Bet you’re all excited to hear more about chemtrails, aren’t you? Yeah, me neither.
The Origins of Halloween
There we are, that’s better. My name is Schwarherz, and I run the Heathen Ramblings blog. SME and Hans are taking a little break for their sanity, so they asked me to come talk to you about Halloween. It would seem that some “former Satanists” and “former Pagans” who “found Jesus” (he was behind the couch the whole time! Who would’a thunk it?) have said some…interesting things to say about the origin of this particular holiday.
This guy had nothing to do with it.
That’s right, if your preconception of the origin of Halloween involves “Satan” or “The Devil” you can throw it out the window right now. If you don’t think you can do that, then I won’t be able to teach you anything and you might as well stop reading now. I’ll wait for those of you who are closed-minded to leave.
…
They gone? Good.
Now, Halloween is special (and, in this case, by special I mean not special at all) among religious holidays in that it has multiple origins. First I’ll discuss the one that many people are apparently unaware of: Samhain (don’t try to pronounce it, you’ll only embarrass yourself).
Samhain is a Gaelic/Celtic festival that marks the beginning of winter, and thus the end of the harvest season. As such, it is also a Day of the Dead. Traditionally it is held at the halfway point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. This can be…tricky to calculate from year to year, so in more modern times it is simply rounded to October 31 or November 1. In many traditions, including Wiccan and Celtic traditions, it is believed that the veil between our world and the “otherworld” is thinned on this day. This allows spirits of the deceased, among other entities, to cross over and interact with our world. One of the more common traditions in the Pagan community is to set an extra place at the table on Samhain for the spirits of the dearly departed to attend and spend time with their loved ones once more. In ancient times all kinds of sacrifices were made. However, as Samhain is at its core a harvest festival, humans were rarely sacrificed. Most sacrifices were, in fact, livestock and other items that were truly “harvested.” Living sacrifices have fallen out of favor with the modern Pagan community as the times have changed. Today any sacrifices made tend to be things like bread crumbs and grape juice/wine and, of course, human sacrifices are completely forbidden. Quite the contrast to the tales of “door-to-door sacrifice collectors” and the like, is it not? Other practices included carving of harvested materials into faces to ward off evil spirits, bonfires, and general revelry.
The other origin of Halloween lies within Christianity itself. All Hallows Eve is the first day of the Hallowmas, a holiday commemorating all of those who have been beatified. It starts on October 31 and finishes on November 1 with All Saints Day. November 2 is All Souls Day, and commemorates the souls of those who have yet to be purified and reach Heaven. Personally, I was raised Lutheran and converted to Paganism when I was 13, so I admittedly don’t know much about Hallowmas. I’m also not going to trust Wikipedia 100% on something like this. If you’d like more information on it I would suggest a trip to your local library or bookstore (just…stay away from the conspiracy junk, ok?).
Avoid things like this
As for the other rumors that have been spread around by these phonies, it almost makes me feel dirty just responding to them, but here goes.
Druids burned candles made of human fat: Unfortunately, due to the persecution of Pagans in the last several hundred years we may never know the truth of this. However, as the Samhain sacrifices were done via fire this seems unlikely in the extreme. Also, because human sacrifice does not occur in modern-day Paganism, any rumor of this occurring in the modern era has to be ruled as completely false or done by those only claiming to be pagan.
Sacrifice of Virgins and Door-To-Door Sacrifice Collectors: To my knowledge, no deity demands a virgin sacrifice. Also, as stated previously, sacrifices of humans was rare in the Druidic community. Usually those sacrificed would be a criminal of some sort. Think of it as an ancient form of the death penalty, as it were. Occasionally there would be willing sacrifices, but those were volunteers, not “door-to-door” by any means. Door-to-door sacrifice collectors just would NOT have happened. Population growth was too important to the ancients.
All-in-all, you have to realize, what these “former pagans” and “former satanists” want is attention. Maybe they truthfully grew up in an abusive or neglected home. Perhaps they grew up showered in attention and then emerged into the real world; upon which they discovered that not everyone was willing to give them their undivided attention. Or maybe, just maybe, they truthfully believe that paganism and Satanism are the same thing, and that both deal with the Christian devil (neither do) and, since they couldn’t find anyone who had converted, they invented one. Themselves. Whatever their backgrounds or motives, their intentions are the same. Attention. Whether for themselves or for their churches. They become the grown-up (or in some cases elderly) versions of the little kid that everyone wants to backhand in the grocery store because their parent won’t discipline them. The difference here is that YOU can discipline them. How? Call them out on their lies (they will get very angry and accuse you of being “them” but ignore it), politely tell them to “keep their opinion to themselves” or, best yet, completely ignore them. Let them disappear into obscurity.
