Irish Halloween History

 

These spooky carvings are the original Jack-o'-lantern carved from turnips, not pumpkins. 

Carving of pumpkins is a popular Halloween activity these days and it has its roots in ancient Irish tradition.

The ancients believed that at Samhain/Halloween/Last day of October, that the veil separating the world of the living from the world of the dead (Otherworld) became very thin, allowing Otherworld spirits to mingle with the living. 

There were two kinds of spirits, the good and bad. 

Good spirits were welcomed into homes and were honored through celebrating and feasting.

Evil spirits also made the crossing and it was believed would roam the earth searching for souls to take back to the Otherworld. Consequently the ancients came up with a plan to fool the evil spirits.

Stingy Jack was one of the more famous evil spirits and his soul roams the earth at Samhain.

After dark, the best way to scare an evil spirit is to have evil looking faces shining through the darkness. This hopefully was enough to frighten Stingy Jack and the other bad spirits away.

According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. 

True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. 

Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. 

Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. 

The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. 

While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died. 

As the myth goes, God would not allow such an unsavoury figure into heaven. 

The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. 

He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. 

Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. 

The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

Irish immigrants in the US carried on the traditions of their homeland but used pumpkins instead of turnips which are much easier to carve. 

For this very reason the American tradition has travelled back across the Atlantic and nowadays it is mostly pumpkins which are carved into Jack O’Lanterns in Ireland.

Happy Weekend

Germany's 'Stonehenge'

Archaeologists have discovered 130 homes at an Early Bronze Age monument.

This suggests there was a community living around Germany's 'Stonehenge'.

Pömmelte is a ring-shaped sanctuary with earth walls, ditches and wooden piles that is located in the northeastern part of Germany, south of Magdeburg. The site is very much reminiscent of the world-famous monument Stonehenge, and it is likely that the people there performed very similar rituals to those of their counterparts in what is now Britain 4,300 years ago.

It was always thought it was a ritualistic site, but now there is evidence of permanent neighborhood close to the monument.

Previous excavations of the site found dismembered bodies of children and women, with some having suffered severe skull trauma and rib fractures.

It was assumed Ringheiligtum Pömmelte was purely a seasonal ritualistic site, used at certain times of the year or for purely ceremonial events, including funerary rites.

But with the new excavations in May 2021 archaeologists found homes and burial sites.

The team say further excavations are needed to understand the link between the recently discovered settlement and the ancient monument.

 

The Craft of TAWAS

In the Philippines, this folk medicine woman is reading candles, also known as candle wax or candle drip reading. It's a form of scrying where the candle wax is either dripped or dropped into water where it forms a shape that's interpreted by the Witch.

This Filipino medicine woman has been reading candles as a living and is visited by locals for all kinds of reasons - sometimes it's about dwarves and other beings which have been disturbed by people. 

The psychic rituals are meant to satisfy the dwarves or whoever, so that they may forgive the human victim and reverse the punishment.

There are several methods practitioners use in TAWAS:

The Egg


A raw egg is cracked into a glass of water and gently shaken, the egg white starts taking on different forms. The egg-

white is examined for any change in shape that might suggest the nature of the illness.

The Paper


A piece of blank paper, about 4- by 4-inch square, whispered with prayers (bulong), is "crossed" over the body of the patients area of affliction then examined for an shadows or shades for clues to determine the cause of the illness.

Cigarette rolling paper


The paper is smudged with coconut oil; then the healer breathes on it while whispering his prayers chosen. The paper is then brought up to a light to "read" the shapes that have formed that will suggest the diagnosis or cause of the condition.

Candles


A piece of candle is heated and melted on a spoon, then placed in water. The shape taken by the candle on the water will suggest the nature of the medical issue to the healer. Very often. shapes of dwarfs or elves are seen, and treatments are prescribed.