Halloween: Monsters Through The Ages

Greetings readers!  Today we're celebrating the third anniversary of this blog.  Many thanks to all of my readers!

Tomorrow is Halloween, and since I've done seasonal posts for the past couple of years, I felt like carrying on the tradition.  With that in mind, I want to take a look at part of what makes Halloween so spooky: Monsters.

Monsters (and dressing up as them for Halloween) have gone hand in hand long before Universal began to create their monster movies.  The fictional costumes people now don for fun were once believed to be very real, and very fearsome.  Numerous folktales and legends from all around the world speak of these creatures.  From ghosts and devils, to witches and werewolves, up to vampires and zombies, here's a look at some of the most popular monsters throughout the ages...along with the reasons they were so feared.

The origins of Halloween lie in the Celtic holiday of Samhain.  During this festival, it was common practice to dress as one of the dead.  Ghosts, ghouls, and spirits were some of the guises worn by celebrants.  The vengeful, unquiet dead were said to roam free during Samhain, and humans could avoid their notice by dressing as undead as well.

A more cheerful variation on this theme lies in the Latin American celebration of Dias de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead.  Taken from the Catholic All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, which themselves stem from Samhain, Dias de los Muertos is a time to honor the dead and celebrate their life.  My own city does a parade every year for this holiday in which people paint their faces to look skeletal, and wear more traditional Mexican garb.

Witches and devils stem from Christianity's influence.  In fact, throughout the years Halloween costumes have been heavily influenced by religion.  A lot of the early horror writers were Christian authors.  (Nowhere is this more obvious than in The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which both the dangers of repression and the horrors of a life without morals are explored.)  Because of this religious influence, most of the more popular costumes, those included, feature individuals either dead or damned.

For the most part, these monsters share similar goals.  They are deadly predators.  As such, they are immensely dangerous and something to be feared.  But it also means that they follow certain rules.  They seek prey.  They defend their territory.  Occasionally, they look for a mate.  Think of the Mummy seeking revenge on those who disturbed his tomb, or Dracula hunting for a bride.

It is when these monsters move outside of their territory, or attack for a reason other than food or revenge, that they are at their most terrifying.  Frankenstein's monster sees parts of this, because he has no real goal when he is first born, and cannot be predictable.  Dracula becomes infinitely more frightening when he leaves his territory and travels to another country - where his tactics are no longer known, and where most don't even know of his existence.

But there is one monster even more frightening than this, and it's one which has risen in popularity in just the last few decades.  Originally, zombies were very different from the creatures which now dominate movies, TV shows, and video games.  Raised by voodoo and witchcraft, a classical zombie was slow-moving, shackled to its creator's will, and had no brain function.  They were more in keeping with what one might expect from a necromancer's slaves.

Over time, these zombies morphed into the rage-virus zombies we're now so familiar with.  Many monsters owe their popularity to common fears at the time - fear of the occult, of the foreign stranger, of "heathen" religions, or of certain diseases transmitted by blood.  Modern zombies are no different.  They stem from fear of the viral outbreak, the disease with no cure which just keeps spreading.

In many ways, this is what makes the zombie so terrifying.  It's certainly why I find them the scariest of the monsters.  Unlike their other Universal brethren, the zombie apocalypse is not a traditional predator.  It does not seek to feed, to defend, or to find others like itself.  Its single goal is the extermination of all other life.  Like the Borg, it seeks to assimilate everything else, until there is only the virus.  This makes it difficult to defeat, and impossible to predict.  It breaks the mold of monsters that have come before it, which I think is part of why the rage-virus has become so popular.  It's something new and terrifying, and it holds audiences spellbound.  (It's also a good platform from which to explore the darker side of humanity, and to see just how far someone desperate to survive will go; just look at The Walking Dead, where most of the conflict is between warring human factions, not humans versus zombies.  That's another kind of horror all in itself.)

I'm very interested to see how the horror genre changes as society's fears change in the future.

What are some of your favorite monster movies?  The Mummy remains one of mine!

Happy Halloween!

Mothers: Myths and Fairy Tales

First off, let me wish you all a happy late Mother's Day!  I hope all the mothers reading this had a wonderful day.

Considering how very important the role of mother is in our lives, they tend to get a very bad rap in a lot of myths and fairy tales.  I've talked before about Hera, the step-mom from hell; about Aphrodite, who treated her daughter-in-law in an absolutely terrible fashion; and let us not forget Demeter, who couldn't protect her daughter from being stolen into a marriage against her will.  And that's just the Greek pantheon!

