Halloween, Samhain, and other Ramblings

So, the end of October is upon us again. As usual I've been seeing blog posts, tweets, and Facebook updates using Samhain and Halloween as interchangeable. Usually I go with the flow and celebrate Samhain at Halloween, but this year I thought I’d explain a bit more about the dates, why the two are not one in the same, and some other fun musings.

*When talking about ancient Ireland, history was passed word of mouth some things are open to interpretation per many scholars. This is based on my own thoughts on the subject*

First things first. Samhain is an ancient Pagan festival for the coming winter and the beginning of the new year(although this is debatable and a relatively new idea from 19th century) that came to incorporate celebrations of the dead at some point. Halloween or All Hallows Eve is the night before All Hallows(saints), a Christian celebration for Saints, Martyrs and in some countries other lost loved ones. 

Roots and the date. The biggie. Samhain and Halloween(All Hallows Eve) can occur on very different dates. Yes, I know this goes against a lot of what the internet says and if it says it on the internet, it must be true. Let me explain. Per the modern Gregorian calendar All Hollows Eve is celebrated 31st October dating back to 9th century when All Saints Day moved from May to 1st November. Possibly because The then Pope wasn’t too happy about the persistent pagan customs among the Celtic people around Samhain. It wasn’t until the 13th century that the Christian celebration overshadowed Samhain.

Samhain is much, much older than All Hallows Eve. Samhain is Gaelic for November and November (per the Celtic calendar and still here in Ireland) is the first month of winter. So, per the modern calendar Halloween(31 oct) is the Eve of Samhain. Because celebrations tended to begin at sundown ie the end of the day, Samhain celebrations started on the Eve of Samhain.

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See what I did there? Since it’s the night that’s in it, there’s no better time to settle in with Quinn from Eve of Samhain.

On we go…

So that’s by the modern calendar, before the modern Gregorian, there was the Julian calendar, before that the Coligny(solarlunar) calendar. The oldest Coligny dates back to 200AD. The roots of Samhain go back much further. The ancestors of the Celts in the place now called Ireland were a clever bunch.

The Sundial Stone at Knowth, Meath 4000BC

The name sort of speaks for itself. This stone used for measuring the cycles of the sun is older than the previously thought oldest sundials found in Eygpt by 3,000 years. Studies have measured and been recreated to show the purpose of these carvings. We know these Neolithic people tracked the sun and moon and there is evidence they held rituals and celebrations of the solar and lunar cycles. For example the sun entering the passageway at Newgrange during the winter solstice. It’s not a stretch to believe the pre-cursor to  Samhain celebrations began as a harvest festival with Neolithic farmers many thousands of years before All Hallows ever came into being.

Let’s look at the Celtic Calendar. Let’s skip a few thousand years to the early Celts, whose pagan celebrations were still set around observing solar years much like their ancestors.  A solar year = 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes approx.. Think of a circle quartered using the equinoxes and solstices, then quartered again at the mid-point between each event to give eight of the major Celtic days of Celebration. Now remember the equinox and solstice dates shift each year.

Because Samhain is a cross quarter between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, and it’s a celebration timed by solar cycles, Samhain doesn’t always land on the same fixed date set out in the modern calendar. For example 2011 Samhain – 7th November, 2013 Samhain 6th November.

The Gregorian calendar I mentioned above, has a cycle of 365 days over 400 years with a leap year of 366 every 4 years to account for the time difference and keep us on track with seasons. However because scientists believe the solar year is getting longer and there were miniscule miscalculations in the Gregorian calendar we will still fall roughly a day behind the sun in a little over 3,000 years. So in 3,ooo years if the calendar hasn’t been adjusted, actual Samhain(pinpointed with the solar year) will shift another day away per this calendar while the Celtic calendar will still hold it at a mid-point between solar events.

How a Harvest Festival became a spookfest. Ancient Celts were incredibly superstitious. The culture is rich with stories of Gods and magical creatures, even ancient vampires. They feared the transition to winter  when the sun was lower and and longer nights closed in, meaning more time for ghosts and the departed to roam the land. This lasted until Bealtaine, when there is another celebration of the light returning. 

One of these ancient Gods was Donn.  Back when Donn arrived with the Miliseans to this land it was yet to have the name Ériu and the mystical Tuatha Dé Danann still ruled. After showing disrespect to Ériu(the Dé Danann queen who later named the country), she told him he would never benefit from the land. He was aboard one of the ships instructed to wait off the coast while the Dé Danann made a decision to fight or concede to their rule. It was a trick and the Dé Danann used druid magic to call a storm that scattered the ships and destroyed Donn’s. As we all know history is told by the victors, and the Miliseans went on to claim the land, driving the Dé Danann underground where they became the forefathers of The Fae.

