I had intended scanning a photo of me wearing a Halloween costume which won me first prize at a Halloween school party when I was ten but I can’t find it! So, I had to improvise with the help of DHF.

Spirit of Samhain

The Halloween holiday is based on the Celtic festival of Samhain which means “summer’s end” and is pronounced “sah-veen” (based on Scots Gaelic). The most important Celtic festivals were Beltane (1 May) and Samhain (1 Nov), representing the two seasons forming the Celtic calendar. When Christianity was introduced into Britain, many of the pagan festivals were blended into Christian holidays, examples of others being Ostara (Easter) and Yule (Christmas), as it was believed it would make conversion easier. Thus, Samhain was renamed Hallowmas, or All Saints Day, to commemorate the souls of the dead who set out on their journey to the otherworld.

The Celtic Samhain marked the first day of winter and the time when farmers would bring in the harvest and stockpile for the coming winter months. According to tradition, Samhain was the time when the Gods were closest to the Earth and gifts would be offered in thanksgiving for the harvest. Great fires would be lit and personal possessions would be cast into it to mark new beginnings and hopes for the coming year. The bonfires provided an oasis of light from the winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits.

In Ireland, tribal hearth-fires would be extinguished and then re-kindled from the new fire lit by the Druids. Celtic heroes would cross the sea in search of Avalon, the mystical isle said to be the home of the great apple tree and blessed with magical powers. The tradition of bobbing for apples reflects this journey.

It is important to remember Samhain has nothing to do with black magic or Satanic rituals and should simply be regarded as the Celtic New Year. There are many Christians out there who still believe Samhain is steeped in evil and I’m tired of their ignorance. A disease called Political Correctness is reaching ridiculous levels in the UK and our traditional holidays, even Christmas, are beginning to suffer. We can’t celebrate Halloween in case we offend Christians; we can’t celebrate Christmas in case we offend non-Christians. The whole thing is driving me insane!

Having said that, the Halloween we celebrate today has become very Americanised which is quite ironic when you consider the holiday was introduced into the US by the Scots and Irish. When I was a little girl, we didn’t go “trick or treating”, we went “guising”, a reference to Guy Fawkes Night which tends to merge with Halloween. We also didn’t carve faces into pumpkins because we didn’t have them, instead we used turnips.

A lot of the “evil symbolism” associated with Samhain, such as black cats, the undead and hags on broomsticks, was born from ignorance and supersition of the old pagan ways and this has been exploited throughout the centuries. There is nothing evil about Samhain and it’s time people realised that.

Happy Samhain, everyone!

Posted as part of the Cyber Cruise Halloween Event!

The time finally arrives to order my shiny new MacBook Pro and what happens? My damn credit card starts having issues and the Apple Store won’t authorize the order! I’m so pissed! I’m sure the fault lies entirely with the bank because my current VISA card expires on Wed and it is being replaced by a Mastercard, even though I didn’t want one. The account numbers are entirely different and that means my VISA account will no longer exist in a couple of days and I think the bank are already blocking it. So, now I have to wait until I get paid on Wed to process the order directly from my bank account instead. They can keep their damn Mastercard.

I guess when you look at urban legends they come no bigger in Scotland than the Loch Ness Monster. So where did the legend originate and how plausible can it be? Let’s examine it further.

Nessie is said to be a plesiosaur-like creature that lives deep down within Loch Ness in Inverness and the legend dates back to the 6th century when it was allegedly spotted by St Columba, the Irish monk who converted Scotland to Christianity. There were various other sightings over the centuries but the modern hunt for Nessie really began in 1934, when Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, allegedly took a photo of Nessie. When the photo was published, it caused quite a stir in the scientific field and the story of Nessie changed from being a local myth to an international legend. Many, many scientists have descended on the loch and carried out extensive testing in the area and many wild theories have been created to explain the creature, from earthquake activity within the loch itself to a whole family of creatures living in deep caverns.

Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson’s photo

Loch Ness dates back to the last ice age; it is 23 miles long, a mile wide and 600ft in depth. The loch lies along a transcurrent fault that was created millions of years ago and the area is still seismically active with an average of three minor earthquakes a year. The strongest recorded quake happened in 1816 and was felt the length and breadth of Scotland. Recent explorations beneath the surface of the loch have revealed a huge cavern that has been nicknamed “Nessie’s Lair” and those who believe in the legend say it could be the first of a network of caves that contain more than one creature.

So far, there have only been two sightings this year and experts put that down to people becoming more sceptical about Nessie’s existence. Over the years, there have been many alleged photos of the creature, many of which have since been proven to be fake, including that of Robert Kenneth Wilson.

Real or not, the legend of Nessie has created a multi-million tourist industry and thousands of tourists still flock there every year, cameras at the ready.

Appetizer
Name a great website you would recommend to others.
Suzy Lamplugh Trust (see previous post)

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how often do you dream at night?

10. Doesn’t everyone dream all the time?

Salad
Did you have a pet as a child? If so, what kind and what was its name?

No pets. We weren’t very pet oriented.

Main Course
If you had the chance to star in a commercial, what would you choose to advertise?

Umm……. Apple products in the hopes I’d score some freebies!

Dessert
What is your favorite kind of hard candy?

Chocolate! That’s hard, right?

I’ve been trying to think of a suitably scary incident to post here today but nada! Nothing like that has happened to me, then I received an e-mail at work from The Suzy Lamplugh Trust about safety in winter time and it made me realise that real life itself can be downright scary, especially during the winter months when you are going to or coming home from work in the dark. So, I decided to focus this post on safety instead.

Who is Suzy Lamplugh?
Suzy was a young estate agent who set up an afternoon meeting with an unknown client in 1986 and was never seen again. She was just 25 years old. She has been declared legally dead despite the fact her body has never been found. Suzy’s parents set up the Trust to highlight the risks people face and to offer advice, action and support to minimise those risks.

The Trust’s website has online guides which offer advice on how to stay safe in a number of different situations, including Halloween. Take a moment to read the guides and ensure you and your loved ones are as safe as they can be.

Live Life Safe!