Fairy tales have it even worse.  We're all familiar with evil, wicked stepmothers - why, my last post had both an evil stepmom and an awful mother-in-law!  There's also a lot of fairy tales with absentee mothers.  Disney has helped perpetuate this stereotype by predominantly making films with evil mother-like figures - or by having the mom just be absent.

And yet, for all of the focus that the nasty mothers of myths and fairy tales get...there are actually an awful lot of good ones as well.

Take Greek mythology.  I find it hard to say much good about Hera, given how much I loathe her treatment of Hephaestus and Zeus' bastard children.  Despite this, she is the goddess of marriage and the family.  In both her Greek and Roman forms (Juno), she was regarded as a motherly figure to whom many prayed for mercy, guidance, and a strengthening of family bonds.
Aphrodite may have been a nightmare to Psyche, but her Roman form, Venus, was pretty much the ultimate mom.  She led her son Aeneas to safety in the midst of a war, and helped him to start his own kingdom elsewhere...which eventually led to the foundation of Rome.
And Demeter?  Zeus may have given their daughter over to Hades without her permission, but Demeter fought for Persephone with everything she had.  She roamed the earth, searching for her daughter.  Eventually she destroyed all crops and brought about a winter, which she promised would end with either the death of all mankind (and therefore the gods, since mankind was their source of worship) or the return of her daughter.  Not many can go up against Zeus and win, but Demeter loved her daughter so much that she was able to tie with him; Persephone got to return to her mother for half of every year.

So alright, sure, there are some pretty swell examples of motherhood in mythology (Frigg in the Norse myths remains a favorite of mine)...but what about fairy tales?

The Evil Queen from Snow White is a pretty famous villain...so much so that Snow White's birth mom is usually forgotten.  In fact, she spent much of her marriage longing for a child, and loved Snow so much that she died bringing her into the world.
Another fairy tale, Snow White and Rose Red (which is completely different from Snow White) has a single mother raising two daughters in by herself.  She obviously loves them, and has raised them to be kind, wonderful young ladies.
There's a fairy tale archetype which I haven't talked about yet, but which has a common motif.  In it, the mother rejoices so much in the birth of her child that she dies.  She is buried, and a tree sprouts over her grave.  In times of trouble, her child goes out and cries in front of the tree, which usually whispers words of comfort and wisdom.  In some versions of this story, such as The Juniper Tree, a child dies and is brought back to life thanks to the tree.  The mother cares so strongly for her child that she looks out for them even after death.

And it seems that Disney has recently recognized its dearth of strong, motherly roles, because its last few films have had some great ones.  Moana's mom - and especially her grandmother - believed in their girl and wanted her happy.  The live action Beauty and the Beast finally addressed the question of what had happened to Belle's mom, and it is obvious how much she cared for her child.  The live action Cinderella also shows that it was Cinderella's birth mother who instilled in her such great kindness and compassion for others - traits that not even her wicked stepmother could squash.  The Princess and the Frog's Tiana has a wonderful mother in Eudora.

Stories tend to focus on the bad parents, and it's far too easy for us to do the same.  Today, I wanted to take a look at the quiet love lurking behind the scenes - at the loving mothers who are there, if we only look for them.

Happy Beltane!

Hey guys!

Today we're going to be taking a look at a Gaelic festival called Beltane.  Beltane is an ancient holiday celebrating the coming of summer.  You might be more familiar with the name May Day.  Taking place on May 1st, Beltane falls between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.  Where Samhain marks the beginning of winter and the arrival of the cold spell, Beltane celebrates the start of summer and the arrival of the heat wave.  It's a time for fertility and the hope for renewal.

There are a number of characters involved in the rituals celebrating Beltane.  There's a neutral party called the Blue Men who watch over everything.  They don't take sides, but they defend the other players from outside forces.  The central figure is the May Queen, whose job is to awaken the earth from winter by harnessing the four elements.

The May Queen is guarded by the White Warrior Women, who represent order.  The May Queen is courted by the Winter King and takes him as her consort.  However, the Winter King attempts to overpower the May Queen, aided by the Red Men, who represent chaos.  The Red Men and the White Warrior Women counter one another, and are opponents.

(In behavior, the Red Men are very similar to the satyrs of Greek mythology, or to some of the earlier celebrations of Lupercalia.  They eat, drink, make merry, seduce, bed, and act in excess on the night of Beltane...and they attempt to encourage everyone at the festival to do the same thing.  A friend who has seen the Beltane festival described their behavior to me as "lewdness and lascivious.")

In the conflict which ensues, the Winter King is slain.  The May Queen takes pity on her consort, and brings him back to life...but he is changed.  He becomes the Green Man, a representation of the frozen winter earth being renewed for summer.  The corpse of the Winter King is then thrown onto the Beltane bonfire, and traditional blessings are spoken.

