It's Day 304 of the Year 2018 CE So, October 31, 2018 - for my reference if nothing else. And, because it is Samhain, also Prickle-Prickle, The Aftermath 12, 3184 YOLD
I don't know how it happened, but in trying to get this together I quickly came up with two lists allegedly approximating the cross quarter days / wheel of the year. One is from the Old Farmer's Almanac and one from the Wiki. I don't think I messed with the former, but I added some notes and commentary to the latter. So, here they are:
Old Farmers Almanac March 25, Lady Day. ... June 24, Midsummer Day. ... September 29, Michaelmas. ... December 25, Christmas. ... February 2, Candlemas. ... May 1, May Day. ... August 1, Lughnasadh. ... October 31, Samhain. Wikipedia Midwinter (Yule) Brumalia, sol invictus and Saturnalia (Xmas) Imbolc Feb 1 = Candlemas (WTF is candlemas) Vernal Equinox (Ostara) Eostre and Liberalia (Easter) Beltane Beltane, Floralia, and Walpurgis Night (May Day) Midsummer (Litha) equinox, Lammas/Lughnasadh (harvest, 8/1) Autumnal equinox (Mabon) (ends on WTF is Michaelmas - celebrate the angels, heh) Samhain, halloween = all hallows EVE = huh? celebrate all the saints, hehSo, what happened here? Well, the hierarchy of a certain portion of a certain religion has been trying to eliminate all competition since sometime in the 300s. They've used a wild assortment of techniques including wars, conquest, colonization, assassinations, torture, expulsions, genocide and more. On the less lethal side, they have also practiced something akin to cultural genocide in various ways. One of these was to eliminate, by any and all means possible, rites, rituals and holidays of competing cultures and belief systems, co-opting the dates and some of the symbology and such. For example, a date roughly corresponding to the celebration of sol invictus and assorted other early solstice related gods was chosen for a celebration of the birth of their demi-god and the adoration of the resultant infant being. This holiday observance does not seem well supported as to time of year by their sacred texts, making it seem even more targeted. Trappings from other seasonal holidays and rituals like Yule, possibly Yalda Night and Brumalia and the like were then co-opted and overlaid upon it to speed its acceptance and dominance. There are even hints of the "opposite day" characteristics of Saturnalia in that feudal lords and members of the priesthood, and later, lords of the manor. landlords, employers, merchants, bosses and the like were expected to be, for a while, kind and caring, charitable and all that. Christmas is now, of course, the dominant celebration in most of Europe and much of the Americas. Except for the name, Easter, and the fact that it is plastered with trappings from other holidays like Ostara and Eostre, the celebration of the death of the demi-god doesn't appear to be clearly targeted. Their sacred texts established a clear date in that it is tied to Passover, a specific pre-existing event from the Hebrew sacred texts. Nonetheless, pagan trappings like bunnies, eggs and sunrise sevices were nonetheless borrowed and appended in order to speed its acceptance. OK, those two were events of major, profound significance within their belief system, and seriously required holidays, even though the timing and packaging is somewhat questionable, but what about Halloween. "Halloween" is Samhain and they replaced it with pretty much absolutely nothing. It's a farce. Halloween is "all hallows EVE", nothing in and of itself, but merely the night before something. And what is that something. Zip shit, really. All Hallows, as in what it is the eve of isn't a specific thing either, but a vast scattershot. Hallowmas, All Souls Day, All Saints' Day, is the Feast of All Saints,or Solemnity of All Saints, a celebration of "all of the saints", because, one saint's day per saint just won't cut it. It appears to have been invented sometime in the 800s (CE) and conveniently plopped down on the calendar right where it needed to be in order to make Samhain All Hallows Eve. It has no calendrical connection to any day of the year and is redundant for the vast horde of saints that already have their own saint's day. Did they succeed in displacing Samhain with that feeble attempt? Half and half, I'd say. The name is certainly changed, no doubt about it. But, wander around town and you'll find a proliferation of ghosts, ghoul,s goblins, skeletons (the dead, ya know), ogres, witches, especially witches, anathema that they are, and damn few saints (let alone all of them) on display all over the place. Kids go trick or treating and none dress as saints. Disguises and costumes are the order of the day, even for many adults, but not saints. So how about we get real and call it by its proper name, Samhain.
x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Video(Image is Ethereum Classic Wallpaper - Halloween Pumkin) Crossposted from caucus99percent.com
EDIT: Fixed title spelling