Thread: Halloween/Samhain

[QUOTE=Vir Sapiens;34672]One should never scoff at old traditions no matter how ridiculous they might seem. Halloween is one of those things that we got twisted, but at least we still do it. I shudder to think what might happen if Halloween were suddenly gone. No more masks, no more jack o' lanterns. As everyone knows the veil between the living and the dead gets thin at this time of year. The world is starting to die, but it has just enough life left in it to be tempting. There will always be unhappy souls who want just a little bit more life, who wait right there on the cusp of our worlds, hungrily gazing in and on Halloween they get a chance to make a grab for as much as they can. The old wards, a masked face and a jack o' lantern, are still the best wards. I also leave milk, meat, and a green vegetable on a white plate at the end of the drive to placate those spirits who have wandered this side of the veil.



I think this is so beautiful. Thank you !

Originally Posted by Belasko

Where do you get your facts?

Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year In Britain by Ronald Hutton. He's one of the foremost authorities on pagan religion and history in the British Isles. It's a fascinating read. I thoroughly recommend it.

The man teaches at Bristol, has fellowships at Magdalene and Oxford and has published several scholarly books on the subject, including that one debate he had with that chick in Cauldron years back about Murray's theories of the Witch Cult versus Cohn's, much sounder in my opinion, theory of minority persecution. That's hardly amateur material. The man has devoted his academic career to studying 17th century and Pagan Britain. To my mind that makes him an authoritative voice on the subject and certainly not an amateur.