HALLOWEEN BLOG

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 20TH

                       Midsummer's Eve

"The last night before the Summer Solstice, June 21.
Identified in the Christian calendar as St. John's Eve, Midsummer's Eve is one of the most magical times of the year, marking the moment when the sun's power gradually starts to diminish.
In order to bolster the strength of the sun, in pagan times huge bonfires were lit on Midsummer's Eve in the hope that this would keep the evil spirits at bay a little longer.
Leaping through the flames was said to promote by magic the welfare of the crops & to purify the souls of those participating in the ceromony.
Burning torches were sometimes carried through the fields to ward off evil, or else burning straw cartwheels were rolled downhill in imitation of the sun on its course through the Heavens.
Herds of cattle might be driven through the smoke of these fires to purge them of any diseases they might be carrying.

[GEMINIGUY]

Modern-Day Druids still attend ritual ceromonies at Stonehenge to mark this auspicious date in the year."


CONTINUED OCTOBER 25TH

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 25TH

              Midsummer's Eve (con't)

"Because Midsummer marks the decline in the sun's power, it is a time when the forces of darkness are believed to be especially active.
Witches favour Midsummer's Eve as a date for the holding of covens and are said to break open hens' eggs  to divine what the future holds in store.
It is also on this evening that anyone who sits patiently in a church porch may eventually be rewarded by seeing the apparitions of all the souls who are fated to die in the parish over the next twelve months.
Nervous people are advised to keep their distance from walnut trees on this date, as these are said to be the meeting-places for demons and other spirits bent on a night of revelry and mischief-making.
Inhabitants of Cornwall claim that this is also a time when snakes gather in huge writhing masses. Children born on Midsummer's Eve, furthermore, will have the power of the Evil Eye."

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 26TH

                                   Cat

"The cat occupies a central position among animals credited with supernatural powers, and in comsequence cats throughout the world are associated with a wealth of superstitions.
The ancient Egyptians bestowed divine status on it and in no circumstances would they kill one (a crime punishable by death). Whole households went into official mourning if a cat died and the corpse would be buried with much ceromony. It was from ancient Egyptian superstition, in fact, that the modern belief that a cat has nine lives was derived.
In later centuries the cat became closely identified with witchcraft throughout Europe and even today no depiction of a traditional witch is complete without her black cat, the form into which sorcerors were often said to transform themselves. Such cats were, it was alleged, fed on the blood of their mistresses.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"Many people once believed that kittens born in May, a month particularly associated with the dead and the practice of witchcraft, should be drowned at once.
They would also show reluctance to discuss family matters of a cat were present, just in case it was a witch's familiar or even a witch in disguise.
In Eastern Europe cats were often marked with a cross to prevent them turning into witches, while in France cats suspected of being witches were often caged and burned alive."

CONTINUED TOMORROW

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 27TH

                           Cats (con't)

"Most significant of all is a cat that is entirely black in colour. A black cat that crosses a person's path bestows good fortune and enables the person concerned to make a wish (though the opposite is maintained in the USA, Spain and Belgium, where white and grey cats are preferred and a black cat brings only bad luck). Variants on this belief, however, suggests that a black cat that turns back or is seen from behind may actually be a bad omen. None the less, the symbol of the black cat as a harbringer of good luck is ubiquitous in the British Isles at least, where simply touching such a creature is lucky and where they are a common motif on good luck cards and so forth.
White cats are widely distrusted throughout Europe, while stray tortoiseshell cats are most unwelcome in the home for fear that they bring bad luck with them.
Cats should never be bought with money, incidentally, for doing so means they will never be good mousecatchers.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"A sneezing cat promises rain but is generally a good omen, unless it sneezes three times, in which case all in the family who suffer colds. A cat that sits with its back to the fire knows that a storm or cold weather is on the way, while one scratching a table leg warns of and imminent change in the weather. Cats wash themselves or frolic with abandon when wet weather is in the offing, but if they choose the doorway for their ablutions this is taken as a sure sign in parts of the USA that a member of the Clergy is about to arrive. If a cat washes its face over the left ear a female visitor is on her way; if it washes over the right ear a man should be expected.
Cats bestow good luck on newlyweds if they appear next to the bride, but must be caught and killed if they jump over a coffin, as this is thought to put in peril the soul of the deceased.
Killing a cat is ill-advised, however, as this is enough to sacrifce one's soul to the Devil, and even kicking a cat lays one open to rheumatism.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"People are warned, moreover, not to allow a cat to sleep with their children for it may, claim ancient authorities, 'suck' their breath and cause them to die.
Miners are reluctant to say the word 'cat' while down in a mine and have refused to work underground if a cat has been seen below and allowed to live.
Sailors and fisherman, though, like to take a luck-giving black cat on their voyages with them, but dislike hearing a cat mewing on board ship as this is a warning of difficult times ahead - while a cat that plays excitedly is indicative of a gale.
Should a ship's cat be thrown overboard or shown any other cruelty, the perpetrators are sure to be instantly punished by a severe storm.
Shutting a cat up in a cupboard or trapping it under a pot is widely believed to raise up a strong wind, and wives of seafarers will often keep a black cat at home to preserve the luck of their husbands while at sea."

BACK TOMORROW

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 28TH

                               Nightjar



"Superstition regards the nightjar, with its nocturnal habits and eerie cry, with a jaundiced eye.
Called the lychfowl or corpsefowl in parts of central and northern England, and the whippoorwill in the USA, the nightjar is supposed by some to be the reincarnation of a child's soul that had died unbaptised.
It is generally considered unlucky to hear the cry of a nightjar after dark as this is a premonition of death, and worse still if the bird alights on a house, for someone within is fated shortly to die.
More optimistic, though, is the US tradition that anyone hearing the bird's first call in the Spring may make a wish, which will almost certainly come true.
In ancient times it was alleged that the nightjar had the habit of drinking milk from the udders of goats, with the consequence that the unfortunate goat went blind.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"In the West Country it is further claimed that the nightjar is a favourite disguise of witches and can only be killed by shooting with a sliver bullet."