Donn, however, having been destroyed by druid magic and unable to benefit from the land, was buried on an island off the west coast and elevated to the status of God of the Dead and protector of crops and cattle. His burial place became associated with the otherworld.

Normally remaining on his island where he welcomed the dead before they travelled on, Donn’s House was the last place many saw before being sent to Celtic Hell where they spent an eternity in ice. But, Donn was not just a God. His entanglements with the Dé Danann legends also gave him the title of Fae King of his Realm and Winter. He roamed the land at Samhain when the darkness came and the dead held dominion, and took offering from farmers so that their cattle and land would be kept safe over winter. This also opened the door for all the creatures and spirits of the underworld to come out, turning the light’s End into a night to appease and honour the creatures and spirits from the otherworld.

Donn, Lord of the Dead is often associated as the Celtic version of the Christian Devil. Therefore many customs like walking around a grave three times during the night of 31st October to see the future or risk meeting the Devil stems from a similar Celtic custom where the person risks meeting Donn on the night of Samhain. 

Some other customs for this time of Year

Bonfires will light all over Ireland tomorrow. They are smaller now, when I was a kid, communities spent weeks collecting wood and anything they could find. It was considered an honour to be part of building the bonfire and everyone would go watch it burn. This comes from the old tradition when people doused their fires before sunset on the eve of Samhain. Then gathered around their hearth and waited for the druids to light the first fires of winter.

Trick or Treat is part of the offering up food and other things to spirits of ancestors to entice them to your door, not leaving something would offend them and cause bad luck for the coming year. Later it was also to appease the Fae, who would otherwise cause mischief. Dressing up began with greedy people wanting to take advantage and collect treats left for loved one of others. It was also a means of travelling outside and confusing spirits and the fae because they couldn’t recognize the person underneath.

Pumpkin Carving  didn’t start out with pumpkins. They started out with this:

Not very attractive, right? This is a turnip and it’s from The Museum of Country Life in County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. It’s part of the National Museum of Ireland and a Turnip is a traditional Irish root vegetable. 

So, one version of the story goes that Jack was a bit of a blaggard, a drunk and an egit, as we say in Ireland. He was a farmer and by all accounts a lazy so and so. He knew he’d been living his life under the greedy, watchful gaze of the Devil, who was only too eager to get his hands on Jack. He also knew his lifestyle hadn’t been paving the way to heaven but had been pushing him to an early grave, so Jack formulated a plan.

After one of several drinking sessions together, the Devil informed Jack his time was up. Jack agreed to go willingly but had one final request. As they passed under an apple tree, Jack pointed to one of the top branches and begged the Devil to allow him one last taste of the fruit. There is probably a certain irony in the Devil being tempted by an apple, nonetheless he conceded and climbed the tree to retrieve the fruit.

While the Devil was high in the branches, Jack got to work. He surrounded the tree with crosses and even carved some into the trunk of the tree to trap the Devil. Jake refused to release him until he agreed to never take Jack’s soul to Hell.

Years past and Jack lived out his life the way he always had. He lied, cheated and stole his way to his deathbed. Finally, he died. Remembering his deal, Jack attempted to enter Heaven but was refused and directed to the Gates of Hell. The Devil turned him away just as he promised. When Jack asked the Devil how he was supposed to find his way through the world, he tossed Jack an ember from the flames of Hell.

To this day Jack wanders the earth with his ember in his makeshift lantern carved from a turnip as a warning to all. You can’t outsmart the Devil.

When the Irish and British sailed to America in their droves, they brought with them the story of Jack. Turnips were hard to find and so they used Pumpkins to carve Jack ‘O’ Lanterns.

 

So, I think I’ve mused enough and told enough stories for one day. If you still fancy reading more, you could check out this post I wrote for  Confessions of A Bookaholic about spooky locations around Dublin. (the competition is closed)

Don’t forget my New Adult Horror novella, Unmade, is available as a free download at the bottom of The Books tab of my Facebook page until 1st November. Just like the page to open the FanGate and reveal the download links.

Free Short Read for Halloween and Excerpt

With All Hallows Eve, otherwise known as Halloween, coming up in a few days, most people are dressing up to go out or settling in beside a roaring fire to watch horror movies or read a scary book.

