And of course, I was right, this video was oh so wrong.
In fact, the poster took excerpts from other shows like the History channel's History of Halloween as well as clips and pics from the older version of the movie, The Wicker Man. I recognized it all as I have the movie and I have seen that program before.
Now, anyone can take any clip from whatever show or movie, just like some do from books or speeches, and taken out of context, they can use it to prove whatever point they are trying to make, right or wrong.
To really learn about the facts of another religion or faith or belief, you have to set aside your own for a moment and read as objectively as you can. You have to toss out what is conjecture or guessing or assumptions, people stating things because they are jumping to conclusions or drawing lines or making connections with no basis in fact. You have to look at things in more logical, scientific terms, without the spiritual bias you may have grown up with.
People tend to paint the unknown with their fears or make it evil when they are unable to truly understand something. They feel if they can't fathom it or grasp the meaning, it must be wrong or evil, especially if it is different than what they were brought up to believe. Why is that? Because to doubt what you were told as a kid would mean finding fault or seeing the human frailties of parents or clergy or other adults, casting them in a bad light when you had them upon a pedestal and of course they would not lie to you....ahem. But you have to remember that most tell you what they themselves were told or what was known at the time.
I have a link for the History of Halloween on this blog and it is probably the most accurate I have found about the true origins of Halloween. How do I know? Well, I have conducted extensive research into the origins of holidays and have taught it to elementary kids as a room mother for my daughter's 1st grade class so much so to the point her teacher wrote me into his social studies curriculum. I left out as much sex and religious slants as I could and instead focused on the practices for different countries and teaching where some of the traditions came from.
I have also fought for Halloween, against the extremists who wanted to shut it down and stop it from being celebrated while I was on an Air Base in Japan....and I won!
I have all the greatest respect for other people's beliefs and their different faiths, but I have little respect for those supposedly educated people that make assumptions or allow their own deep faiths to skew facts and refuse to believe anything different than what they believe. They think that simply because someone does not believe as they do, they must be bad or evil.
It's wrong.
Samhain & Cernunnos
One of my first observations is the mispronunciation of the word Samhain. It is not "Sam-hane", but it is pronounced Sow-in, or Sah-win, with the 'o' being short like "Ow! That hurts!" Now what does the word mean? It is a Gaelic term meaning 'summer's end', it is not the name of the horned god they showed in the video.
There is no such thing as a Lord Samhain and that Horned god is not the devil, nor is he evil. The picture they used is of the God, Cernunnos and the reason he has an antlered crown is because he is Lord of the Forests to the Pagans. He reigns over the animals. I can see why this person tried to draw parallels to their Satan or Devil, but that's not who nor what Cernunnos is. And perhaps that is the first mistake, he was trying to make comparisons where you can't do so in that case. So why associate him with the devil? Take a look here:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/103578/Cernunnos
Back then, his image was used because of how much the church opposed the Pagans and did all they could to eradicate the old religion from the world. Mostly out of fear of the unknown and trying to force their beliefs on everyone else.
But the God Cernunnos, is not evil, not to Pagans.
Take a look here for how many Pagans see him:
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/godsandgoddesses/p/Cernunnos.htm
More short description:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/celtsmyth/g/Cernunnos.htm
And even from dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/samhain
And some more indepth info here:
http://hawthorngrove.faithweb.com/writings/horndgod.htm
So as you can see, he was and is not evil, although some may have demonized him for their own purposes, it is false.
This image of who the Celts and many Pagans today now refer to or identify as Cernunnos, was first found (so far) as an antlered figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron. More information about this cauldron can be found here:
http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/Gundestrup/kauldron.html
I may blog about the whole Cernunnos aspect at another time as I ran across a youtube vid someone made who questions whether this is really the God Cernunnos or not. Interesting discussion and I want to look over the vid some more as I already heard some assumptions by the poster/creator of the vid. It brought to mind tho', how one image would mean something to one person or set of people and yet it mean something completely different to another. Another topic, another time! :)
Pagans & Celts
As for the term Pagans, the people back then, the Celts, pronounced with a hard 'K' like the word 'kites', Celts, (not like the basketball team the Celts with a soft 'c' or 's' sound), did not call themselves Pagans, they just simply were who they were. Pagan is a generic term that just means a group of people who believe in more than one God, similar to Christians who believe in one God.
Christians did not steal the sabbats or holidays from the Pagans, no. The observances of the harvest and changing seasons were occurring way before either existed or were known to have formed. It was the natural way and intelligent for the people to be aware of as they depended on the land and the weather in order to survive.
As Christianity came into being and those beliefs began to spread, they attempted to convert the other people, sometimes forcibly, to drop the old ways and beliefs and practices, and they had a hard time convincing the people to give up honoring and celebrating what the Christians believed was evil. So they did the next best thing, since they couldn't beat them, try as they might with all the persecutions, they joined them instead and slowly began to change and adapt the established beliefs and practices and made them more Christian.
Druids
Next up was the maligning of the Druids and all the assumptions as to what Stonehenge was used for. I'd love to know where the poster came up with all of his conjectures and summations when no one else seems to know for sure, not even the archeologists or learned scholars.