I mentioned that I had a friend attend the Beltane festival.  This festival occurs every year.  In the darkness, bonfires are lit, and an enormous ceremony takes place.  People dress as the May Queen, the Winter King, and all of the other characters.  There are enormous amounts of red and white paint used.  And then...they dance, and they perform the story.  I have never been lucky enough to see it in person, though I hope to one day.

However, my friend is a professional photographer, and she takes pictures of Beltane.  You can see her pictures from last year's celebration here, and this year's here.  (Some of the pictures are not quite safe for work, as a warning.)

I hope you guys enjoyed the look at Beltane!  My words do not do it justice.  I highly recommend checking out pictures or video footage of the celebration; the images are absolutely stunning, and tell a breathtaking story.

See you guys next week!

Valentine's Day

Hey guys!

I apologize for the brevity of today's post.  I had completely forgotten that I hadn't written anything up for tomorrow's holiday - Valentine's Day!  Since I'm sick and studying for multiple tests, you get a short post today.  I'll return next week with a longer one (and a return to Chinese mythology).

Last year I wrote a post about the origins of Valentine's Day, which actually began as the Roman feast of Lupercalia.  You can read that post here if you're interested.

If you're looking for the official Catholic view of Saint Valentine, for who the holiday is named, might I recommend this page?

Lastly, Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries thanks to how widespread Catholicism is.  You can read about the different ways the holiday is celebrated in other countries here - which includes a link to a Chinese folktale that I'll be talking about next week!

Wherever you are, however you celebrate, I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day.  I myself will be preparing for an exam and playing copious quantities of For Honor.

See you next Monday!

(I seem to have made a tradition of posting cheesy Star Wars valentines.)

Chinese New Year

Greetings, all!

As promised, I've got a special holiday post for you today. It'll be a little shorter than intended, because I've injured my wrist and typing is rather painful at the moment. Still, I'll do my best to give this wonderful festival the post it deserves.

 

This coming Saturday, January 28^th on the Roman calendar, kicks off the beginning of the Chinese New Year. I say the beginning because it's a lunar month's worth of festivities. Preparations for this festival began towards the end of December on what is called the Little New Year. The celebration will conclude this year on February 11^th with the Lantern Festival.

(An important note before I begin – the Lunar New Year is celebrated in a number of countries, including Taiwan, Malaysia, and Tibet. However, since I'm beginning my series of posts on Chinese mythology next week, and since Chinese celebrations of the Lunar New Year are what I'm most familiar with, I'm going to be focusing on that this post.)

Let's start with the Little New Year.

One of the most important deities in China is the Kitchen God. This god is one of the oldest in Chinese mythology, and so has been worshiped under many names. Nearly every house has a shrine to him in their kitchen. He serves a purpose much like the Greek Hestia, for the Kitchen God watches over the family from his hearth, which is regarded as the center of the home. The stove is regarded as the Kitchen God's dwelling.

The Kitchen God has a very special responsibility. Throughout the lunar year he observes the family from his stove. Then, on the night of Little New Year, he travels to heaven to report on the family to the Jade Emperor – the greatest god in China. Offerings are made to the Kitchen God before he goes on his journey. In reality, these offerings are often bribes. Honey and wine are given to him to sweeten his tongue, in the hopes that his words will be kinder than the truth. If a family worries that this may not be enough, more drastic measures are taken. Sticky, gooey foods are offered to the Kitchen God before his departure, which serve to glue his mouth shut. When he is asked by the Jade Emperor how his family has acted throughout the year, all he can do is nod.

Firecrackers are lit off during Little New Year to speed the Kitchen God on his way to heaven. These fireworks are a common theme throughout the Chinese New Year. They are set off during all three stages of the festivity. Part of the reason for this is that fireworks make a lot of noise, and both light and loud noises are supposed to help ward off evil spirits.

There are a lot of traditions in the celebration of the Chinese New Year. I'd like to briefly talk about three:

The Gate Gods are often hung as paintings on the panels of front doors during the Chinese New Year. They are protectors of mankind and are viewed as guardians of the home. These dual gods have many stories revolving around them, but the most popular is as follows. The Gate Gods are said to be two famous Chinese soldiers from the Tang dynasty. During that time period there was an emperor who was plagued by demons during his sleep. Hearing of this, two brave soldiers volunteered to stand guard outside the emperor's bedchamber, so that no demons could possibly disturb him while he slept. The demons were so afraid of the soldiers that they never saw them, and the emperor was able to sleep peacefully for the first time in weeks. He ordered likenesses of the soldiers to be painted and hung outside his bedchamber, allowing the soldiers to return to their duties...and the emperor to continue to be protected.

