The Story of Halloween

Last Updated on Saturday, 25 October 2008 10:21 Written by DarkBlak Saturday, 25 October 2008 10:21

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries. From the Roman’s Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.

Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was “he” who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.

The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the end of the “season of the sun” and the beginning of “the season of darkness and cold.”

On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred). The Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.

When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.

The November 1st festival was called Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”). The festival would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween.

During the first century the Romans invaded Britain. They brought with them many of their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was also celebrated around the 1st of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic’s Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1 major fall holiday.

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints. This day was called All Saint’s Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would make November 2nd a holy day. It was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils.

But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow’s Eve, Hallowe’en, and then – Halloween.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day’s apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain’s black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

Source: http://www.holidays.net/halloween/story.htm

I am in love with you

Last Updated on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 05:24 Written by DarkBlak Wednesday, 8 October 2008 05:24

Up Coming Movies (2009)

Last Updated on Saturday, 4 October 2008 02:08 Written by DarkBlak Saturday, 4 October 2008 01:58

Dragon Ball The Movie: Legend Comes to LifeGoku (Justin Chatwin) goes on a journey to find Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) and gather the seven mystical Dragon Balls before the evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) can. Along his way, he meets Bulma (Emmy Rossum) who then joins him to help him in his mission. When arriving at Roshi’s place, he is not welcomed with embrace but he has to fight Roshi. Roshi soon learns that Goku is the grandson of Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) and thus trains him to prepare him for the ultimate battle with Lord Piccolo to prevent him from collecting the powerful orbs.

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Target Date: Aprill 2009
Useful Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonball_(film), http://dbthemovie.com/

Watchmen

Watchmen is a 2009 film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 comic book limited series Watchmen. Set in 1985, the film follows a group of former vigilantes as war begins to break out between the United States and the Soviet Union. The film began shooting in Vancouver in September 2007 for release on March 6, 2009.[2] Like his previous film 300, Snyder closely modeled his storyboards on the comic, but unlike 300, he chose not to shoot all of Watchmen using chroma key.

Target Date: March 6, 2009
Useful Links: http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine, due for release on May 1, 2009. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy, focusing on the mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine’s skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.

Target Date: May 1, 2009
Useful Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458525/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_Origins:_Wolverine, http://www.marvel.com/movies/X-Men.X-Men_Origins:_Wolverine

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation is an upcoming science fiction war film set for release on May 22, 2009. Directed by McG, it is the fourth film in the Terminator franchise and stars Christian Bale as John Connor, Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese and Sam Worthington as the new Terminator Marcus Wright. The film, set in 2018, focuses on the original war between humanity and the Terminator computer network Skynet. It abandons the formula of the series, which had involved Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Model 101 Terminator time-traveling to the present to protect or kill someone of future importance. Among the numerous robotic minions of Skynet are Helena Bonham Carter as Serena and Roland Kickinger as the first T-800. Filming began on May 5, 2008.

Target Date: May 22, 2009
Useful Links: http://rss.warnerbros.com/terminatorsalvation/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_Salvation, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/