Halloween

 

Samhain/Halloween

Witches and spooks might come a-knocking on your door on the night of October 31. Send them away if you will, by all means, but not because they're enacting a foreign custom. Most Aussies unwittingly have Halloween customs deep within their rattling bones.

Halloween was already an ancient festival of souls 2,000 years ago. It has long been commemorated in countries from Ireland and Poland to Mexico and the Philippines (where trick-or-treating is called Nangangaluluwa, and your chickens are in danger of being purloined).

Halloween customs are relatively new to Australia, but are rapidly establishing themselves. When you come to think of it, every old, cherished custom was once a new-fangled idea, even in the BCE.

The ancient Druids of Britain and Ireland, whose mysteries held sway for centuries before the Romans came to those islands, celebrated a spooky night on October 31. These pagans – Druids, and the Celts in general, of whom they were the priestly class – called it Samhain (pronounced sow-wen – sow as in pig). In the Northern Hemisphere, the day which falls slap bang between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, is November 1. The eve of Samhain, October 31, was the night the lord of death was said to judge the souls of the departed ...

Much more at October 31 in Wilson's Almanac. Have fun!

Fisher's Ghost Festival; Halloween e-cards

Coming in Wilson's Almanac, with free e-cards for family and friends

Halloween in the Almanac

Fisher's Ghost Festival, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia

Commemorates the apparition of Frederick Fisher, murdered on June 17, 1826.
An Aussie yarn for Hallow-bloody-een: Uncle Clarrie tells the true tale of Fisher's Ghost

 

Origins and folklore of Halloween, in the Scriptorium

Oct 29: And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid get ... no, no, no. (Lennon)

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1618 London, England: In the Old Palace Yard of Westminster, just by the Tower of London where he had been held, English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh was executed by beheading. His crime: an alleged conspiracy against James I of England.

In 1595, Raleigh had sailed up the Orinoco River, and, in 1617, he was released from prison in England in order to explore the Guianas, all in search of El Dorado, the legendary South American 'Golden Man', who was supposed to rule a civilization fabulously wealthy in gold. Unfortunately, his failure to set up Guiana for English exploitation did his cause no good at home, and he paid with his life ...

Oct 28: Celtic tree month of Ngetal begins

Celtic tree month of Ngetal (Reed) commences (Oct 28 - Nov 24)

Like other Iron Age Europeans, the Celts were a polytheistic people prior to their conversion to (Celtic) Christianity. The Celts divided the year into 13 lunar cycles (months or moons). These were linked to specific sacred trees which gave each moon its name. Today commences the Celtic tree month of Reed.

"The Reed Month, is said by some to be most favorable for communication with ancestral spirits and the strengthening of all family ties, with magickal associations with fertility, love, protection, and family concerns. 'Thin and slender is the Reed. He stands in clumps at the edge of the river and between his feet hides the swift pike awaiting an unsuspecting minnow to come his way. In his thinness the reed resembles arrows that fly, silver-tipped, up into the unknown air to land at the very source that one had searched for all these years. Firing arrows off into the unknown is an expression of the desire to search out basic truths. If you loose off without direction, the place of landing will be random. If the firing off is carried out with the correct conviction, determination and sense of purpose, then the act becomes secondary to the event that comes both before and after the moment.'"   Source: Earth, Moon and Sky

Oct 26: Death of King Alfred

899 Death of St King Alfred the Great (b. 847?), king of England from 871 to 899. The day was the 26^th of October (because he died "six days before All Hallow's Mass Day"), and the year is now generally thought to have been 899, not 900 or 901 as was previously accepted.

Alfred, the scholar-monarch who ruled southern England, was called the 'Education King' for his dedication to literacy and learning.

We know much of his life from a chronicle written by Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, in around 888. Winston Churchill, not usually reputed for his modesty, when being told that he must be the greatest Englishman that ever lived is said to have replied "No! The greatest Englishman that ever lived was King Alfred".

King Alfred's crown was unique – it had two bells attached to it.

Divine twins

Gidday, thrillseekers. I've been busy with a zillion things, including a few days away from the Bellingen home of Wilson and the Almy, in the Big Smoke - Sydney Town. I'm ba-ack with all the Almanac's daily stuff, such as new ideas and new pages at Wilson's Almanac dot com, the Facebook page (Pip Wilson) and the Blogmanac. I'm grateful for the comments here (unless you hate the Almy), and I'll read them in coming days very soonI'll be busy having my sister come to stay with me and Christmas Day (Krisee Day), my housemate.

Plenty of interesting material in the Almanac about October 25, including the fascinating saints Crispin and Crispian, and how moderns derived the practise of 'giving the finger', or 'flipping the bird'. Or, so it is said. Back tomorrow. Or, so I intend. I try never to say 'I shall' any more'. Life is particularly uncertain for all of us today. It sure han't been certain for me - but I'm still alive after being so badly beaten up on August 6 last year, and nearly murdered three times (that I know of) in two years in Bellingen, the town I've loved since 1965. But all is well with me, as you'll know if you read About Pip.

I'm the uncle of twin blokes, like these two today. Maybe mine are not quite divine, but excellent young men. Like all heredity, twinship fascinates me.

Seeya manana, bananas. Bright blessings. Pip

PS Hang with the new Almanac material, like the Blogmanac, will you please? I'm still half blind from the attack by "at least two carloads" of thugs, which I learned from a former neighbour living miles away, who I tracked down myself - police in Bellingen and Coffs Harbour, despite their promises, and my attempts, are still refusing to speak to me, while telling the lawyers who I engaged to get me some Victims of Crime compensation, "We are still investigating". I first contacted them on December 19, 2010, to thank them for their efforst, share information, and wish them a merry Christmas. I make many errors with my typing because of my very poor eyesight, And I'm trying to remember how I used to do things like the Blogmanac. But I'm getting the hang of it. One step at a time, like when physiotherapists taught me how to walk again last year.  

Adidas, flamingos. Pip


More divine twins

The Greeks called today the Day of the Dioscuri. In Greek mythology the twin brothers Castor and Pollux were called the  Dioscuri by the Greeks (and the Gemini by the Romans). Castor and Pollux, or Polydeuces, are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Polydeuces. They were the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Castor was renowned as a horseman, and Pollus was a famed boxer. The Dioscuri were worshipped as the protectors of travellers. The  Spartans, in particular, worshipped the Dioscuri and carried their images into battle. Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, are related archetypically to the Dioscuri and the cobbler saints, as are Amphion and Zethus of Thebes the Asvins of Vedic mythology.

The constellation Gemini is said to represent these twins, and its brightest stars Castor and Pollux (Alpha and Beta Geminorum) are named for them ...