Loads of Halloween Decoration Projects   The Art of Halloween Haunting

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Druidry started possibly as far back as 5000 BC, It is a paternal order with Druid Priests. They continue the seasonal festivities and in the Autumn when the leaves die, naturally the Druids wish to remember their dead relatives. So they have a traditional annual celebration. Not having any written scripture, or written language, at the time, the traditions were passed along verbally, and continues to the present day.

Celts beginning from 1500 - 1000 BC and continued on into the middle ages. They also had no written language, and so the verbal language and dialects split rapidly , making large scale organization impossible. As a result the people were eventually absorbed into other cultures. One of the Celtic traditions was Samhain (pronounced sou-wen), a year end celebration, on October 31^st

The term Pagan refers to any spiritual people other than Islamic, Jew, or Christian.

Occult means hidden knowledge, So anyone possessing knowledge about Chemistry or Herbal Medicine which was not widely understood was labeled occult. Black Magic is the use of Chemistry and Herbal Medicine.

In those days, when Church and State were not separate (as if they are now?), it was all about converting whole other religions, in order to gain more political power. One tactic in this effort was to adopt the local traditions and festivals and adapt them into the Church's ceremonial rituals. Thereby inviting people with familiar activities, which would ease them into the transition.

Constantine (272 AD to 337 AD) Changed the Celtic Sun festival, December 25^th, into Christmas, and Changed the Autumn festival, Samhain, into Michaelmas, to attempt convert the Pagan people.

During the Dark Ages (480 AD to 1000 AD) In 609 or 610 Those in power adopted the Pagan Celebration honoring the dead on May 13^th, calling it All Saints Day, in another effort to convert the Pagan people.

In the 800's some European people went door to door for Soul Cakes on All Saints Day to help their dead relatives get into Heaven.

Around 900 AD All Saints Day was dropped, and the Pagan Celebration honoring the dead on Nov 1^st, was adopted and renamed as All Hallows Day. The evening before became All Hallows Eve, Hallow Eve, Hallow E'en, and then Halloween.

The word Halloween was coined by those in power for their own festival, which they created as a tool to gain more political power.

The conversions were not quick enough for the leaders, so they persecuted the followers of the old religions labeling the Witches as devil worshipers. Of course they were not, since there was, and is, no such entity in the Wicca belief system.

The Crusades from 1095 into the 1500's Military campaigns of religious conversion using persecution, torture, and burning.

While the Crusades were winding down, the Renaissance began to move across Europe from the 1300's to the 1500's Bringing Scientific, musical, and cultural advances. Much of Black Magic and Occult knowledge of chemistry and medicine became part of scientific knowledge.

The American Revolution in 1776 allowing religious freedom.

The Great Potato Famine 1846 to 1850 prompted a migration of Scots and Irish to the USA and they brought their Halloween traditions along. American youth quickly joined in on the pranks, which were jokingly blamed on ghosts.

The French Revolution in 1879 launched a shift in power away from the Church to the State, which began to allow religious freedom in France.

In the USA during the depression in the 1930's in response to the children's Halloween pranks, the grownups began bribing children with candy on Halloween to leave their homes in peace.

Wicca Persecution   Halloween festival folklore   Halloween history and customs   Halloween Rich and Colorful  

Some Anti-Halloween web sites run a disinformation campaign against Halloween by twisting the natural symbology of Wicca with labels of demons and satan. Wicca is about nature and has nothing to do with that stuff.

Some web pages claim to be Pro-Halloween, but slowly down the page turn Anti-Halloween. First they say Halloween is "harmless fun" and give a historic overview, but then they push alternative names for festivities and events on October 31^st like "Harvest Festival" and "Holy-Ween". If you are organizing an event on Halloween, don't call it something else. Why would anyone want to take the Halloween out of Halloween celebrations? After-all the word Halloween was coined by church going people hundreds of years ago, so there is no reason for them to disassociate themselves from it now. Besides if their new word sticks, it will soon take on the same whole pop-culture meaning with the spooks, and the scary things.) To top it off, at the bottom of some Anti-Halloween web pages, they offer exposé books for sale about the "evils of Halloween".

Other web pages have a mix of Pro-Halloween graphics and Anti-Halloween rhetoric, They ask rhetorically if God fearing people should adopt Halloween practices. (Sorry to break the news, but not only did they already adopt, recreate, and rename Halloween practices 1700 years ago, but they also reinvented, and renamed it again 1100 years ago.)

Some web pages put the Druids down for animal sacrifice, which at that time in history had been a common practice throughout the world for thousands of years. Put yourself in there time: With no refrigeration, their entire society had to slaughter their own food on a daily basis. So, to their minds, there was nothing odd at all about killing animals. And they had no written language, and no knowledge about the causes of disease. (The intent of animal sacrifice was for future good crops and future good health, given their knowledge and understanding of the world. Today's agricultural and health-care researchers sacrifice animals daily in their scientific research for the same intent, future good crops and future good health, given their knowledge and understanding of the world.) Since refrigerators were invented, most people never experience the natural course of slaughtering their food. So it is our society, not the Druids, which has developed an odd mental view about killing animals.

It is part of human nature to use religion as an excuse to be extremely nasty to other people (That is: Burning, torture, persecution, and all kinds of murder, and war) The real reasons for those behaviors have always been power, money, fear, and revenge. But human nature having the desire to quiet one's conscience finds a way to twist any religious belief system into an excuse for committing persecution and murder. The rationalization that "We are good and they are an evil threat." has been used throughout history, by those craving power and money, to rally almost any group of people into a destructive force by using fear and revenge. They just trick the people by making up a lie about the target. In this case the target is the generous people who celebrate Halloween, and there seems to be no end to the lies about us.

People who like Halloween are generous. They will spend their time effort and money decorating their homes, preparing costumes, and parties, for the sole purpose of bringing joy to other people.

It is no wonder that the stingy and cold hearted people, who won't open their doors, start to feel guilty. And it is only human nature that to quiet their guilt, they will find a rationalization as their excuse for being stingy. Even though it takes all kinds, remember we are all in this together, so we should thank them, because without all their opposition, it wouldn't be half as much fun.

Fun for kids, teens, and adults alike. - Builds community spirit. - Teaches about generosity. - Good for the economy. - Encourages creativity. - Builds lasting good memories. - Builds family unity. - Good exercise. - Fresh air. - Encourages Reusing (items for making costumes and decorations) (one of the 3 R's). - Encourages trading and sharing among siblings and friends. - Brings an interesting side to history. -

The one time when entire neighborhoods socialize. One of the few festivals remaining in modern society. On your own, or with friends, or family, it's all good on Halloween.

Many babies get a young start at Trick or Treating. They get the fastest stroller ride of the year all over town, all dressed up. They can't hold the sack tightly enough yet, and they are not even on solid food, so everyone knows that the parents will eat the baby's candy ... they are the best. They are building family unity, comunity spirit, and passing on the fun tradition.