by Bourne 64 Replies latest jw friends
I usually have a fun night involving parties at various friends homes, visiting the local watering holes and generally having a great time!
This year is a bit different. I'll be going to the coast with my gf and couple of friends. We most likely won't dress up, just have a fun weekend hanging out and enjoying each others' company.
Happy Halloween to all of you! Enjoy your holiday no matter how you spend it :D
Halloween is so fun! Our yearly tradition is to get dressed up and go to a trunk or treat for the neighborhood at the local church (and no we don't attend there or anywhere else for that matter!). They also do a cookout there. This way we get to see all our friends from the neighborhood and kids that my son goes to school with. Then I take the kids back to our subdivision and one other one to go door to door (that just sounds wrong! lol) trick or treating.
This year, since my son is involved in ATV racing, his last race is a local track and everyone in the series is going to meet there and we're gonna have a huge bon fire and do smores and have hot chocolate and then camp out. Should be a lot of fun!!
Ah, yes, the History Channel... They're the same ones who did a program on the myth of Medusa and totally skipped the first 300 - 500 years of her history and origins... Medusa was originally a part (the 'Crone') of a triple-goddess that included Athena as the virgin goddess, with [if I recall correctly...] Ceres or Hera as the Mother aspect... Medusa was worshipped as a goddess in her own right for a time, in North Africa, under a different name that is phonetically similar to Athena...
Halloween started out - in some cultures - as Samhain, pronounced Saw-wahn or Saw-wah. It usually DID NOT include human sacrifice; that was a rumor spread by the Romans who, incidentally, helped incorporate the concept of Human SACRIFICE in the Greco-Romanized version of Jewish/Middle Eastern mythology now commonly known as 'Christianity'...
Recent archaeological digs have indicated that there may have been some truth to the Roman claims regarding the Celtic belief in human sacrifice, but the Romans greatly exaggerated the numbers... Besides, as I am fond of pointing out, the Romans sacrificed [at the very least] thousands of humans in their gladitorial games and bloody spectacles. Though these were not ritualized human sacrifices [though one could make that claim, also, as there usually was an opening ceremony with sacrifices to the gods before these games], the Roman 'kill-rate' was far, far higher than that of the so-called 'pagan' Celts...
Then there's Christianity... Again, the [semi-non-ritualized] human sacrifice committed by Christianity numbers well into the hundreds of thousands [at the very least], especially if you count the peoples killed in the (a) burning of the heretics, when Literalist Christianity rose to dominance over the area of the world formerly occupied by Imperial Rome; the (b) burning of the so-called 'witches', who were usually women of some means and material wealth, which was then co-opted by the Church, lining its pockets; the (c) Crusades, which were exceptional in the barbarism shown by Christians towards the so-called 'heathen' Muslims - and by the way, the Muslim religion had shown a far greater magnanimity towards members of Christianity, and Jews, than demonstrated by the Christians towards either the Muslims OR the Jews...; the (d) further witch-hunts and burnings performed by the new, Protestant branch of Christianity (in fact, the Protestants were the WORST offenders in that aspect, destroying far more women -and men - in so-called 'witch' hunts than the Catholics ever did); the (e) subjucation and forcible conversion of various native peoples in the "New World" from their ancient earth gods and goddesses to Christianity...
The blood on the hands of the Aztecs and the Mayas is nothing compared to the bloody hands of Christianity - including, or especially, the Jehovah's Witlesses...
So! I celebrate Samhain with great pleasure, making it as 'heathen' [ancient earth-mother goddess] as possible... Besides, in the Celtic calendar, Samhain is the BEGINNING of the new year; a time when the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living thins [allowing all those dead spirits to slip through, which inspired - and warped - the Christian mythology regarding the ancient celebration into something with demons and ghouls...], a time when one could consult the wisdom of one's ancestors more directly, due to that aforementioned thinning of the veil between worlds...
So, I think I'll indulge in a bit of psychic seeking. Some mirror work, some acts of divination by peering into a bowl of virgin water in a black bowl (or better still, a cauldron...), some meditation with incense. Since I've just finished 5 (FIVE) Halloween costumes for the neighborhood kids, I finally have some time to myself...
oh, and:
Zid 
I give out candy ( wrapped) to all the lovely little kids that come
Ziddina,
I'm a pagan who will be celebrating Samhain tomorrow night with my pagan friends.
Hello
I wonder if anyone would like to know what a pagan samhain (halloween) ritual is like?
D
x