The Chinese New Year is a time for paying off one's debts. There are three festivals in China which include debt-paying as part of their traditions. During the Chinese New Year, debt-paying allows one to literally start the New Year with a clean slate.

Lastly, birthdays! While some families choose to celebrate birthdays on the day a child was born, much of China celebrates during the Chinese New Year. Every New Year, everyone in China becomes a year older. All birthdays are celebrated on the same day.

Beginning with the Little New Year, the Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival has a number of festivities that are unique to it, though it continues the trend of fireworks, feasting, and the color red (which is considered lucky) that its two counterparts share.

Part of the celebration of the Lantern Festival, as you might have guessed from its name, includes decorating with and lighting lanterns. You know the scene from Tangled, where the entire kingdom lets loose a lantern into the sky? It's absolutely gorgeous, but I've always found the Chinese Lantern Festival even more breathtaking.

Often confused by Westerners, the Lantern Festival is also when both the Dragon Parade and the Lion Dance take place. The Dragon Parade is lengthy – one of my source books makes mention of a Dragon Parade in San Francisco that stretched 160 feet long. The dragon is made of brightly colored cloth and held up by wooden rods. Men carry it throughout the streets, their movements making it appear to flow and glide.

In contrast, the Lion Dance is composed of only two people. One wears the front half of a lion suit, the other its rear.

Why these two animals? The lion is not native to China, but animals were sometimes sent to emperors as gifts from the Persians. Given its association with the emperor, the lion was regarded as an animal of protection. Dragons in China are associated with water, often streams and rivers. It is also tied to rain. The Chinese New Year marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and so the dragon represents the coming of spring showers.

Chinese New Year is this Saturday. Happy Year of the Rooster, everyone!
 

I'll be back next week to begin my Intro to Chinese Mythology!

New Year and Resolutions (Including a book announcement!)

Hey guys!  Welcome to my first post of 2017!

Most cultures around the world celebrate some form of new year festival.  These celebrations have been around for thousands of years.  Originally it wasn't so much the coming of a new year that was celebrated, but the changing of the seasons.  I was introduced to this concept thanks to the Redwall series, where events are said to have happened "four summers ago", or a cask is said to have aged "for three falls".  A more recent example can be found in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, where characters are asked how many winters they have lived to see.

As human societies became more intellectual, calendars were invented.  The most widely used nowadays is the Gregorian calendar, which marks the new year as beginning on January 1st.  However, not every country and group uses this calendar; for instance, the Chinese New Year is celebrated on a lunar cycle, meaning that it falls on January 28th this year.  Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish New Year festival, begins on September 20th.  There are many other variations throughout the world, falling on dates all over the calendar.

When many Americans think of the new year, resolutions are often associated with it.  Interestingly enough, New Year's resolutions are not practiced all over the world.  Most countries have their own unique spin on New Year's practices; for instance, the Japanese have small shrines called kadomatsu which act as a sort of temporary housing for the kami during the transition to the new year.

It is hoped that the family whose kadomatsu the kami stay in will be blessed by the grateful spirits.  I haven't been able to look into why Americans seem so fixated on making resolutions for the new year, but it is certainly a tradition we have embraced.

With that having been said, I thought I'd make my resolutions for 2017 here.

It is my goal to:
1. Finish Lips as Red as Blood, my current work in progress.
2. Get ahead on blog posts before the semester begins.
3. Publish Sleeping Love, a book I wrote in 2016 as a Christmas present for my mom.

(She's already read it, and it met with her approval!)

And since this is the official announcement of Sleeping Love, let me give you guys a sneak peek at what the story is about!  It's Sleeping Beauty...with a twist or two thrown in!

Justin's kiss may have awoken Rosalie, but it left the rest of her kingdom asleep.  Worse still, Rosalie has no memory of her life - she only knows her name because of Elliot, Justin's gruff and taciturn guard!
Seeing no other options, Rosalie agrees to let Justin take her home and wed her...but at night, she dreams of playing with a boy with green eyes - eyes almost precisely the same shade as Elliot's.
Are these only dreams, or are they remnants of her memory?  Is Elliot more than just a wandering knight?  Can Rosalie find a way to unlock her past...before her future is sealed?

Sleeping Love will be out fall 2017!

How do you guys celebrate the New Year?  Any fun resolutions made, or things you hope to try?  Let me know in the comments below!

Kwanzaa: Unity and Light

Hello everyone!

