something good to eat.
Nuts and candy, fruit and gum.
I'll go away if you give me some.

The Story of the Jack O’Lantern

A stingy drunkard of an Irish blacksmith named Jack had the misfortune to run into the Devil in a pub, some say on Halloween night. Jack had too much to drink and was about to fall into the Devil’s hands, but managed to trick the Devil by offering his soul in exchange for one last drink. The Devil turned himself into a sixpence to pay the bartender, but Jack quickly pocketed him in his purse. Because Jack had a silver cross in his purse, the Devil could not change himself back. Jack would not let the Devil go until he promised not to claim his soul for ten years.

The Devil agreed and ten years later Jack came across the Devil while walking on a country road. The Devil wanted to collect, but Jack, thinking quickly, said “I’ll go, but before I go, will you get me an apple from that tree?” The Devil, thinking he had nothing to lose, jumped on Jack’s shoulders to obtain the apple. Jack pulled out his knife and carved a cross in the trunk of the tree. This left the Devil in the air, unable to obtain Jack or his soul. Jack made him promise to never again ask for his soul. Seeing no way out, the Devil agreed. No one knows how the Devil ever managed to get back down!

When Jack finally died years later, he was not admitted to Heaven, because of his life of drinking and being tightfisted and deceitful. When he went to apply for entrance to Hell, the Devil had to turn him away because he agreed never to take Jack’s soul. “But where can I go?” “Back where you came from!” the way back was windy and dark. Jack pleaded with the Devil to at least provide him a light to find his way. The Devil, as a final gesture, threw a live coal at Jack straight from the fire of Hell. To light his way and to keep it from blowing out in the wind, Jack put it in a turnip he was eating.

Ever since, Jack has been doomed to wander in darkness with his lantern until “Judgment Day”. Jack of the lantern became known as the symbol of a damned soul.

People believed that spirits and ghosts left the grave on Halloween and would seek out warmth in their previous homes. Villagers, fearful of the possibility of being visited by the ghosts of past occupants, would dress up in costumes to scare the spirits on their way. They would also leave food and other treats at their door to appease the spirits, so they would not destroy their homes or crops, but instead move on down the road. They also began to hollow out turnips with a face wither painted or carved into it, and place lighted candles inside, hoping the image of a damned soul would scare the spirits away.

The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

Top 10 scary movies



Halloween is often more light-hearted and fun than scary. Still, there are those of us who seek the horror-filled thrills of shock and fright. For a good scare, our crack research team at the Daily Top 10 peeks through trembling fingers and lists the most terrifying scary movies.

As always, feel free to disagree or weigh in with your choices in our comments section.

1. The Shining -- One of many unforgettable performances by Jack Nicholson. This Stanley Kubrick classic is a showcase of cinematography, acting, direction and psychological terror.

2. Scream -- A trend-setter. This movie made horror hip with a cast of young stars and an impressive soundtrack. Scream also inspired a Halloween mask that has all but displaced Jason's hockey mask from Friday the 13th.

3. The Ring -- Oh, this one was scary. With long, narrative scenes broken up by flashes of intensely disturbing imagery, this movie easily leaves a lasting impression. The way the ghost girl moves out of the well is so sickly and exaggerated that it may scar you.

4. The Exorcist -- Perhaps one of the best films of all time. The Exorcist not only frightens, but also questions commonly held religious beliefs and makes a statement about the power of evil.

5. Psycho -- What would this list be without Alfred Hitchcock? From this movie we get the shower scene, now clichéd in horror films, as well as that high-pitched sound effect that accompanies knife stabbings.

6. Blair Witch Project -- You never really saw anything scary in this one, just scared people. The directors left it up to the imagination. The concept was interesting, but the unsteady camera was enough to make you sick.

7. Halloween -- There's no forgetting this major movie franchise. Michael Myers predated Jason as the mute, faceless killer. Besides, the name is only fitting. Would we do this list if tomorrow weren't Halloween?

8. A Nightmare on Elm Street -- The original "Nightmare" introduces Freddy Krueger, another horror-movie character who produced real nightmares for plenty of psychologically scarred children. As with many franchises, the first was creative as well as horrifying -- the sequels not so much. It's worth being on the list just for the creepy, sing-song nursery rhyme.

9. Saw -- No, not "Saw 5." Do these things keep coming out? The horror movie sequel is no longer a surprise, though the bloody gore of the "Saw" movies may come as quite a shock.

10. Plan 9 from Outer Space -- So bad, it's scary. This Ed Wood cult classic combines science fiction and zombies to make the most ill-directed movie of all time. Every cinematographic mistake shows up in this movie, from continuity errors to meaningless closeups. The acting is just as bad, to boot.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Great Halloween Costumes For Kids

In the past, around fifty years ago, mothers use to make costumes for their children during the festival of Halloween and there were no Halloween costumes available for the children in the stores. So the children's costumes were very simple and mostly comprised of gowns with plastic masks and there were as such no designer kids' costumes for the children to wear at the Halloween parties. But nowadays, kids' costumes are available in the market in a vast variety of designs and color patterns. They are gowns only with plastic masks but now they cost around hundreds of dollars which were made free of cost at home by children's mothers. There are various kids' costumes of cartoon characters like superman and batman or there are costumes like that of Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean. There are also costumes available for girls like that of a princess or a witch costume. Today there are no boundaries to the variety of the costumes that are available for the kids in the market for Halloween.

The first step to find a good kids Halloween costume is to listen to the kid about what type of costume he wants for the Halloween. If a girl wants a princess dress then her parents should give her a princess dress. Even a low cost simple princess dress would do the work but if she gets something else then her Halloween would go waste as she would not become happy after getting the dress. So it is very important to listen to the child before buying a kids costume to make the Halloween successful and happy. Mostly boys demand for a superhero dress like superman or power rangers and girls either go for a princess dress or naughtier ones go for a witch dress so that they would have fun in scaring their friends on the Halloween night.

Parents should consult their children about the plans for Halloween and this would make the family's Halloween more enjoyable. It depends on the child that for what purpose he would use his Halloween costume. He might use it for scaring friends or neighbors or join a league of friends who would have decided to wear similar dress in a Halloween party. Some children like to just dress up with nice clothes and show it to other people. These children mostly include girls who like to dress as princess. So it is up to the parents that they seek the purpose of their child's costume.

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