AUTHOR R. ANN SIRACUSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It isn't the destination that matters -- It's the journey that counts!
Contact me!
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
    • All For A Dead Man's Leg
    • All For A Fist Full Of Ashes
    • Destruction Of The Great Wall
    • All For Spilled Blood
    • First Date
    • Halloween In The Catacombs
    • All In The Game
    • Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears
  • ABOUT ME
    • Resume
  • PHOTO ALBUMS
  • RESOURCES
  • MY ORGANIZATONS
  • BLOGS ABOUT ANN
  • Blog

Feralia and the Origins of Halloween

10/27/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Happy Halloween to all you humans, ghouls, elves, werewolves, vampires, demons, gods and goddesses, and everyone, whoever and whatever you are. You all know the meaning of Halloween, right?

 
"Yay! We Get to wear costumes. Costumes. Candy. Parties. Ghosts and things that go bump in the night."

Okay, and you all know the origins of Halloween?

"
Yay! Samhain. Harvest festival. Food. Singing, dancing, booze, and sexual rites."
  

Maybe, but there is a lot more to it.

SAMHAIN
The origins of Halloween began several thousand years ago with the Celts, who believed pagan gods controlled nature and were responsible for the four seasons, a belief held by many cultures throughout the world.


Picture
Samhain was the third day of a Druid festival that marked the change of seasons from the Season of the Sun (Summer) to the Season of Darkness and Cold (Winter).  New Age, http://www.new-age.co.uk/celtic-festivals-samhain.htm states:

“This [Samhain] is the beginning of the Celtic and Wiccan New Year. Samhain is Irish-Gaelic for 'the Summer's end', and is pronounced 'sow-in'. Samhain represented the death of the summer sun god, Lugh.

Lugh's festival celebrates Nature's cycle of death and renewal, a time when the Celts acknowledged the beginning and ending of all things in life and nature. Samhain marked the end of harvest and the beginning of the New Celtic Year. The first month of the Celtic year was Samonios - ‘Seed Fall’.”


Chant for Samhain
A year of beauty. A year of plenty. A year of planting. A year of harvest.
A year of forests. A year of healing. A year of vision. A year of passion.
A year of rebirth. A year of rebirth. This year may we renew the earth.
Let it begin with each step we take. Let it begin with each change we make.
Let it begin with each chain we break. And let it begin every time we awake.


On Oidhche Shamha, the eve of Samhain, the villagers slaughtered cattle for the feast. They had a great bonfire and cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle into the flames. The Celts believed that this was a holy time when the boundaries between this world and the Otherword were broken and the dead could return to where they had lived. Part of the ceremony of Samhain was providing hospitality for the dead ancestors.

The earliest written record we have of Samhain comes from the Coligny Calendar, a Celtic lunar calendar inscribed on bronze tablets and discovered in eastern France about a hundred years ago. These tablets have been dated at first century BC. The language is "Gaulish", implying that this predates the Roman influences.

You knew that, right?

When the Romans conquered the Celtic territories around 43 AD, they brought their own festivals and traditions with them, and several of those merged with the celebration of Samhain. Anyone interested can find information on the Internet, but be prepared for conflicting information.

FERALIA
The Roman festival Feralia, commemorating deceased ancestors, is one that went with the Romans on their missions of conquest. According to some sources, Feralia occurred in late October, meshing well with Samhain.

Well, maybe. The writings of Ovid, the famous Roman poet (Publius Ovidius Naso, born 43 bce – died 17 ce) describes the Roman year and its religious festivals his work Fasti.

There, he indicates that Feralia was the last day of the Roman festival Parentalia, a nine-day event from February 13 through 21 (Julian calendar). On February 21, Roman citizens—and remember, everyone the Romans conquered had the choice of becoming a Roman citizen as long as the individual complied with Roman law—brought offerings to the tombs of their dead ancestors to honor them. Those offerings consisted of wreaths, a sprinkling of grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, and violets.


