Wishing you a Happy Halloween!
My latest video is just below and it is simply called ‘A Halloween Prayer’
On This Day
On October 31st 2011 The world population reached 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations
On October 31st 2020 Scottish-born actor Sean Connery who is best known for having played James Bond died at the age of 90
Birthdays Today
Larry Mullen (U2 Drummer) is 63
Marcus Rashford (Man Utd Striker) is 27
Significance of Today
Today we celebrate Halloween. It began as the Gaelic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that on the night of Samhain, the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred, and the spirits of the dead were able to return to the mortal world. To ward off these malevolent spirits, the Celts would light bonfires, wear masks and costumes, and offer sacrifices to their gods.
As Christianity spread through Europe, it incorporated many of these pagan traditions into its own celebrations. For example, November 1st was declared All Saints’ Day, a day to honor all of the saints, and October 31st was designated as All Hallows’ Eve, a time to remember the dead. These celebrations eventually evolved into the modern holiday of Halloween, which is now celebrated in many countries around the world.
Quote For Today
“On Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be.” ~Ava Dellaria
Did You Know
Did you know that there is a traditional Halloween bread here in Ireland called a barmbrack or sometimes just called brack. The sweet loaf contains dark and golden raisins with a ring hidden somewhere in the brack!
My Latest Video 🎥
This is my latest video and it is called ‘A Halloween Prayer’
The video below I had up last week and it is called – ‘The Floods 1 Year ago – Then and Now’. If you would like to see a selection of my other videos on Youtube you can click this link here. https://www.youtube.com/@JamesMcSweeneyFr/videos
Thought For The Week
We celebrate Halloween today. So why do we have Halloween and why is it so popular? Halloween has its origins in the pre-Christian festival of Samhain which was always celebrated on November 1st. It was a sacred day where the spirits of those who had died were allowed and given permission to pass safely on to the next world. Bonfires were lit and gifts of food and drink were provided so that any wandering spirits did not wander or go hungry.
Samhain was mainly a pagan festival and it marked the Celtic New Year, the end of summer and the end of the harvest season. For farmers this time of year was a time to celebrate, to bring the cattle indoors, dig the last of the potatoes and make sure all the oats were in dry storage before Halloween.
Christianity then put its stamp on all of these activities by bringing in the feast day of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on November 2nd. Halloween puts us very much in touch with the mystery of life and that there is often a struggle between light and darkness, between good and evil and between life and death. It puts us in touch with the passage of time and the cycles of nature which we so often take for granted.
Halloween reminds us that we sometimes need to respect mystery and the unknown. We won’t always have the answers to everything we would like to know. The start of November allows us to remember with love all our loved ones who have gone on before us. It is a sacred time, it can be a sad time but it can also be a hope filled time too.
Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
