Monday, September 24, 2012

Happy Halloween




Ok guys so this really isn't a post about haunted places or anything like that but simply about the history of Halloween, what it's truly about I've heard so many things from different people, like Halloween is not a time to celebrate that it's worshipping the devil, I've also heard that the reason you dress up and decorate your home is to keep evil spirit's away for another year. But what is Halloween really about do the dead really walk the earth at midnight or is it all made up for fun.
    I'm a Halloween freak if you will if I could I would keep my home decorated year round, and dress in a Halloween costume all the time, yes I know I'm weird that way, but some of us have our favorite holidays and Halloween happens to be mine.


    



    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 offically ended on October 31. The hoilday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
     One legend 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 a manner of ghoulish outfits and noisily parade around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
    The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
    In Greek mythology, goddesses of the underworld were often used to invoke the Samhain. Popular costumes portray Hecate and Medusa. Hecate was the most favored goddess by Zeus, and wandered the emptiness between the worlds of life and death looking for souls of the dead. Both were considered serpent goddesses, and their ancient dark legends spawned myths such as vampires, who fed off the living using venom and snake-like fangs. Ritualistic goddess costumes include snake adornments and three headed masks. Today, Hecate is often referred to as the goddess of witches. The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role. The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates. The custom of trick-or-treat is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
    The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
    According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
    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. So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have parties complete with Costumes or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
 
     
     

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

A Haunted Playground In Argentina






       In Firmat Argentina, there is a playground to most it would look average, except for the swing that just so happens to be swinging by itself.
    In June 2007, a swing in a childrens playground was reported to the police after locals had discovered that it would move backwards and forwards non-stop on its own for ten days before stopping dead, while other swings would remain still. The police, who couldn't conclude an explanation called physics professors. But by October that year, even scientists were "baffled" and could not offer a logical explanation.
    Parents and children were convinced that a ghost was to blame. according to a teacher. " One child called it the blair witch playground. We believe it is haunted". Parents decided that the playground must indeed be haunted.
    A story is told that a little boy was killed in a tragic accident at a construction site not far from the playground, could he be going there to have fun with other children his age?.
    Well some think that isn't likely in fact on April 13, 2011 an episode of the syfy channel show, fact or faked: Paranormal files, went to Firmat to investigate the haunted swing. They were able to recreate the movement of the swing with a monofilament, but determind that it was not a viable hoax. Ultimately, after covering the swing with an inflatable dome and performing simulated wind test, they determined that wind was the likely culprit coulped with the fact that the haunted swing was slightly larger than the other swings and had more surface area to catch the wind.



Watch the video below and tell me what you think it is the wind or a ghost child.