To celebrate the night when nothing is quite what it seems, I’m offering my 17,000 word novella, UNMADE, free to followers of my Facebook Page until All Hallows Day(Nov 1).

 

Lincoln Dowling wouldn’t hurt a fly. That character trait proved deadly when a stray dog stepped into the path of his car on prom night. With all efforts to save Lincoln failing, his mother turns to the one person who might be able to save him.
A year later, Lincoln remains under the care of innovative scientist, Matthew Baker. To the outside world, his recovery is astounding. However, for Lincoln, learning to act normal has become a matter of survival.
Plagued by nightmares of grisly murders and convinced something has gone wrong, he struggles to convince his girlfriend that these nightmares are bleeding into reality.
As Lincoln is forced to the brink of insanity, he will have to face his worst fears to keep the monster from destroying the one he loves.

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Extract

They were sandbox friends and she’d loved him as long as she could remember. They’d even gotten married once, although it had been presided over by her giant teddy bear and she’d forced Lincoln to eat a mud pie for their wedding cake. He’d always been intelligent and had never cared too much that some of the girls had called him a geek because of his glasses and the old T-shirts he liked to wear. The boys never did, though, because as smart as he’d been, he could also run faster and hit a baseball farther than any of them.
When they were ten, they went on a field trip to the museum in Augusta. Lincoln had told her Annabel Harper asked to sit beside him on the bus. He’d firmly denied her request, responding that Nancy always took the next seat.
Lincoln had never stopped talking during the trip, whispering in Nancy’s ear when they’d been told to be quiet and listen to the tour guide, spilling more information that she could catch. Lincoln had explained transitional fossils, how they showed common traits of two species and how the species might be related. He had told her that it wasn’t correct or scientific to call them missing links, as they did in movies and books sometimes. Throughout the day, Nancy had spotted the pretty redhead, Annabel, giggling with some of the other girls whenever he walked by. At first, she’d thought they were laughing at him but then Nancy came to a much different conclusion. Holding hands in front of a Pleistocene Era depiction of the pre-historic humans, Nancy realized her best friend had morphed into some kind of missing link between a popular and a geek—the cute geek boy.
She’d never taken note of his smooth, white-blond hair or his eyes, the color of mercury, behind his glasses. He had begun to outgrow her too, standing an inch taller when she had always been taller than him.
She remembered blushing furiously. Lincoln had looked at her with narrowed, curious eyes, confused about why she’d dropped his hand as if it might burn her fingers. From that day on, scientific or not, she’d called him Link. It reminded her of that day, of that moment when she’d first seen him as more than her best friend.

“A savory mix between Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.”

                                                                                         ~ V’s Reads…

To claim

Claiming your free Ebook is simple. The download is hidden behind the FanGate on The Books tab of my Facebook page. If you are already a follower, the download link will be visible at the bottom of the Tab. If you aren’t a follow, just Like the page to make it appear.

Happy Halloween!

Smackdown Round 2!

**** Round Three is ongoing. These characters are no longer in the race.****Well, would you look at that! Caleb and Draven beat out their worthy competition in their perspective polls to make it into round 2 of the Smackdown. So I’m here to ask you to keep supporting them and to help get them through to round 3.

In case I’m not convincing enough, here’s a little something from each of their books.