This past week has seen multiple holidays.  Today's post is going to be about Kwanzaa.  If you're looking for a Hanukkah post, I did one last year that you can read here.  If you're looking for Christmas posts, I've done three over the years.  Whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a lovely holiday season!

So, on to Kwanzaa!

Kwanzaa is an interesting holiday because it isn't associated with any specific religion.  Instead, Kwanzaa is a celebration of ethnicity.  It has its roots in African culture, but the holiday itself is actually fairly recent.  Despite drawing on traditions from many African tribes, including the Zulus and Yorubas, Kwanzaa was invented in 1966.  It was a time of racial strife in the United States, with serious riots taking place in LA the summer before.  Seeing the troubles of African Americans, an African American professor by the name of Maulana Karenga decided to take action.

Karenga had studied African tribes, their culture, and their customs rather extensively.  Many cultures from all around the world have harvest festivals of some sort or another, usually involving a celebration and light.  Hinduism has the Diwali festival; a Celtic harvest festival is Samhain.  There are so many cultures in Africa that there isn't a single harvest festival, but the many variations on such a holiday all have some things in common.  Karenga examined these similarities and came up with the concept for Kwanzaa.

So if Kwanzaa isn't associated with a religion, what exactly is it?  Well, it's a celebration of one's roots.  Kwanzaa examines the past to strengthen modern ties.

"It is a time to strengthen the bonds among people, just as the harvest was an occasion to gather together, and to give thanks tot he Creator for a bountiful life.  It is also a time for African Americans to honor their roots and heritage, and to commemorate the struggles and survival of their people."*

 

I'm actually very curious to see if there's been an increase in Kwanzaa celebrations in the past several years.  At its core, Kwanzaa is an African American celebration, though it has spread to other countries and cultures since its creation.  I wonder if the Black Lives Matter movement has increased the number of African Americans celebrants.

 

If you'd like to read about all of the customs and decorations associated with Kwanzaa, you can visit the official Kwanzaa website here.  However, I'd like to sum up a few parts of the holiday.

 

There are a number of decorations associated with Kwanzaa.  Within a house, they're usually all placed on one table to form a display.

Corn, or a bowl of other crops, are traditional to represent the harvest.  Ears of corn are also associated with the children of the family.  These are placed atop a mat woven out of straw, called a mkeka.  A cup is also placed in the display, and is filled each night with a wine which is passed around for everyone to take a sip of.

 

There are three pieces of Kwanzaa which are probably the most integral to the holiday, as well as the most easily recognizable.  These are the candles (and their holder, called a kinara), the colors, and the seven principles.

 

The official colors of Kwanzaa are black, red, and green - the colors of the pan-African flag.  Each color represents something important to the African culture.  Black represents their skin, and the unity between all Africans.  Red stands for struggle and the conflicts that Africans face.  Green symbolizes the future, and the hope that is held for it.

 

There are seven days of Kwanzaa (starting today and running until January 1st), and seven candles.  Each candle is associated with one of the seven principles, called the Nguzo Saba.  On each day a candle is lit, and the principle with which it is associated is explained.

 

 

The black candle is lit on the first day.  After that, the candle lighting alternates between the left side (the red candles) and the right (the green candles).  Because of this, the lighting ceremony shows that though there are always struggles, hope follows them.  I think that's a beautiful message.

Kwanzaa is celebrated in different ways by the many people who celebrate it.  Some wear traditional African dress during the seven days of the festival.  Others play African music.  Many families get together and cook up some African recipes for celebration feasts (because, like many harvest festivals, Kwanzaa has lots of feasting!).  Gift giving is also a tradition, though gifts are mostly for the children.  Originally Kwanzaa gifts were supposed to be either educational or African in origin, but the holiday has become more generally commercialized in recent years.

I hope this has been an interesting read for you guys!  If you celebrate, then Harambee! and happy Kwanzaa!

*Quote from Holiday Symbols and Customs.

Odin is Santa Claus

Hey guys! How are you doing? Did you see Rogue One yet? (I confess, I've already been twice and I'm going again on Thursday. Such a great Star Wars movie!!)

It's December, and a ton of holidays are about to kick off. Because of this, today's post and those of the next two weeks will each be taking a look at a different holiday.

Since Christmas Eve (and Santa's trip around the world) are less than a week away, let's take a look at the origins of the world's favorite fat, jolly man.

Except...Has he always been so fat and jolly? Could Santa Claus, good ol' Saint Nick, have his origins not in a Christian saint, but in a pagan deity?

The concept of Santa being Odin was first introduced to me in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, and the idea has stuck with me ever since. After a bunch of research, I finally decided to write up a post about the idea. Let's jump into it!