Picture
Wreaths       Grain         Salt   Wine soaked   violets
                                                    Bread
Okay, so maybe someone got the dates mixed up, or the Romans decided to celebrate the event at the same time as the Celts celebrated Samhain, since they both shared the concept of the dead returning to this world and making mischief (or worse).
Picture
In the Fasti, Ovid tells of a time when the Romans, because of war, overlooked Feralia and failed to honor their ancestors. The ancestors’ spirits rose from their graves and roamed the streets howling until the rituals were performed. No wonder the festivals meshed so well.

And by the way, the word naso in Italian means nose (nose is nasus in Latin). That was Ovid's real name and, if the drawings of Ovid are anywhere near accurate, it was prophetic.

POMONA (POMORUM)
Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards and, according to some sources, the goddess of orchards and the harvest.  There is a difference of opinion when the festival honoring Pomona (a celebration shared with her husband Ventumnus, the god of the turning year or seasons) was celebrated.  Various sources cite August 13, August 23, and November 1.


Picture
Pomona is also considered a wood nymph, as well as a Numina, one of the guardian spirits in Roman mythology who watched over people, places, or homes.  The goddess’s name comes from the word apple, which is her symbol.  Samhain and the festival of Pomona fit well together in relation to celebrating the harvest.  I guess we can cut them some slack regarding the actual date.  We dunk for apples, perhaps in her honor.

LEMURIA (LEMURALIA)

A third Roman festival that influenced Samhain was Lemuria.  As part of this ancient feast (celebrated May 9, 11, and 13 - Julian calendar), the Romans exorcised malevolent ghosts of the dead (evil spirits or lemures) from their homes.  The ritual, again according to Ovid, involved the head of the household walking barefoot around house at midnight, throwing black beans over his shoulder (nine of them to be exact) and chanting, while the rest of the family clashed bronze pots.  Sounds like a good Halloween party game.


ALL SAINTS DAY AND ALL SOULS DAY
For most of my life, I believed this to be the origin of Halloween. So wrong! Well, no one taught me anything different.

The Roman Catholics, like many faiths, honor the dead with their own festivals. All Saints Day honors the lives of saints and martyrs and became a day of obligation in the ninth century. Later, Pope Gregory IV confirmed celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2, coinciding with the festival of Samhain.

Because the festival of All Saints was sometimes known as "All Hallows," or "Hallowmas," and because October 31 was the eve before All Hallows, the celebration on night before All Hallows became known as All Hallows Eve and eventually Halloween.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
We’ve come full circle.  Happy Halloween, whatever it means to you, and however you celebrate it.  Just watch out for flying black beans and harvest "moons".

Picture
Resources
http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm
http://allsaintsbrookline.org/celtic/samhain.html
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/celtsmyth/a/lochalloween.htm
http://www.imbas.org/articles/samhain.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_sa.htm
http://www.new-age.co.uk/celtic-festivals-samhain.htm

0 Comments

Feralia and the origins of Halloween

10/28/2013

1 Comment

 
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Happy Halloween to all you humans, ghouls, elves, werewolves, vampires, demons, gods and goddesses, and everyone, whoever and whatever you are.

You all know the meaning of Halloween, right?

    Yay!  Costumes.  Candy.  Parties.  Ghosts and things that go bump in the night.

Okay, and you all know the origins of Halloween?

    Yay!  Samhain.  Harvest festival.  Food.  Singing, dancing, booze, bobbing for apples, sexual rites.

Maybe.

SAMHAIN
The origins of Halloween began several thousand years ago with the Celts, who believed pagan gods controlled nature and were responsible for the four seasons, a belief held by many cultures throughout the world.

Picture
Samhain was the third day of a Druid festival that marked the change of seasons from the Season of the Sun (Summer) to the Season of Darkness and Cold (Winter).  New Age, http://www.new-age.co.uk/celtic-festivals-samhain.htm states:

“This [Samhain] is the beginning of the Celtic and Wiccan New Year. Samhain is Irish-Gaelic for 'the Summer's end', and is pronounced 'sow-in'. Samhain represented the death of the summer sun god, Lugh.


his festival celebrates Nature's cycle of death and renewal, a time when the Celts acknowledged the beginning and ending of all things in life and nature. Samhain marked the end of harvest and the beginning of the New Celtic Year. The first month of the Celtic year was Samonios - ‘Seed Fall’.”