Ok, as we all have been told, the Druids were the priests to the Celtic people and their traditions and beliefs were oral and much of it was not written down so that means alot of what they did or believed is lost to the modern world. That being said, the more we find thru archeological digs and discovering more sites, the more we are learning, but even then, we can only try to draw conclusions and still only guess about maybe half of what and why, if we are lucky.
Now, to further that, Druids were not just priests as we can find out just reading of the old Brehon Laws that have survived from Ireland, these ARE written down. Druids were alot more than just priests. They were philosophers, astronomers, advisors, peace makers, judges, teachers, seers, the wise ones who held the wisdom of the ancient ways and so much more!
We also know the people back then were more connected to the earth and observed the seasons and the stars as they lived off the land and had to prepare for the harsh winters, gathering food, growing and harvesting and storing it to take them thru winter. There were no grocery stores back then. Does that make them barbaric? I say it makes them more practical and as technology had not advanced to the point it has now, they were quite ingenious and I would even say more attuned to the land and each other than we are today.
Druids would not have gone door to door looking for sacrifices and marking doors with a 6 pointed star, or the Star of David in blood to curse those within so that someone would die in a day or two. DOH! This sounded more like about the origin of Passover:
http://www.happypassover.net/passover-origin.html
And the whole boiling water vat of apples story about the chosen victims for sacrifice were given the choice to try to nab an apple on the first try and would be freed and not have to be sacrificed? Really?! Honestly...
More info on bobbing for apples:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/halloween/a/Bobbing-For-Apples-On-Halloween.htm
I doubt Druids were the ones running around with carved out turnips lit with candle stubs.
Origin of the jack o'lantern:
http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history
And further back:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/halloween/a/Why-Do-We-Carve-Pumpkins-On-Halloween.htm
Did Druids have power or a say over people insomuch that they could not get married without one or such? Could be, but is that not how it was for other religions in that they needed to have their own clergy do so, before the whole JP/justice of the peace type of marriages came into being? And in their eyes you are not really married if you follow that certain faith unless a priest of that faith sanctifies the joining?
Did Druids/Celts have human sacrifices, perhaps, tho it is unknown for sure beyond what is found in the writings of Caesar and even then, it is hard to know what is fact or what was told to him second, third or fortieth hand. Like whispering a sentence in a circle of people to one person who in turn whispers to the next one and then next...all the way back to the first person and then see if you have the same sentence by then? And then you have to take into account that anything that was different or that the enemy did or believed in, was going to be vilified and cast in the worst light to rally their own forces to be against them. But, were there sacrifices? Or were they killing their own enemies and killing them in such a way as to send a message to others who might come upon them? As if to say, don't mess with us? To truly know 100%, you would have to go back in time to see for yourself.
Take a look at this link, you decide for yourself...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8037258/Druids-Worshippers-of-nature-who-were-said-to-sacrifice-humans.html
Did other religions sacrifice, persecute, torture and murder and do harm to innocent people in the past? Yes, they did and still do in some cases, sadly enough. Do all who follow that same religion do those horrible things? No, they do not.
Do modern Druids do that? No.
Do Druids worship the devil or do evil things as per their faith? No, they do not, it is not part of their faith at all. If that guy really wanted to know the truth, he would sit down and put his own biases aside, have an open mind and look into this as a scholar and student to learn the truth before spouting off all this claptrap full of fears and assumptions.
How modern Druids think of Halloween/Samhain:
http://www.druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/samhain/deeper-samhain
And here:
http://www.adf.org/rituals/celtic/samhain/scg-samhain-99-lore.html
And take a peek here at The NY Times::
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/garden/if-a-druid-rings-the-doorbell.html?ref=garden&_r=2&pagewanted=all&
Stonehenge
More about Stonehenge here:
http://www.livescience.com/22427-stonehenge-facts.html
And more here:
http://www.history.com/topics/stonehenge
So the present theory is that it has been utilized for multiple purposes since it's creation.
Watch for more information and discoveries about Stonehenge coming to light in the future! I was there visiting for the second time just this summer and there will be more information revealed in the very near future! Very exciting!
History and Comparisons
Don't get me started on comparing cruelties committed by other faiths and how very barbaric they once were and in some ways, how people use their religion as an excuse to harm or abuse and even kill others. Of course this is not the norm for those religions either by the by, but just some radical people who went off the deep end beyond sense or reason.
Take a look at that link, I will post it here too:
http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/halloweenhistory.php
That is about as accurate as I have been able to find on the net that collaborates the research I have gone thru of the many books and papers on holiday origins.
Although no site is completely, 100% accurate and I believe that in order to be so, you would have had to have been there and lived there during that time to know without a single doubt nor assumption or guess as to what this or that means.
To touch on the flip side briefly, do all Christians persecute or kill or torture Pagans or those who don't believe as they do? No, they do not. Did they do that in the past? Of course not all of them did, no. Some? Yes, sadly that did happen and is a documented fact and just the Salem Witch trials alone shows that. Does it mean that all Christians are evil? No. Most I have found to be very respectful of other people's beliefs or non-beliefs, just as most Pagans are as well.
