Spooktacular Halloween Blog Hop!!

 

 Hey everyone!! Who's ready to have Loads of fun at the Spooktacular Halloween Blog Hop hosted by Sabrina's Paranormal Palace and Racing to read? Every day there will be a new blog stop and you will have to look for the word in Red that you will need to know to win some prizes! So make sure you go to every blog and some are even hosting their own giveaways!!

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

My top 3 Favorite books to read at this time of the year

Published October 3rd 2006 by Berkley

0425212548 (ISBN13: 9780425212547)

edition language: English

url: http://www.yasminegalenorn.com

series: Otherworld #1

Adult 

   We’re the D’Artigo sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we’re savvy—and sexy—operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency.  But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times.  My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she’s stressed.  Menolly’s a vampire who’s still trying to get the hang of being undead.  And me?  I’m Camille—a wicked-good witch.  Except my magic’s as unpredictable as the weather, as my enemies are about to find out the hard way...

At the Wayfarer Inn, a portal to Otherworld and the local hangout for humans and beasties alike, a fellow operative, Jocko, has been murdered.  Every clue points to Shadow Wing, the soul-munching, badass leader of the Subterranean Realms.  He’s made it clear that he aims to raze humankind to the ground, turning both Earth and Otherworld into his private playground.  Our assignment:  Keep Shadow Wing and his minions from creeping into Earth via the Wayfarer.  The demons figure they’re in like Flynn.  After all, with only my bumbling sisters and me standing in the way, how can they miss?  But we’ve got a secret for them:  Faulty wiring or not, nobody kicks ass like the D’Artigo girls...

Published February 1st 2011 by St. Martin's Press

title: First Grave on the Right

ISBN: 0312662750 (ISBN13: 9780312662752)

edition language: English

url: http://us.macmillan.com/firstgraveontheright/DaryndaJones

series: Charley Davidson #1

 This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice.

 Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.

Published December 22nd 2010 by self published

edition language: English

series: BirthRight Trilogy #1

 

Cat, Kassie, Sian and Loi are anything but damsels in distress.

Fed up with a lack of decent male specimens they cast a love spell in the hopes of finding their soul-mates. And inadvertently land themselves on another planet. Oops.

The Arrival, follows the girls' adventures as they stumble through a foreign and often hostile world where humans are NOT at the top of the food chain.
Friendships are forged and love teeters on the horizon while the threat of civil war looms thanks to the girls' very unexpected 'gifts'.
Will the girls master these gifts in time to survive a war in which, not only are they the ultimate weapons, but also the ultimate prize?

Download The Arrival for free at www.damselinadirtydress.com

My Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win a Kindle copy of either Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn Or First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones. You will get your pick of one. Make sure you leave your e-mail and answer this Question: What is your favorite book to read around Halloween?
 

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Tour Stops

~Oct,19 Racing to read
~Oct, 20 Author Ellie Potts
~Oct, 21 Read Between the Lines
~Oct, 22 Starry Night Book Reviews (Me)
~Oct, 23 Alexandra Anthony 
~Oct, 24 Tsk, Tsk, What to Read
~Oct, 25 
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