Happy Samhain to everybody!!

I know this post appears too late... but I've been so stressed!! This last week has been heavy, a lot of tests and puntuable marks for the Master in Graphics and even a public presentation based in an incredible paper... maybe in a few days I talk about it :)

It's very interesting, I promise that :P

Well, these days have received the famous Halloween festivity, or as the ancient pagan ritual have procclamed ever, the Samhain festivity, the celtic day for celebrating the end of the summer (indeed, Samhain means "end of summer" literally, and was the name received our month of November). Samhain was also considered the "New Year Day" in the celtic mythology: the beginning of the Autumn, the highly feared dark season.

Although this festivity had never been a Devil Adored day, nor an evil festivity, it's true that it was the most dangerous day in the celtic calendar. The beliefs of the people said that in this day, the door between the real world and the world of the dead was opened and the spirits was visiting their descendence, and at the same time, the mortals were able to travel to the another world because of withcraft. Everybody thought that in this day, devils, ghosts, witches, goblins and elfs walked through the fields of the Celtic Land...


However, the Samhain really means reaffirming the believe of the celtic life cicle, the Unity between all the Spirits, and the truth in the death is not the End. An interesting approach, I think... In fact, for maintaining the dead spirits in a happy mood, the mortals often put food out of their homes ---obviously a present for their ancestors---; this tradition evolutioned (evolutioned? maybe this isn't the best word for describe that...) in the actual tradition of the costumed children asking for sweets... Indeed, due to the conversion to the christianism, the christians considered that Samhain was a festivity to adore Satan (ehem...) and they decided that the best way for converting the celts into the believe in Christ was the adoption of Samhain to the christian traditions.

After that, Samhain was declarated the All Hallows' Day, name that evolutioned to the actual Halloween.

Well, I don't pretend to present you all a complete thesis about the degeneration of Samhain until the actual Halloween, thus you can become calmed XD I will only tell you, as a virtual druid (with all my heart, I adore the celtic mythology), that the druids were really the ceremony master of Samhain. They ask the villagers for burning a gigantic bonfire, to give it the sacrifices: animals, harvests, and even human beings.

All these things with an only aim: the purification for a nice beginning of the new year. Just like that, facing the new year (and the dark season!!) with reborn forces, the ashes were spred across the green fields.

Even the nowadays classic pumpkin is originally from the celtic mythology!!! The ancient tradition tells that mounts of candels were put into emptied turnips (subsequently into emptied pumpkins) surrounding homes to scare the bad spirits. This tradition, still life in Galice, has been morphed onto the happy pumpkins of Halloween...

And finally.. I know this last phrase will be totally out of place, but I have to say it... On Samhain, Helloween (the pumpkin spirit of meeeeetaaaaaaaal) have released their last album, Gambling with the Devil. And in a few days, I will review this splendid cd, a more than good sound continuity to their previous double-cd LP: Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy.


And now, to finishing this post, I think the best way is embedding this legendary metal song... of course, I'm talking of Halloween, by Helloween, the pumpkins of hell!!!! It's the 1987 videoclip ---so, don't laugh to much please :P--- of the edit version of the song (5:00 minutes instead the 13:30 complete track...), and with the legandary voice of Michael Kiske!!! Tobias Sammet makes Kiske come back to the Dark Side sporadically but it's pitiful that Kiske is now a renegate of metal... snif... :(

Come on, mortals, sing with me!!

in the streets on halloween there's something going on
no way to escape the power unknown...
in the streets on halloween the spirits will arise
make your choice, it's hell or paradiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! it's halloweeeeeeeen...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! it's halloweeeeeeeen...
oooooooooh... tonight!!!

Well, that's all for now!!! Stay tuned in Ignis Lacrima, poor mortals!! And beware of the bad spirits!!!! mwaaaahahahaha