BACK TOMORROW

[GEMINIGUY]

October 29TH

                             Black Dog

"Spectal dog of ancient English tradition, which is reputed to appear at places associated with death. Many churchyards and isolated graves claim a Black Dog in local superstition, and sightings have also been reported at sites where murders have been committed.
Descriptions vary, some dogs apparently having huge eyes, while others lack heads altogether.
Locals speak fearfully of the howling of the Black Dog, and many claim the Devil himself often manifeats in such a form."

                           Blackberry

"Prized though the blackberry may be for its succulent fruit, the plant had long been associated with evil.
The Devil is reputed to have cursed it after getting tangled in a blackberry bush when he was cast out of heaven on what was formerly Michaelmas Day (11 October). (con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"Because of this, it is maintained by some that blackberries should never be picked after this date because the fruit will have been spat on of otherwise fouled by him in retribution for the injustice he received (any remaining fruit is in any case usually well past its best by that date).
In France, many people refuse to eat blackberries because of their Satanic links, claiming that it was the Devil himself who made the fruit black in color."

BACK TOMORROW

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 30TH

                              Lychgate

"The fact that the original purpose of the lychgate of a church was to provide a temporary resting-place for a coffin before it was carried into thew churchyard means that lychgates are generally considered unlucky.
It used to be thought particularly ill-omened for a wedding procession to pass through a lychgate: it meant the marriage would fail, or that one of the happy couple would be dead within a year.
Some churches have two gates, one reserved for funerals and the other for weddings, though most newlyweds now pass through the one lychgate without qualms and in most cases without suffering any apparent effects."

                            Lameness

"Various superstitions of ancient origin suggest that it is unlucky to meet a lame person or animal. Most specifically, it is claimed that it is deeply unfortunate for a funeral procession to meet a lame donkey, a certain sign that the recently departed soul is bound for Hell."

BACK TOMORROW

[GEMINIGUY]

OCTOBER 31ST

                               Thirteen

"Of all the numbers, thirteen is the most starred. The prejudice against the number thirteen is almost universal and many people will go to considerable lengths to avoid any association with that number. As a result there are many streets throughout the Western world which have no house with this number, and many hotels which lack a room thirteen and even a thirteenth floor, going direstly from twelve to fourteen.
Witches' covens traditionally have thirteen members, and in tarot card decks the number thirteen ir reserved for Death.
Most unlucky of all is the discovery that one has sat down to dinner at a table where thirteen people are present, a reference to the fact that there were thirteen people present at the Last Supper, where Judas Iscariot was the thirteenth. Superstition has it that the first person to rise (or otherwise the last person to be seated) will die within a year.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"The only remedy is for all to sit or stand together, or for one or more of the party to be seated at another table.
Equally ubiquitious is the fear that a Friday, itself an unlucky day, that falls on the thirteenth day of the month is a day when anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Even in modern technologically advanced society, business will fall off whenever a 'Friday the thirteenth' comes round as important deals are delayed until a more propitious date. New undertakings of many other kinds, including weddings and other events of a personal nature, will also be postponed.
In reality, the prejudice against the number thirteen is of obscure origins, as evidence exists of it in Roman civilisation long before Christ and the Last Supper, which is none the less usually cited as the source of the superstition.
Perhaps significantly, the number thirteen was to ancient Egyptians the last step of the ladder via which the soul reaches eternity, though other authorities gave suggested Hindu origins."

[GEMINIGUY]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO MY CONSTANT READERS, TO ALL HERE AT KRISTEN'S BOARD, ESPECIALLY TO ELIZABETH, THECLOWN74, COACHERIC, STACI, MISSBARBARA AND MOST OF ALL LADY GINA WHO SEEMS TO LOVE MY HALLOWEEN BLOG!

AND BRODY, IF YOU HAPPEN TO CATCH THIS, GET BETTER SOON, BUD!

G.

[GEMINIGUY]

Friday, October 1st, 2016

                                Sea

"The sea has always inspired feelings of awe and dread and in ancient times was considered the source of all evil. The Great Beast in the Book of Revelation is described as rising up from the sea, and the lingering doubts that man harbours about the world's oceans are reflected in the countless taboos and superstitions relating to the business of travelling over its surface.
The creatures which inhabit the sea and the birds that fly above it are often regarded with suspicion, though sightings of even such ominous animals as the albatross and shark are not necessarily unlucky in all circumstances.
The sea itself has its beneficial aspects too: taking a spoonful of seawater every morning, for instance, is said to increase a person's chance of living to a great age, according to the Welsh.
(con't)

[GEMINIGUY]

"Many seafarers personalise the inherent malevolence of the sea in the mythical figure of Davy Jones, who whips up storms and causes shipwrecks almost at whim (sailors and a good many landlubbers still talk of drowned seamen sleeping in 'Davy Jones' Locker). It has been suggested that 'Davy Jones', who was first heard of in the eighteenth century, was introduced through a combination of the West Indian 'duppy' (meaning 'devil') and the English name Jones, which may itself have been a derivation of Jonah, the name of the luckless Biblical seafarer."

[KitKat]

Very interesting. 

[MissBarbara]

GG, I'm SO happy to see this thread is back for another year! I can't wait to read this year's entries!