So this morning Marcos asked me who invented Hallowe’en … and although I quickly remembered the reference to All Hallows’ Eve, I couldn’t quite remember what that meant. So in the spirit of the day. I bring you the history and origin of All Hallows’ Eve (or Halloween for you less adventurous types).
The modern holiday of Halloween has its origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced /ˈsˠaunʲ/ from the Old Irish samain). The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is erroneously[2] regarded as ‘The Celtic New Year’.[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The Ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them. When the Romans occupied Celtic territory, several Roman traditions were also incorporated into the festivals. Feralia, a day celebrated in late October by the Romans for the passing of the dead as well as a festival which celebrated the Roman Goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit were incorporated into the celebrations. The symbol of Pomona was an apple, which is a proposed origin for the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.History of the NameThe term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe’en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of “All Hallows’ Day”, also which is now known as All Saints’ Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints’ Day from May 13 to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints’ Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.Now you know … and knowing is half the battle.Love All. -D 😉
Month: October 2007
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All Hallows’ What?
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From the road …
I always have mixed feeling about being away from home. On the one hand it is certainly nice to get out, and see the world, be amongst friends. Of course the flip side is that I mis my family. Luckily, or maybye, unluckily, I don’t have to do it that often, so it is usually an enjoyable experience. I managed to get myself out of Aspen a little early today, in the hopes that I would be home in time to tuck the monkeys into bed. Being away from the boys really makes me appreciate them so much more. (Talk to me in a couple of days, and see if I still have any patience left). As for the lovely and unprecidently joyful Hong … the truth is I miss her, and the little bits that I often find myself thinking are going to drive me crazy are the same little things I miss the most. I suppose that I have to learn to live with missing them. And continue to try to make the most of the opportunities I have. So I will sit here in the Denver airport and try to beg my way on to an earlier flight … wish me luck.Oh, by the way … The job in Aspen went GREAT and we (mostly Chase, but here is to the team) made some amazing photographs.
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Aspen
Aspen is very beautiful. No doubt, a little pretentious around the edges, but what would you really expect from a town where a 299 sq ft condo is selling for a mere $999,000. We’ve found a really nice place to stay, great location, sorta late ’70s early ’80s vintage, but really quite nice none the less. The crew all rolled out this morning at 7:30AM, and I have the house all to myself for a bit. Which is good, because I am used to a certain amount of silence in my life, usually found in the wee hours of the morning, laying next to my sleeping beauty. But, for this trip I am bunked in with Cody and the peace and quiet not only gives me a chance to get ready for the onslaught of technical work to be done this afternoon and this evening, but just to sit and enjoy a coffee on the deck.-Love All. 😉
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Staying connected
You may or may not know that I am traveling right now … but as I was sitting in the Denver Airport, looking around, I couldn’t help but wonder what we all used to do before we were trying to stay connected …
I was looking around at all of these folks, faces buried in laptops, cellphone pressed to their ears, thumbs feverishly moving across their Crackberries, and just trying to remember what it is that people did in airports 15 years ago. I am not trying to be an elitist, not at all … every second I had I was checking my iPhone, or pulling the laptop from the bag. Not for any particular reason, I just didn’t know what else to do … -
Now that’s what I call brand loyalty
So this story has been floating around the blog cycles the evening, and i just thought that the end result was so contrary to typically corperate policy, that it was worth mentioning …From: The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs :
Check out this story.
A guy’s Powerbook burst into flames under his bed and nearly killed him. Fire department was called, apartment ruined, guy had to move into a hotel for a while. He calls us up, we send him a MacBook Pro, and he goes away happy. Money quote: “The funny thing is, a Mac almost killed me, and I came out of the whole experience feeling more strongly about Apple as a company.” Now that is loyalty. Yes, Apple faithful, you are truly a unique customer base. And we are sooooo glad to have you. Really. I mean it.Crazy, really. Worth the read.- Love all. 😉
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Update ?
So if I write simply for the sake of writing, with nothing in particular to say, and no news to divulge … is it really an update? Well, clearly I am not the one to answer the question, and all previous requests for even a single comment have gone unheard, but if you are reading, and you have an answer, leave it in a comment. It’s really neat to have comments …
Work is going really well. The boys and Hong are great! Aidan is enjoying pre-school, and there may or may not have been an incident where he was hit by stick, but we have yet to get to the bottom of that. The PTA president thing certainly takes up more time than I thought it would, but it does seem as if things are moving forward in that arena, so it’s hard to complain too much.
Love all, D 😉
BTW: You can click on the little number in the upper right of this (and every) post to leave a comment.
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The nail salon …
Hong once took me with her
to the nail salon. I had never had my nails done, and I certainly wasn’t planning to. Hong did however talk me into having a polish-less pedicure. The entire experience was very strange for me, and if you have never been to a nail salon, run by Asians, you should go, but if you can’t …. watch this.
