From: eshin@ddsw1.mcs.com (Eshin-Fun)
Subject: Re: hallowe'en origins
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 11:25:05 GMT
Organization: ddsw1.MCS.COM Contributor, Chicago IL
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

>>kjturner@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu (Kimberley Jo Turner) writes:
: 
: i saw a posting on here asking questions about hallowe'en.
: does anyone know of a book or other reference, other than the
: Silver Bough, that will refer me to my answers?<<

I don't know what specifically you're looking for in an answer but note that
in the U.S. the four volume set of the "Silver Bough" by F. Marian McNeill
(not to be confused with "The Silver Bough" by Neil M. Gunn- a novel) is
very hard to find as Kroch & Brentanno does not deal anymore with its
publishers (Stwart TiTles Ltd.) It can be purchased however from State
Mutual Books in N.Y. Perhaps this is because The Silver Bough
emphasizes "Scottish Folklore" while a more thorough 13 volume set of the
"Golgen Bough" by Sir James Frazer is more all-encompassing.

In part vii vol i of the Golden Bough there is quite a section devoted to
it.
Also, there's quite an interesting tract about it in "The encyclopedia of
Superstitions by Edwin and Mona A. Radford.
Of course there is also the 2 vol Funk & Wagnalls' Dictionary of Folklore

: 
: also, i am interested in the origins of Saimhain and also the
: rest of the Sabbats.  Does anyone know of a good book that they
: can recommend that will explain in detail the origins of these
: holidays to me?
: 
Beside the volumes above, (which should keep you very busy) there is also
the 13 vol set of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics by James Hastings: 
I quote vol 5, pg838;

" Samhain (perhaps from *sam* `summer' and *fuin*, `sunset' or `end'
[Windisch-Stokes, Ir. Texte, leipzig, 1880ff., i,757], though Stokes
[Urkelt. Sprachschatz, Gottingen, 1894,p.293] gives to *samani* the meaning
of `assembly'), as a festival of the begining of winter when blight and
death were assuming their reign, naturally took account of that fact, and
its ritual was intended to assist the powers of growth in their conflict
with winter's death.
But it had other aspects also, and a complete understanding of the festival
can be arrived at only by studying early descriptions of the ritual or
actual folk=survivals.....". It goes on for four more pages.



>>: oh, btw, to all, *grin* i'm pregnant. since i haven't been able to post
: to here, i haven't been able to share the good news with anybody...i'm
: going to be a single mother....*smilies* anyhow...<<


In ancient times a pregnant mother to be would take habit of sitting in the
temples and contemplating the images of the gods so that her child is born
as beautiful. Some say that if the child looks like his mother a lot it is
because the mother was very vain during her pregnancy, others believe that
if the child looks like the father, it is because the mother lived in love
of its father. Of course if the child looks like the milk man or postman, it
did not imply that the mother was unfaithful, but that she was fascinated by
that person and perhaps idolized him/her more than she knew.
So, it was a simple resolve, to look in contemplation at a god's image so
that child would be born with divine traits!
              
I have seen it work:  A lady I once knew had a mother that was obssessed
with Georges Sand and evidently her mother contemplated an alleged painting
of the famous writer. When my friend was born, and subsequently grew, she
had a remarkable resemblance to "that" painting. Since I knew this lady as
she matured and got older, she no longer resembled the "painting" of
Georges, but still quite an affection for it.
I have known young men that were the spitting image of their mother. In
furthering the friendship with the mother I found her to be extremely vain
and self-centered.
Does it work??? Try it! The worse that can happen is that you choose the
wrong gender to contemplate :-)
 
: *smilies* 
: 
: thanks for listening to me drone on....
: julie/mortiana


You're welcome..........
Eshin-Fun
: 
Newsgroups: alt.pagan