About this time last year I did a post about Yule, a Norse holiday which celebrates the end of the cold season and the returning of the sun. A large part of Yule revolves around worshiping Odin, who is sometimes called the Yule Father.

Part of Odin's role in Yule-time was the leading of the Wild Hunt. There are so many myths tied to this hunt that it unfortunately is somewhat difficult to explain. A common belief among many cultures is that the lands of the dead and the living are much closer together during times of equinox or solstice. Yule traditionally falls around the winter solstice. Some tales say that the Wild Hunt is a hunting party of monsters – such as witches and devils – who cross the barrier between worlds for this one night. Other stories say that the Wild Hunt is comprised of the souls of those who have died during the year, and that Odin is leading them into the next life. There are many variations in between those two extremes.

One near-constant amongst the Norse was the presence of Odin at the head of the Wild Hunt. Some old folk customs around Yule are tied to the god's presence.

Being American, a yearly tradition for my family is to leave out milk and cookies for Santa Claus. When I wake up on Christmas morning, the cookies have been eaten – and the stockings have been filled with presents. However, I have some friends whose family is Germanic, and they grew up leaving shoes stuffed with straw and carrots for Saint Nicholas' reindeer. The reindeer food disappears overnight, and when they wake up in the morning oranges and small toys are in their shoes instead.

Apparently this tradition stretches back beyond Christianity's influence on the Nordic folk. It was customary for small children to leave their shoes filled with hay and carrots around Yule – not for the reindeer or Santa, but for Odin and his horse, Sleipnir. Sleipnir would eat the goodies, and Odin would leave small presents in the shoes.  That's right - Odin and Santa are both known for distributing gifts to small children!

What I find most interesting about this whole theory is the explanation for how we went from Odin, riding atop Sleipnir, to Santa, with his chariot pulled by eight reindeer. Santa/Saint Nick has ridden many a creature in his travels throughout time and the world. Sometimes it has been a goat, or a donkey. Often it is a horse. The depiction of the reindeer did not appear until the early 1800s. The poem credited with introducing the eight reindeer is known in modern times as “ 'Twas the Night Before Christmas”, though it was called “A Visit from St. Nicholas” when it was first published in 1823. Why does the use of eight reindeer intrigue me so? Well, if you've read my previous posts about Odin, you might recall that Sleipnir has eight legs.

Imagine how different the poem could have been!
 

“When what to my wandering eyes should appear,

But Odin upon his great battle horse, Sleipnir!”

Perhaps the part that convinces me the most that Santa Claus has his roots in Odin lies in the appearance of the Christmas figure. Modern times have painted a picture of a jolly fat man, with a bushy white beard and a red suit. However, earlier pictures of Santa portrayed him as tall and slender – though he maintained the beard!  These depictions are eerily similar to those of the Norse god (as well as Gandalf, whom Tolkien based upon Odin. That's right – if this theory is correct, Gandalf is Santa!).

 

 

Again, if you've read my posts about Odin you might recall his tendency to wander the world disguised as an old human man, who roams about helping out mankind. That sounds rather like Santa Claus to me! More evidence of a connection between the two can be found in one of the most common myths about Santa Claus.

“He sees you when you're sleeping

He knows if you're awake

He knows if you've been bad or good -

So be good, for goodness' sake!”

In Norse mythology, Odin sacrificed one of his eyes for great wisdom and the ability to see into the future. He also possesses two ravens, Huginn and Muninn. Every day these ravens fly all over the world, and as the sun goes down they return to Odin to tell him everything they've seen. What better way to spy on children all over the world?
 

Personally, I think that the modern Santa Claus has been influenced by a lot of things. Christianity has certainly has certainly helped form his character, as has commercialism. Pop culture too has had a huge impact, as evidenced by Rudolph. Could Odin have been a part of the beginnings of Santa Claus' story? I'd like to think so. Even if you disagree, I hope this look at some of the parallels between the two has been interesting.

 

 

Merry Christmas and a happy Yule to you all! I'll be back next week with a post about Kwanzaa!

Diwali: The Festival of Lights

Hey guys!

Today I'm doing a special holiday post. That's because it's Diwali – the Hindu Festival of Lights!

If you're not familiar with the name, you may have also seen it spelled as Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali. I'll be sticking with Diwali in this post, but depending on where it is celebrated it can be called by different names. Diwali is celebrated all over the world, wherever Hindus worship. The holiday marks the beginning of the New Year for Hindus in northern India.

