Announcing our 9th Halloween Writing Contest.
https://storiesonline.net/contest/halloween-2020
Submissions open on the 7th of October, until the 29th of October.
Have fun guys.
Announcing our 9th Halloween Writing Contest.
https://storiesonline.net/contest/halloween-2020
Submissions open on the 7th of October, until the 29th of October.
Have fun guys.
Halloween
"How in the halloween should you spell 'Halloween'?
What to Know
The spelling of Halloween derives from it's earlier name All Hallows Even (or eve) which took place the night before All Hallows Day, now known as All Saints Day. All Hallows Even was shortened to Hallowe'en, and later to Halloween. The costumes and the trick-or-treating may come from a mix of Celtic and Middle Ages traditions.
It's that time of year again: time to dress up, buy lots of candy, and inadvertently eat it all. No, we're not talking about your Stranger Things viewing party. We're talking about Halloween. Or Hallowe'en.
It's no accident, I think, that we celebrate Hallowe'en this time of year. For this loveliest time of year, when our cups are the fullest, plunges us into the season of loss. Thanks to the blessing of memory, we know worse times are coming. But we're not there yet.
β Sandra Olivetti Martin, Bay Weekly, 24 Oct. 2019
halloween
The night before All Hallows' Day (the original name for All Saints' Day, November 1st) is called 'All Hallows Even' or 'All Hallows' Eve'. 'All Hallows' Even' was shortened to 'Hallow-e'en' by the 16th century, and the rest is history.
Origin of Halloween Spelling
Oh dear, you may think, there's one of those errant apostrophes that slobs sprinkle throughout the language. Why would the dictionary give in and enter that apostrophized monstrosity? Surprise: that apostrophe is actually original to the word.
When Halloween first came into written use in English, October 31 wasn't the linguistic focusβNovember 1 was. In the western Christian liturgical calendar, November 1 is All Saints' Day, a feast day to honor all the Christian saints. But All Saints' Day wasn't called All Saints' Day until the 16th century. Prior to that, it was known by the name we borrowed from Old English: All Hallows' Day or All Hallows'. Hallow comes from the Old English adjective hΔlig, which means "holy."
All Hallows' used to be a bigger dealβone 17th-century source notes that "the three grand days are All-hallown, Candlemass, and Ascension day"βand since important feast days usually started the night before with a vigil, the evening before All Hallows' gained its own notoriety as All Hallows' Even or All Hallows' Eve. All Hallows' Even was shortened to Hallow-e'en by the 16th century. The word Hallowe'en began to lose its apostrophe in the 18th century, though we still have some evidence for the apostrophized version.
Origins of Halloween Traditions: Costumes and Candy
That explains the nameβbut how do you explain the costumes, the candy, the jack-o'-lanterns? The original date that the early church chose for All Saints' Day was in the spring, but in the western church, it was moved to November 1 in 835 by Pope Gregory IV. This date just happened to coincide with the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the year and the commemoration of the dead. It was believed that, during Samhain, the boundaries between the living and the dead thinned, which made it easier for the souls of the departed to visit the living. Many Halloween traditions, like wearing masks, telling ghost stories, and carving vegetables into lanterns, sprung directly from Samhain celebrations. The Church contributed to Halloween celebrations as we know it, too: an activity called souling, when a person would go from house to house asking for cakes in return for praying for the souls of those in the house, was popular during the later Middle Ages, and may be the inspiration for our modern-day trick-or-treating. Late-night viewings of Young Frankenstein and the traditional rejection of the gross candy from one's trick-or-treating bounty are not part of the historical Celtic or Christian celebrations of the day, however."
And just like that you gave a verbose answer to the question nobody was asking.
Oyster
Everyone count off.
If you were an even number please go stand out in the hall.
That's where the Hall of Evens comes froml
And before the name was hijacked, it was a celebration of the end of harvest season and referred to as Samhain. This is mid way between fall and winter equinox.
This is mid way between fall and winter equinox.
No it's not. Winter doesn't have an equinox The equinoxes(the two days a year where day and night are exactly the same length) are spring and fall. The solstices (longest and shortest days) are summer and winter.