And I just saw on Facebook someone posted how it was said that Druids would cast black cats in wicker cages into the fire.
Geez....the only place you will find that horrid statement is on extremists sites and has no basis in fact.
Again, you have to be careful in that some people will try to demonize or make evil anything that is not what they, themselves believe. Or the most fantastical tales get retold and shared, much like the grocery store newspapers, doesn't matter if it is true or not, just that it sells newspapers and captures the people's attention.
Summation:
But now you can see that when you tear away the fears and extreme religious beliefs of "if you don't believe as I do, then you are evil" silliness, and when you set aside all of that and dig just a little deeper, you can learn of the scientific and historical facts and not be clouded by fears and assumptions and conjectures of the unknown.
It is ashame this guy did not continue watching the History channel so he could have learned the true facts as we know it about Stonehenge as well as the truth of the origins of Halloween.
Here are a few superstitions about Halloween explained:
http://www.livescience.com/16677-halloween-superstitions-traditions.html
It was like this misinformed and confused man took all the traditions of this holiday from all over the world, including movies no less, and mixed it all up and spit it out as his gospel to try to prove how evil Halloween is. *rme*
Is Halloween evil? No, it is not.
Halloween or Samhain, both, is all about honoring the dead, our family and friends who have passed into the next world, passed thru the veil, ventured or journeyed to the other side, to the spirit world, they have died. We remember them with honor and reverence. Go to their graves and clean them off and leave food or special items there in remembrance. Or honor them at the table and leave a seat open and talk about the great stories that we remember.
This time of year is also about the end of the harvest, preparing for the dark days ahead when winter will soon be upon us, already the days grow shorter.
For kids and now adults as well, it is the time for trick or treating, dressing up and getting or giving away candy and trinkets and novelty toys. A time to scare each other and laugh and come together for feasting as pumpkins are harvested and we celebrate the end of the harvest time. We dress up and have parties and go to haunted houses to get scared, face our fears and then laugh about it. We have harvest parties and gatherings and just enjoy a mug of hot apple cider and some pumpkin pie, maybe even bob for apples. Kids get to dress up as their favorite heroes or monsters just for fun and they indulge in their fantasies of being different for just one night out of the year.
It is also a great time for divination, tarot, tea leaves, and runes, etc.
If you don't want to celebrate Halloween, or it's Pagan roots, that's fine, out of respect to your own religion, celebrate those traditions and holidays as your faith dictates or feels right to you, that's cool. But don't put down other people's faith or beliefs or spout off a lot of guess work and assumptions, grasping at straws, or taking things out of context. Be smart and not brainwashed, go and open your mind and learn the real truths with the facts from archeologists. Talk to those who are Druids and those who are Wiccans or Pagans, and learn what it is they really believe or worship and not parrot what someone else's fears have told you as a kid to manipulate you to do what they wanted you to do or think as they wanted you to think. Try thinking for yourself instead and read. Don't just listen to one channel or side of things, flip the channel, go learn of the other side, go to the original sources if you can, so that when you choose to celebrate or not or make a statement about another religion or beliefs, you will make an informed choice and statement and not one steeped in fears or paranoia or just utter nonsense.
For more reading on how this thought process came about:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_sa.htm
If you don't want to follow a nature based religion, then don't. Trying to make it all be evil tho' simply because it is not what you believe or feel is right for you, is very wrong.
Just because someone doesn't believe as you do, doesn't make them wrong, it just makes them different. What they may or not believe is right for them and if it isn't, there are plenty of other faiths out there to study and learn from whether you believe, worship or practice or not.
That being said, I hope that each of you enjoyed Halloween and Samhain in your own unique ways! Thank you to all those parents who sent out their kids that night and came to my own home, all 381 kids who entered the Haunted Cave and faced their fears that night and just laughed and enjoyed the frivolty and celebrations we have here for the end of the harvest. We invited the ancestors and gave them the gift of voice once again as they watched the many costumed groups of kids come thru! It was grand fun full of pumpkin pie, chilli and mummy dogs and pumpkin muffins with icing ghosts, witch hat cookies and Halloween cupcakes and water bottles, gift bags, glow bracelets and Halloween novelty items given away!
To some, Halloween went commercial, but to me? It became more fun with the kids to embrace all the magic and mystery, the eerie and the creepy, the screams and the laughter and all the joy in seeing the kids' face light up with such happiness and dressing up as whatever they want to be, for just one night out of the year!
And for some who think it's just about the candy? Nope! I can't begin to tell you how many kids came thru the Haunted Cave and brought their parents in with them for 4, 5 or even 6 times through and put up their hand and said "No thank you, you already gave me candy." They just wanted to come thru it again and again! To see themselves glow in the dark under the black lights or show and share in the wonder and magic of the display we set up in our garage. :)
We mix Halloween with the ancient traditions of the past of Samhain and honour our ancestors who have passed to the next realm. It is a time of light and dark, a time of frivolty and celebration of life and the lives of those passed. Love it!
Blessed Samhain! Happy Halloween!
*bugs n hisses*
Wanda
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