I regret to say that I had never heard of Diwali until about two months ago. I went to look at something on Etsy and they were advertising gifts for Diwali. I was immensely intrigued, and I've truly enjoyed looking into it! Diwali is a beautiful festival.

Here's some of what I've learned:

Gambling and games of chance are a major part of the festivities of Diwali. Stories in Hindu mythology tell of mortals gambling with the gods, or of the gods gambling with one another. When humans gamble during Diwali, it is hoped that Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, beauty, and luck, will grant them some of her good fortune.

Besides gambling, Diwali celebrations are marked by two truly beautiful visual celebratory acts. The first are a series of patterns called alpanas. Only some regions of India make alpanas part of their celebration, but some of the places which do hold yearly competitions to find the most beautiful. Aplanas are designs painted on the floor, traditionally using a flour-based substance. I've also seen a similar style of floor art called rangoli. These patterns are believed to bring good luck the household...and they are beautiful.

(This pattern was called "simple".  I can't imagine painting something like that - let alone a more complicated pattern!)



Yet it is the second act for which Diwali is perhaps most famous. Throughout the celebration, there are lights everywhere. In recent years electric bulbs have begun to be used, but fires, candles, and oil-based lamps are still used. Enormous firework displays are also common.

Depending on where Diwali is being celebrated, the reasons for the lights vary. I've heard stories say that the lights were lit to welcome a great war hero home; other locations line paths with torches to help guide the spirits of departed ancestors to the afterlife; still others say that the lights are lit to celebrate a mighty god leading the world out of darkness. However, the tale I've heard most often revolves around Lakshmi. It says that the lights are lit to guide the goddess to the houses of her worshipers so that she might bless them.

“During the festival of Divali in October or November, Lakshmi roams the Earth in search of a place to spend the night and bestow her gifts. All over India hundreds of little oil lamps are lighted and placed around houses and rooftops and even in ponds and streams to attract her to them. The whole of India is like a fairyland, glittering and twinkling in devotion.”

Variations of Diwali are celebrated all over the world by Hindus, with the celebration taking on its own unique customs based on the country of celebration. An example is Tihar, a holiday similar to Diwali which is celebrated in Nepal. Though Tihar also honors sacred animals, it maintains many of the festivities of Diwali. Most similar is the practice of gambling and games of chance during Tihar (both of which are illegal during the rest of the year, but are allowed during the holiday) and the lighting of oil lamps to welcome Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, into a family's home.

If you're celebrating Diwali this year, I wish you a very happy one - and I'd love to see pictures!  Want to learn more about the festival?  Check out this link!

Tomorrow is another holiday, so if you'd like to read my post about Halloween/Day of the Dead/Samhain, check it out here.

I'll see you guys next week!

On the Origins of the Easter Bunny

Hello guys! I'm taking a brief intermission from my series of posts on Roman mythology to discuss today's holiday: Easter.

Easter as it is best known today has its roots in Christianity, for it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, festivals with rituals similar to modern Easter have been held since before Christianity came onto the scene, and one thing has remained common throughout all of the celebrations. It is upon this that I wish to focus today. Let's take a look at the Easter Bunny, shall we?

 

(If you haven't seen the movie Rise of the Guardians, I highly recommend it.  This particular version of the Easter Bunny is voiced by none other than Hugh Jackman.)

The character of the Easter Bunny has confounded me for a long time. First off...he's a rabbit that lays eggs. I see two problems there – the Easter Bunny is quite often regarded as male, and rabbits bear kits, not eggs. Luckily for me these questions have been addressed by Terry Pratchett in a far better phrased and more witty way than I could hope to use myself.

“...the German and Swiss Easter Hare, who has been laying eggs for children to find since the sixteenth century. Nowadays he is known in Britain and America under the name of the Easter Bunny – a terrible come-down. At first the Hare only laid real eggs, often brightly painted; more recently he has been producing chocolate ones. German and Swiss children enjoy building little nests of moss and flowers and hay, ready for the Hare to use. Just how a hare – and a male hare at that – can lay chocolate eggs will be no mystery to anyone who has noticed certain little brown oval objects in the corner of the rabbit hutch.”

Thank you, Mr. Pratchett.

But my biggest question has been where the Easter Bunny originated. He can be found in many cultures all over the world, but the hiding of eggs by a mysterious rabbit has no origins in any mythology that I could find.

That is, until I dug deeper for this post.

I've mentioned in my posts about several other holidays that the early Christian church had a tendency to take pre-existing holidays and modify them to suit the church's needs and beliefs. Just as the celebration of Yule was changed for the church's purposes, so too was the celebration of the Vernal Equinox. The Vernal Equinox is a celebration of the coming of spring, and is almost always associated with fertility – not just of the plants and crops, but of humans and animals as well.