It would be about mid way between the fall equinox and winter solstice.
"I gave the answer to the question nobody was asking" may be a fun halloween story.
It's about a guy who goes to a Halloween party and keeps doing that. It's super scary because no one gets laid after.
And before the name was hijacked, it was a celebration of the end of harvest season and referred to as Samhain.
It actually originated in the South Pacific. In fact there is a song about it. "Samhain chanted evening"
"Samhain chanted evening"
[Verse 1]
Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger
You may see a stranger across a crowded room
And somehow you know
You'll know even then
That somewhere you'll see her, again and again
[Verse 2]
Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughin'
You may hear her laughin' across a crowded room
And night after night
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter will sing in your dreams
[Chorus 1]
Who can explain it? Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try
[Verse 3]
Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love
When you feel her call you across a crowded room
Then fly to her side
And make her your own
For, all through your life, you may dream all alone
[Chorus 2]
Once you have found her, never let her go
Once you have found her, never let her go!
Interesting, as from my perspective I know it as a Celtic celebration, but also one celebrated by many different cultures, past and present.
And before the name was hijacked, it was a celebration of the end of harvest season and referred to as Samhain. This is mid way between fall and winter equinox.
Not really. Almost every single culture on the planet has seasonal celebrations. But for some reason, the neo-pagans always try and claim everything was stolen from them.
And in a few months, they will start screaming the Christians stole "Yule" from them. Then in the spring they stole "Easter". It happens every year. But in reality, when the Celts, Gaelic's, and other groups "Christianized", they imported many of their traditions and overlaid them on top of the ones that were new to them.
More like the early Catholic church appealed to those 'civilizations' that it conquered by incorporating their feast days.
Hell, they started that right from the time they became the state religion, what with incorporating the feast day of Mitras (the other major religion in the legion)
More like the early Catholic church appealed to those 'civilizations' that it conquered by incorporating their feast days.
Most were not "conquered". Christianity was simply never seen before, with a large and very active base of people who promoted and expanded the religion. That was unique in Europe, where most religions were seen as largely cultural to where they were followed.
The religion of the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Jews, none of those were really proselytizing faiths, and other than by immigration never left far from their home regions.
But Christianity, here was something new. A dedicated following, of a religion that from the start said "We are a religion for everybody". And of course when people joined, many brought their old celebrations with them and adapted them.
Not unlike the US. Did we run around "conquering" people to assume St. Patrick's Day, absorb the German traditions surrounding Christmas, or the Irish and Celtic ones related to Halloween? Of course not, the immigrants that came here from those regions brought them over with them and they spread. That was no different.
Just as starting during the Occupation a great many Christian celebrations started to be honored in Japan. That is most certainly not a "Christian Nation", but they grabbed ahold of both Valentine's Day and Christmas and have incorporated them into their society.
Why? Certainly not "conquest", they simply liked them and adopted them.
The Catholic church became the official religion of the roman empire largely due to the fact that most troops in the legions were either christians or followers of Mithras, and when the emperor decided to curry favor from the troops, the coin toss came up heads. Those legions spread across Europe and the middle east, and when they conquered new lands, the Catholics co-opted the feast days and celebrations of the locals and made up some explanation for how it fit in the new 'approved' religion everyone was expected to follow.
The Catholic church became the official religion of the roman empire largely due to the fact that most troops in the legions were either christians or followers of Mithras
Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire when and because the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity.
...and at the time he did that, roughly half the legion was christian and most of the rest followed Mithras.
Constantine's "conversion" was a political move to gain military support for his rule.
Constantine's "conversion" was a political move to gain military support for his rule.
That may well be, but it was a considered political decision and one he stuck by for the rest of his life. It was hardly a coin toss.
He could've easily chosen the 'other' religion of the legion.
Maybe he didn't actually flip a coin to choose, maybe there was some reason the one group would believe his sincerity more than the other, maybe the followers of Mithras would be more supportive of a christian emperor than the christian troops would be if the decision was reversed... but without really good data, it's also possible it was as simple as a coin flip.
but without really good data, it's also possible it was as simple as a coin flip.