The truth always wins out in the end.
Pingback: The Prodigal Witch Part VI: Tom Sanguinet | Swallowing The Camel
Pingback: The Prodigal Witch | Swallowing The Camel
Pingback: King Kevin Carlyon « Heathen Ramblings
I just wanted to say that I adore the work you’re doing!
Thank you.
I wanted to share a video with you, I think you’ll appreciate where it’s coming from as much as I do.
Here it is: http://youtu.be/a6akkb_afqs
Not completely sure how that video is relevant to anything. Unless, of course you’re trying to propagate the conspiracy theory linked to it via the description?
What’s your opinion on Aleister Crowley please. ? Also, how do you know that “population growth was important to the ancients”, for example.
Aleister Crowley is…complex. The man was important to the foundation of the practice of Ceremonial Magick, but at the same time was several varieties of coocoo for coco puffs.
So far as how I know that population growth was important to the ancients, it’s simple. Most faiths, Christianity included, have or have had some type of “go forth and multiply” implication to them. It’s simple population sustainability and survival. There is a festival (now multiple with the advent of Wicca) devoted entirely to fertility.
I’d be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Yes, but the context is not faiths, rather Druidism and human sacrifice. What is your source for population growth being important to Druids ?
I’m sorry was that not clear? Drudism is a faith after all. The festival I was talking about, Beltane, is theirs. If you’re asking for a book source, I have none.
So you have no proof that the Druids promoted population growth other than you consider Druidism a “faith” and the Christian Bible (revised by Stuart King and UK amalgamator James 6th and 1st) advises to “go forth and multiply ?
Maybe the druids sacrificed infants born with disabilities, have you considered that ?
cheers
Please note that I did not say that human sacrifice did not happen, merely that it was less common than “former pagans” and “former satanists” claim. Also infanticide was a well documented part of the ancient world. They either didn’t understand what was wrong with the child or understood that it would die anyway or, in the case of the norsemen in Iceland, used it as a form of population control.
Yeah, but how do you know that for sure. You don’t. You are somehow assuming, without any proof, that it was less common than “former satanists” claim (and note here, I don’t know what they claim) whilst, in the post, you state that the rationale was : because “population growth was too important to the ancients”. When I asked you for some sort of proof of this, you turned to the Christian Bible for the quote “go forth and multiply”. Thus, I rest my case; in this instance you are as bad as the conspiracy theorists you attempt to debunk, given you have absolutely no idea of what the Druids really got up to in terms of human sacrifice. I am not trying to be obnoxious, just pointing out that on a “debunking” site surely one has to be sure of the truth of what one writes. Rather like if a policeman breaks the law, generally the court comes down harder on him.
Notwithstanding all of that, one assumes that per your last sentence, the Norsemen were not advocates of the ” importance of population growth”, although I concede I am unsure of whether you refer to “ancient Norsemen” or more up to date ones.
Sorry, but you have dug a big hole for yourself with this post and yet rather than admit to that, you keep digging.
I am referring to the ancient norsemen. During the Christianization of Iceland, part of what caused resistance to the idea was the concept of not being able to continue infanticide, which they believed would lead to overpopulation. This particular fact is easily researched. And again you ignore that I used as my evidence the Celtic festival of Beltane which celebrates fertility. The reason I used the go forth and multiply line was to provide an understandable link because I assumed (my apologies for that) that you were Christian. What other evidence would you like?
Some actual evidence that the Druids were into “population growth” ?
What part of “whole sacred holiday devoted to fertility” don’t you get?
My understanding is that a woman is only truly “fertile” for a couple of days a month. Did all the woman time it, so that their “sacred” holy-day was similtaneous ? What percentage of the then “population” actually subscribed to the festivities ?
We have a holiday at May Day, a throwback to some sort of “pagan ritual” or other. It doesn’t mean that everyone is shagging that day, trying to multiply.
Plus, if they were only atttempting, perhaps allowed, to reproduce on that single “festival” day, then, to colloquoilise, not many bairns would be kicking about over the year.
cheers
To explain, Mayday is, in fact, Beltane. And, back in the day when it was originated people certainly were shagging that day. And no, they were completely allowed to reproduce any other day and many did, just Beltane was the day it was celebrated.
Some comments deleted ? Think the crux was in response to this :”During the Christianization of Iceland, part of what caused resistance to the idea was the concept of not being able to continue infanticide, which they believed would lead to overpopulation. This particular fact is easily researched.” which blatently contradicted this : “Population growth was too important to the ancients.”