You knew that, right?

When the Romans conquered the Celtic territories around 43 AD, they brought their own festivals and traditions with them, and several of those merged with the celebration of Samhain.  Anyone interested can find information on the Internet, but be prepared for conflicting information.

FERALIA
The Roman festival Feralia, commemorating deceased ancestors, is one that went with the Romans on their missions of conquest.  According to some sources, Feralia occurred in late October, meshing well with Samhain.

Well, maybe.

The writings of Ovid, the famous Roman poet (Publius Ovidius Naso, born 43 bce – died 17 ce) describes the Roman year and its religious festivals his work Fasti.  There, he indicates that Feralia was the last day of the Roman festival Parentalia, a nine-day event from February 13 through 21 (Julian calendar).  On February 21, Roman citizens—and remember, everyone the Romans conquered had the choice of becoming a Roman citizen as long as the individual complied with Roman law—brought offerings to the tombs of their dead ancestors to honor them.  Those offerings consisted of wreaths, a sprinkling of grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, and violets.

Okay, so maybe someone got the dates mixed up, or the Romans decided to celebrate the event at the same time as the Celts celebrated Samhain, since they both shared the concept of the dead returning to this world and making mischief (or worse).  In the Fasti, Ovid tells of a time when the Romans, because of war, overlooked Feralia and failed to honor their ancestors.  The ancestors’ spirits rose from their graves and roamed the streets howling until the rituals were performed.  No wonder the festivals meshed so well.


Picture
And by the way, the word naso in Italian means nose (nose is nasus in Latin).  That was his real name, but if the drawings of Ovid are anywhere near accurate, it was prophetic.

POMONA (POMORUM)
Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards and, according to some sources, the goddess of orchards and the harvest.  There is a difference of opinion when the festival honoring Pomona (a celebration shared with her husband Ventumnus, the god of the turning year or seasons) was celebrated.  Various sources cite August 13, August 23, and November 1.


Pomona is also considered a wood nymph, as well as a Numina, one of the guardian spirits in Roman mythology who watched over people, places, or homes.

Picture
The goddess’s name comes from the word apple, which is her symbol.  Samhain and the festival of Pomona fit well together in relation to celebrating the harvest.  I guess we can cut them some slack regarding the actual date.  We dunk for apples, perhaps in her honor.

LEMURIA (LEMURALIA)
A third Roman festival that influenced Samhain was Lemuria.  As part of this ancient feast (celebrated May 9, 11, and 13 - Julian calendar), the Romans exorcised malevolent ghosts of the dead (evil spirits or lemures) from their homes.  The ritual, again according to Ovid, involved the head of the household walking barefoot around house at midnight, throwing black beans over his shoulder (nine of them to be exact) and chanting, while the rest of the family clashed bronze pots.  Sounds like a good Halloween party game.

ALL SAINTS DAY AND ALL SOULS DAY
The Roman Catholics, like many faiths, honor the dead with their own festivals.  All Saints Day honors the lives of saints and martyrs and became a day of obligation in the ninth century.  Later, Pope Gregory IV confirmed celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2, coinciding with the festival of Samhain.

Because the festival of All Saints was sometimes known as "All Hallows," or "Hallowmas," and because October 31 was the eve before All Hallows, the celebration on night before All Hallows became known as All Hallows Eve and eventually Halloween.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
And we’ve come full circle.  Happy Halloween, whatever it means to you, and however you celebrate it. Take a look at the interesting scarecrow lawn décor.


Picture
Picture
HALLOWEEN IN THE CATACOMBS
By R. Ann Siracusa


A short story with a twist of fantasy from Breathless Press.

When my editor suggested I write a Halloween story featuring the heroine in my Tour Director Extraordinaire series, I thought it was a cool idea. Having been born without the pithy gene, I’m not good at short, but what the heck.

After doing research on Halloween and reading about the influence of the Roman celebrations on Samhain, an idea kicked in. The result is a fun short story about tour director Harriet Ruby taking an unusual tour group through the catacombs in Rome on Halloween, with some surprising results.  If you read the story, you’ll understand where this blog came from.