It's equally possible that his conversion was genuine and unrelated to politics.
That would depend on ignoring the fact that he was a politician.
No, considering that he was a politician, a genuine conversion is at least as likely as a coin flip.
It's equally possible that his conversion was genuine and unrelated to politics.
Or perhaps he was astute enough to anticipate Pascal's Wager and chose the religion promising the best benefits package ;-)
AJ
That may well be, but it was a considered political decision and one he stuck by for the rest of his life
Here is the funny thing about him.
The "big battle" which he claimed caused him to convert the Empire to Christianity was in 312. But he had already passed a law forbidding persecution of Christians.
And he himself only converted to Christianity on his death bed, 25 years later in 337. It was purely a political move, and during his rule there was no persecution against those following other faiths. That did not happen until much later.
The Catholic church became the official religion of the roman empire largely due to the fact that most troops in the legions were either christians or followers of Mithras, and when the emperor decided to curry favor from the troops, the coin toss came up heads. Those legions spread across Europe and the middle east, and when they conquered new lands, the Catholics co-opted the feast days and celebrations of the locals and made up some explanation for how it fit in the new 'approved' religion everyone was expected to follow.
Wow, what a strange version of history.
In reality, the Roman Empire was already well into it's decline by that point. The high point of the Empire was under Emperor Trajan, almost 200 years earlier. Rome had already lost Egypt by that point, and was barely holding on to much of Germanica. This was seen even further as Constantine basically split the Empire in two, moving the capitol to what is now Istanbul.
And I doubt that claim that "half the soldiers were followers of Mithra, the other half Christians". Most Roman soldiers were locals, raised from the population of the area in exchange for citizenship and land grants for serving 25 years. And the Ronman concept of "dieties" (like most of the world at the time) was not exclusive. They folded in the Mithra beliefs of Zoroastrianism, as they had the beliefs of the Greeks and Egyptians into their polyglot religion. It really was a hodgepodge of many faiths, with their concept of "Gods" being more akin to "Saints" to a later Catholic. Praying to Mithra to help in battle one day, then the very next praying to Mercury to help keep them safe from disease.
The decision to reform the "State Religion" was purely a political one. It let him consolidate many various regions in the hope of them becoming a "single nation", and at the same time by moving East he largely became the head of the Church, sending Rome and the influence of the Pope into a long slow decline.
I suggest you actually learn something about this era, you have it amazingly wrong. I read about "the legions spreading across Europe and the Middle East", and laugh. By that time, they were already past their largest expanse, and were retreating in those area. They had already occupied the "Holy Land" for over 300 years by that time. And their "spreading it in the Middle East" does not even make sense, since that is the area it was founded and took hold long before it spread to Rome.
That would be like claiming Canada expanded the popularity of American Football into the US.
Why? Certainly not "conquest", they simply liked them and adopted them.
Or maybe it is the retailers who like to add to the list of gift-giving holidays.
Why? Certainly not "conquest", they simply liked them and adopted them.
Just like the way the Chinese are converting Uighurs?
Cultural conquest even if it didn't involve battling armies.
AJ
By specially trained no-eye deer?
Even the blind could see that coming...
:)
But if the voting is going to be blind, do the entries have to be submitted in braille..??
But if the voting is going to be blind, do the entries have to be submitted in braille..??
Text to speech, joy. Text to speech.
Also, I hate you. You triggered Richard with that "Samhain Enchanted Evening" line and therby ruined one of my favorite musicals.
Also, I hate you. You triggered Richard with that "Samhain Enchanted Evening" line and therby ruined one of my favorite musicals.
Just sit back, close your eyes and Litha to Emile de Becque Beltane out that song...
...Alternatively, just give Richard a swift kick in the Imbolcs, Yule feel much better.
:)
I had fun last year! I'll have to see what I can come up with. It's a shame I just posted a story with a witch in it at another site today. It's part one of a four part tale, so oh well!
LOL!
I'll have to come up with something new. maybe a werewolf?
Given your usual type of stories... girl tries summoning a incubus, mispronounces a word in the spell and gets a hermaphroditic sex demon. (not sure what they're called)