* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Samhain

Blobrana · L

Samhain is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31 - November 1.
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Blobrana · L

Druids, witches and other Pagans have been commemorating what they know as the festival of Samhain.
Others equate Halloween with pumpkins and sweets, but for Pagans it is a time to summon spirits, drink sacred mead and remember the dead.
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Blobrana · L

Happy Samhain!

Blobrana · L

Happy Samhain!

Blobrana · L

Americans love Halloween, and despite the fact that the holiday has religious and European origins, we Americans have put our own unique spin on the event.
Halloween dates back thousands of years to the ancient Celtic peoples in England and Ireland who lit large bonfires to herald the coming of winter and the increase in darkness. When the Romans conquered England and Ireland, their custom of commemorating the passing of the dead in late October became intermingled with the holiday.

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Blobrana · L

Halloween is sacred or sacrilege, mischief or meanness, depending on the who, how and why of its observance.
Churches have taken to subverting the secular emphasis on things that go bump in the night and trick-or-treat in scary costume into a softer version of the Halloween festivals. Better to throw a good party than forbid a bad party, they reason.

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Blobrana · L

November 1 is the date of an ancient pagan fire festival of Samhain (Sah-ween). The date marked the beginning of winter.
We Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year travelled into the other world. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honour of the dead, to aid them on their journey.

Blobrana · L

With all the excitement and hype, the history of Halloween often gets lost behind ghoulish masks, fairy-princess dresses and stacks of tiny chocolate bars.

But, as it turns out, those who don ghastly costumes that depict the rising of the dead are actually paying homage to the holiday's original meaning.
First celebrated by the ancient Celts as Samhain, or "end of summer," Halloween was first a pagan fire festival and feast based on the phases of the moon. It was believed that on Oct. 31, the night when summer turned to winter, the boundary separating the living and the dead was blurred and the spirit world became accessible to the mortal world through burial mounds.

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Blobrana · L

Just a wee note to say sorry for the lack of updates,
but i was celebrating the pagan festival of Samhain.

:smile: