Halloween

In light of Halloween, I thought that I would share this with everyone. Enjoy!


The actual concept of Halloween is derived from an early Celtic holiday called Samhein (pronounced sow-in) that took place at the beginning of the winter season on Oct. 31. This day marked the end of summer and the end of food abundance and plant vitality for farmers.

Spirits of the dead were believed to roam freely. On the day known as "The Day of the Dead," living relatives would help their dead loved ones complete a safe journey to the afterlife.

People would paint or carve scary faces on gourds and turnips and disguise themselves in outlandish costumes to scare away the evil spirits that were also thought to be wandering the earth that night.

The Catholic Church, angered by these pagan practices, sought to eliminate them. Pope Gregory decided to declare a new festival of religious observance called All Saint's Day, a day in which every saint would be honored.

A few hundred years down the line, its date was changed so that it would fall on the same day as Samhein.

As part of the custom of All Saints Day, people would dress up in a costume that represented a saint, and young men would go door-to-door begging for food to feed the town's poor.

As the years went by, the customs of Samhein and All Saints Day began to merge and were no longer considered two separate festivals, but rather one joint holiday called All Hollow's Day.

When the Irish population began immigrating to America in the mid-1800s, they brought with them the many European customs of All Hollow's Day. These customs combined with an existing American tradition called "Autumn's Play."

"Autumn's Play" is a celebration in which people gather to sing, feast, light bonfires and watch children parade in costume.

These two festivals shaped present-day Halloween and all of the spooky phenomena that we enjoy today.

This Past Weekend

Good day to one and all! I hope everyone survived another weekend, and made it to work this morning. Even if you did have to drag yourself into the office; or had to bribe yourself into not calling out this morning. Don't think for one second that you have not thought about it, calling in sick when you know that you just want to sleep in longer or just extend your weekend for one more day. Or hell, you drank too much the previous night even though it was Sunday and you knew that you had to get up the next morning for work. I know that all of us have been there before at one time or another...but then again that is just what you need to do every once and awhile isn't it??

Anyway, this weekend was pretty good for me. I went to a Halloween party at my sister-in-laws place. And normally I would have a good time at her parties, even the ones that I don't drink at. But for some reason this one is a little different. Now, I was not drink; although I wish I had now that I look back on the evening. But oh well, anyway I think it has to do with the fact that I am not all that big on Halloween, I don't think I ever really was. I mean, as I kid I liked it for the candy aspect and which of us did not?? But, as I got older the candy aspect got old and if I wanted candy I just ask my folks for it. So, the whole Halloween thing just faded away. Then I meet my wife and her family loves Halloween. And they like to make their own costumes and everything. So, now I need to try to get back into the whole Halloween scene. It's hard, but I am trying.

Anyway, that is my weekend in a nutshell. I hope that you guys had a better one then I did. Hopefully this weekend will be better then the last. Till next time, you guys have a great day!

This Is Crazy!

Greetings all! So, yesterday I was cruising Washington Times web site. Need to get caught up on the news; I tend to only read it about once a week. But anyway, I read an article on there about middle school students getting birth control. Birth control?? Are we serious?! Is this something that is really needed?? I mean we are talking about 6-8 graders here. When I was that age I was not even thinking about sex let alone wondering how I could get it safely. And, I know the times have changed, but if you ask me this is going in the wrong direction. When should we be allowing out kids to be getting all those chemicals entered into their bodies at such a young age. What ever happened to letting kids be kids. They have the rest of their lives to be adults, let them enjoy their youth! Its bad enough that parents are asking their children to grow up faster then they need to. And to me that is why they ended up being put on all the mind altering drugs that doctors' seem to think cure "everything" when in reality, they don't cure anything. So, please let your kids be kids they grow up fast enough without giving them more to aid them to the fact.

First Class

Hello all you fellow Internet/blog junkies. And, I say that with the deepest respect mind you. First, I just have to say that I am shocked and amazed that I posted two days in a row.

So, last night I finished my first college course. All right, so that is not entirely true; I have been in college but this was the first class that I did at a university. Before that I had been going to NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College). But I am not going to University of Mary Washington (a big step in the right direction). I was a little worried that I was not going to bomb the course, but I put my nose to grind-stone (anyone who had a dad tell them that statement will know where I am coming from) and passed the class. Boy, was I relieved being that I needed that class to move onto anything else that I want to take to finish my degree.

Anyway, time for me to get back to work the lunch break is just about over. More computer to fix and people to talk to about problems that only I can correct. To everyone out there thank you for reading. Good-bye and take care!

Welcome

Hello all! This post is to welcome you to my blog. I tend not to do this very often, but I have found that writing things down can be therapeutic; I would like to note that is one of the few times that I will mention therapy in a good light. Perhaps at some point I will further explain that point, but that is a post for another time.

I am a computer geek by trade, and as I prefer not to be called a geek I am one none the less. I fix computers for a living; working along side my customers to ensure that they can access e-mail and other various programs/application that I am sure would bore you to death if I elaborated :) I love what I do, in fact the idea is for me to start my own company. The idea of knowing that I would not answer to anyone but myself is a fact that intrigues me; and I kinda dig the idea that people would have to answer to me. Guess its my man mentality coming through on that one.

Anyway, I will not post much more about myself other then what is above. I don't really like the idea of my information being all over the Internet; all though if you look hard enough you will find some.

In my blog, you will find stuff that interest me at the time that I post. I don't foresee that I will post everyday. but I will try to post once a week (which might be a stretch for me). Even if its a new poem that I write, I will see about putting it up here. Yep, I am a poet I had my first book published by Publish America. My book, The Warrior Poet can be order on amazon.com , publisheamerica.com , borders.com , bn.com or if you live the Fair Lakes Virginia area you can find my book on the shelves of the Borders there.

Well, that's about it for the moment. I will touch base again later this week or next week. It just depends on when I get back here for the next post. I hope that you enjoy reading; even though I don't expect too many people to read this blog; I don't tend to get my hopes up about things.

Take Care!