“Hi.”
I spun around, my toe pick catching in the ice and almost bringing me crashing down but for the hands that caught me. I locked my fingers around Caleb’s arms. Even with the unexplained brief warning I always got when he was near me, he still managed to catch me off guard.
“Caleb.” My voice caught, a strange combination of joy and shock. “What are you doing here?”
He was helping me to stand, but I was still having some balance issues, not something that normally happened to me on the ice. My heart was beating furiously, and I tried desperately to control it. It wasn’t fair he could show up after two weeks of silence and my body reacted to him without my brain’s permission.
“Eh, skating,” he laughed, standing me up and circling backward in place as a demonstration.
I scowled. “I meant in Camden?”
“I live here.” He spoke slowly like I was suffering from a blow to my head instead of my ego.
“Why aren’t you in New York with your — ” A small boy of nine or ten rushed past behind me at lightning speed, sending me flying into Caleb’s chest. The force of the blow knocked me breathless. He held me in his arms for a moment, and I thought he wasn’t going to let me go. No, no, no, I wasn’t going to start thinking like that again.
I pushed away from him with both hands, refusing to look into his shimmering blue eyes, and skated away without another word. I knew he would follow, and I knew there were several pairs of eyes belonging to people from school watching our exchange. Caleb and his relationship status was still hot gossip for a lot of women in town, and our exchange was making me part of the gossip by association.
“I think I probably owe you an apology,” he sighed guiltily.
Caleb glided expertly, keeping pace with me and looking perfectly at home on the ice. I glanced at him, disgruntled. Unfortunately, he looked really great, wearing a dark blue jacket over a black turtleneck and jeans. His gloves and skates were black too, coordinated and casual. Casual looked good on Caleb.
Stop it! I told myself.
“I didn’t intend to be away for so long, but it was necessary, I assure you.”
I stopped abruptly, and the speed of his reaction surprised me. He stopped at the exact same time. “You think I’m annoyed because you were gone so long?” I demanded.
“You’re not?” His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
I darted forward to leave the ice. Caleb skated beside me. “I don’t know who I’m most annoyed at,” I told him, “you or me.” My tone was harsh, but if I didn’t stay angry, the other feelings might come rushing back.
Caleb stalled behind me, but I didn’t stop. “Triona,” he called out. “Wait.”
I sighed and turned, knowing I would eventually give in anyway. Of course, as soon as my anger was allowed to slip and I looked into his eyes, my stomach gave a jolt and my knees turned to jelly, not good when you’re balancing on two blades on top of a frozen expanse of water. My right blade caught awkwardly underneath my left, and I toppled over. A burning pain shot through my right ankle, and I landed heavily on my backside.

To learn more about this swoony and sensitive character visit Read and Share Book Reviews.

Please vote for Caleb here.

Draven surveyed the city before him. The view from this part of Acheron differed from the one he had grown used to recently, and the constant droning of alarms melded together to resemble an air raid siren. Even the smell bothered him. The river snaking through Acheron didn’t flow near his home. Around here, the pollution turned the water a moss green and filled the air with the repugnant stench of rot. He grimaced. The smell would be hideous come summer when the heat intensified the stink. Of course, that was if they made it through winter.
He could practically taste the pain and suffering radiating from the residents in the surrounding buildings. His flesh crawled with their misery. He closed his eyes to it. The action only helped to concentrate his hearing so that he picked out the cries of the child who hadn’t eaten all day. Somewhere else, a drunk hurled verbal abuse at his wife because she couldn’t stretch their meager household budget to pay for his brand-name beer and had bought generic instead. In the same home, pop music played and charcoal scratched over paper. He wondered if that was where the money had really gone. In an alley on the other side of the building, a junkie attempted to score a fix from her dealer, without the money to pay. He dared not imagine where she would end up tonight.
Draven could ignore his gift for the most part, but his highest senses tingled in this part of town and sent chills deep into his bones. Nausea made his stomach curl, and his cotton shirt irritated everywhere it touched. His feet itched to the point of being painful. He could bear the clothes on his skin as long as his feet remained uncovered. It grounded him, like rubber soles for an electrician or
a metal rod with lightening. Then there were times that it wasn’t feasible to go barefoot; a man walking barefoot through the city in winter was bound to draw a few speculative glances.
A disturbance in the breeze at the back of his neck followed by a muffled thump warned him company had arrived.

To learn more about this Smart and Enigmatic character, visit Sex and the Books.

To vote for Draven visit here.

Thank you for getting them this far!

Book Boyfriend Smackdown. Meet Caleb and show some love.

We are in the 2nd day of the Smackdown Round One, put together by Love Between the Sheets and my guys still need your love and your votes. There is ebooks, Book Boyfriend swag, and a special grand prize at the end.

Each of the 39 leading men taking part have their own supporting blog with extracts, character interviews, and giveaways. Due to a unforeseen glitch, Caleb is without a home for the moment. That’s okay, anyone who’s read Shades of Atlantis knows Caleb is used to moving about. Until he gets settled, read on to learn a little more about Caleb and an extract from Shades. While you’re here, enter the rafflechopter for a chance to win an ebook.

Sex and the Books is representing Draven Tenesbras from Iridescent.  To learn more about this dark and romantic guy visit the blog. Show Draven some love and vote here.

Life with Lesley is representing Sebastian Nuhra from Ember. To learn more about Sebastian and his ideal woman visit the blog. Show  Sebastian some love and vote here.

Some Caleb some love and vote here.

Since the death of their parents, Triona Pryor and her brother, Ben, have lived with their aunt and uncle in Camden, Maine. Now in her senior year of high school, Triona loves her family and friends, but she has always felt that she didn't quite fit in...in Camden, or anywhere else.