FREE DOWNLOAD LINK


BLURB

Harriet Ruby: Tour Director Extraordinaire, had had some real winners when it came to tourists, but this group, wearing Halloween costumes on an all day tour of Rome, took the cake.  Well, it was Halloween, but these folks were seriously…different.

When nine of them decide to explore on their own and take off down a restricted tunnel of the Roman catacombs, Harriet has to find them—for their safety and her reputation—and ends up involved in something she never expected.

EXCERPT

    A blast of cold air sliced through me.  “Yikes!”  I screeched with surprise and almost dropped the flashlight.  My body trembled, and I tightened my grip on my young charge.

    “W-what w-was that?” he stammered.

    For a moment my chattering teeth kept me from speaking.  I had no clue.  “An air vent, probably.  They have to get fresh air down here somehow.”

    Still shuddering, I inched forward, dragging the boy with me.  “We should be close to the steps to the next level, so be careful.  What were these people thinking, taking off like this?  You’re absolutely sure you saw them go into this gallery?”

    “Yes.  I’m sure.”

    “Then—aiii!”  My foot slipped on a loose rock.  I stumbled to one knee, flapping my arms for balance, and ripped my hand from Calogerus’s.  The flashlight sailed out of my grip.

    Smash!  Ping!  The light went out.

    Swallowing the string of curses that rose in my gullet, I crawled to my hands and knees and felt around for the lost light.  “That’s just great.  Are you all right?”

    “I’m okay, but I think your flashlight is toast.”

    Right.  Okay, Harriet, now what?  “Well, we can’t go any further without a light.  We’ll have to go back and let the security guards find them.  All we have to do is follow the wall.  We didn’t make any turns so—”

    “They went that way,” the boy cried and tugged on my arm.  “C’mon.  Let’s go.”

    “What?  How do you know?”  With one palm against the cold damp wall for balance, I scrambled to me feet.

    “I told you, I can see in the dark.”  I sensed him move away from me and almost screamed.

    In an instant, he returned to my side.  “Here.  Open you hand.”

    In a frightened daze, I complied, and he placed something soft in it.  “What is it?”  I fingered the object, like pulpy but thin vegetation.

    “It’s an apple blossom.”

    Whatever I might have said to that morphed into a startled gasp as an uncanny inhuman howl resonated through the enclosed space, coming from a distance in front of us.

    “Let’s go.  We’re running out of time.”  Calogerus grabbed my hand and pulled me unwillingly along behind him.  “Hold onto me.  I’ll lead the way.  Be careful on the stairs.”

    An apple blossom?  The stairs? 

    Two brownie points for Calogerus.

    What could I say?  This was going to be a tough one to explain, even to Will.  Okay, God. You and I need to talk.  This is all about the sex without marriage, isn’t it?  You know we’re working on that.

    We clambered down the steps as fast as we could with a nightscope-equipped ten-year-old leading the way and me as blind as a bat without sonar and shivering with trepidation.

    On the last step, I smelled it.  My stomach churned as though I was about to hurl.  Formaldehyde?  L’Amour’s aftershave.  Squeezing my lids tight, I swallowed hard and forced the sense of sickness back into my belly.  When I opened my eyes, a faint glow shone from a room at the end of the long hall.

    We both ran toward the light and the smell, and in seconds burst into another wide cavern with pictures and symbols painted on the walls.

    I skidded to a stop, and wrapped my arms around my middle against the frigid damp air, which mitigated the surge of panic I’d experienced.  Burning incense sticks filled the space with a dim, diffused luminosity and the exotic scent of sandalwood, reducing the intensity of the essence of L’Amour.

    My eight missing tourists stood with their backs against the walls, watching the old woman Bria, on her hands and knees, drawing a large circle in the center of the rock floor.
□

1 Comment

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Baboons
    Bagpipes
    Halloween
    Mopane-Mopani Worms
    Saint Patrick
    Samhain
    Shamrock
    Snakes
    Travel
    Veterans Day

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.