Enter Caleb Wallace, the devilishly handsome man who has recently moved to Triona's small town. While their attraction to each other is instantaneous, it also proves to be dangerous...and deadly. When tragedy strikes, Triona flees to London for solace and to start her life anew. It's there she discovers from an unlikely source that her family has been keeping secrets from her - secrets about not only her birthright, but her ultimate destiny as well. Armed with this knowledge, Triona finds herself thrown into a whole new world and into a battle to save the lives of everyone she loves.

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Character Name – Caleb Wallace

Character Type – Swoony and Sensitive

Character Bio

Caleb is almost 150 (at the time of the book) and originally from New York. Physically, he appears 21 because of the long life span of his supernatural race. He’s charming, handsome, well-travelled, intelligent, and a bit of a loner. His closest friends are his older brother, Joshua and Seth, who was taken in by his parents when his own died. The three often operate restaurants when not travelling or studying.  He enjoys cooking and is good at it.

Caleb loves his books and had an extensive rare and antique book collection. He’s inherited an interest in folklore and history from his historian father. He enjoys fast cars, nice clothes, and luxury but the people in his life are more important to him. Caleb’s reserved and introspective, often bottling up his feelings and taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s prone to wrong decisions for the right reasons.

Learn more about Caleb

1. What is your ideal woman like?  -- Triona. I didn’t have an ideal before her. I wasn’t looking. Triona is strong, but isn’t aware of her own strength. She loves without reservation. She questions everything, but has the patience to wait for answers. She brave and kind, soft and tough as the same time. She makes me laugh. She has this way of making me crazy and calm in a single moment.

2. What do you like the least about yourself? -- That I never feel enough. I try to do right by everyone. I strive to be a better man and often fail.

3. What are the three most important things in life to you? -- My soulmate, my family and friends, and being a good man.

4. What music is on your playlist right now? -- An eclectic mix of classical, jazz, and rock.  

1. What is your favorite pet name for a girl? -- I don’t have one. I sometimes call Triona, love or darling. A bit old fashioned but habit I picked up from years of listening to my parents.

2. What is your idea of a perfect first date? -- It wasn’t really a date, but I once took Triona up Mount Battie late at night. I parked overlooking the bay. It had been snowing, but the sky had cleared and the moon was bright. We talked, really talked for the first time, about life and love. Then we danced in the beams of the headlight and we kissed. That was perfect.

3. Where is the most romantic place you’ve ever kissed a girl? -- See above.

Extract

I wanted to move away. I knew his touch would only make the ache stronger, but his fingers encircled my arms, holding me perfectly still. He groaned, moving his mouth up my neck to the dent below my ear, and I felt the tip of his tongue caress my skin, almost as if he were tasting me. My heart raced uncontrollably. In one swift motion he spun me around to face him. A desire to consume, a deep physical hunger, darkened and glazed his eyes. Caleb’s hands glided down to my waist, and mine twisted through his hair as I fought to breathe through his feverish kisses. I could feel his breathing against my lips as shallow and rapid as my own. Caleb raised his hands behind his head and slid them over my hands, unlocking my fingers from his hair and gripping my wrists before lifting them to the cold glass behind my head. His lips dragged from mine and pressed against my ear. His body crushed against mine. His voice was deep with both agony and pleasure.

“I could take you now,” he rasped.

I sighed, breathless with the ecstasy surging through my veins. I wasn’t thinking; he had me completely within his control.

“I could have any woman I want, but I only want you. I’ve never wanted anyone before you. You are my soul mate.” His voice was persuasive, so irresistible, as if he had connected directly into my brain. Caleb pulled his face back inches from mine; his eyes were shimmering as tiny lights danced in his irises. “I love you, Triona.” The way he spoke those four words made my legs weak. I could barely get my thoughts together, but I knew that Caleb was showing me what he was capable of, how much he was keeping back, so I would know that if he only wanted me in that way, it would have happened months ago when we first met. He wasn’t rejecting me.

“I love you too,” I told him, trying to keep my voice even. This was yet another price to pay for loving Caleb. But I couldn’t not love him now; what choice did I have? I would have to wait. Wait for answers and wait for the ache inside me to be satisfied.

Caleb sensed I was caving again, giving in to his will. His grip loosened, and his body moved away from me.

“This, us, is not going to be easy, is it?” I muttered dryly, grimacing at him.

A relieved smile stretched his lips, but his eyes remained guarded. His finger brushed over my lips, and then he took my hand. “Come with me.”

“Where?” I asked. The aching was fading — not disappearing, just being shut away for the moment.

“I’m distracting you.”

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