One of the early goddesses associated with spring and fertility was Ēostre, also sometimes spelled Ostara. Ēostre was a very early Germanic goddess, and there is little information about her still existing that I have been able to find. The works of Bede, an early Christian scholar, attest to her, as does a book by Jacob Grimm.

From what I can tell, Ēostre was a goddess associated with spring, with dawn, and with fertility. If you're interested, this post has more information on her. It is possible that Easter was named after her.

 

How does this tie in with the Easter Bunny, you may be asking?

Images of Ēostre frequently depict her with a hare or rabbit companion.

 

 

 

Now, it's a well-known fact that rabbits multiply. They are pretty much the definition of fertility. As such, rabbits are seen as symbols of fertility in many different cultures. The same holds true for the early celebrations of the Vernal Equinox – it is my belief that Ēostre's rabbit would eventually become the Easter Bunny.

There is even a story to back up this theory. I've heard several variations on it, but they all have a few things in common. Ēostre's hare companion was originally a bird. It was injured, and to save its life she transformed it into a rabbit. (I'm assuming the injury was to a wing.) The rabbit retained some of its bird-like nature, however...the ability to lay eggs.

I'll conclude there, since that's as much as I know about the Easter Bunny! Have you guys heard other stories as to his origins? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

However you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a great one!

 

 

Valentine's Day: Hearts, Wolves, and Christianity

Hey guys!  Given our proximity to Valentine's Day, I thought that I would interrupt our series on Egyptian mythology to take a look at the origins of the holiday.

 

To accomplish that, we'll have to take a look at several different things.  An ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia (a reference to which appears in Shakespeare's works), the story of Saint Valentine, the holidays of Candlemas/Groundhog Day, and the modern celebration distilled from all of those shall all be discussed in this post...along with several gods and goddesses from Roman mythology.

 

Interested?  Awesome!  Let's get started, then.

 

Lupercalia

 

Blood is crimson

Milk is white

Central to a holiday

Long out of sight.

 

Sorry.  I tried, alright?  Poetry and I are not close associates.

 

Alright!  So, Lupercalia.  Lupercalia was an ancient festival in Rome, celebrated around February 15th.  I know I haven't begun my series on Roman mythology yet, but the celebration was closely tied to several figures from the myths.  The most prominent of these are Romulus and Remus.

 

I'll talk more about the duo when I do a post about them, but let me give you the basics.  Romulus and Remus were born the children of Mars, god of war, and a woman who was sworn to be a virgin.  These twins were the rightful heir to the throne.  Enraged by their birth, the relative who had seized the throne and forced their mother to take the oaths of virginity in the first place had the babies abandoned, exposed by a river to die.

 

Instead, the two boys were found by a female wolf, one who had recently had pups of her own and was lactating.  She suckled the boys and raised them until they were taken in by a human shepherd.  The cave where she is said to have cared for them is called the Lupercal.

 

Romulus and Remus went on to become the founders of Rome (though one of them was killed by the other).  They were exceptionally powerful, virile young men, and this aspect of their personality is glorified in the celebration of Lupercalia.

 

The religious rituals during the celebration of Lupercalia are quite interesting to me.  At the beginning of the festival priests would gather in the Lupercal and sacrifice both a goat and a dog.  Two young males would then strip down to loincloths.  The blood of the goat and the dog was smeared onto their foreheads, and then wiped away by a cloth dipped in milk.

 

The use of the goat and the dog as the sacrificial animals interests me.  The goat was associated with both virility and lust.  The dog was seen as a protector of fields and herds.  Lupercalia was both a fertility festival, and a festival of protection - the young men who had blood and milk both smeared across their foreheads ran around the boundary of Rome to place a circle of protection around the city.

 

(I feel that here I should point out the two dominant colors of the holiday so far - red and white.  Both colors are often seen on modern Valentine's Day cards, but I was quite amused to find the reason behind those colors while researching for this post.  As one sourcebook I have says, assuming that Valentine's Day has its origins in Lupercalia...

"If this is the case, then the red that dominates so many modern Valentine cards may have derived from the sacrificial blood of the Lupercalia."

Think of that the next time you send a card to your sweetheart!)

 

The sacrificial goat was used for another purpose.  It was skinned, and its hide was used to make whips for both of the young men.  The men would then run through the city, still clad only in loincloths, and whip everyone that they saw.  These whips were called februa, and women very much wanted to be whipped, as it was believed that a lashing from the goat-skin could make them more fertile.

 

 

This practice in referenced in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which Antony is advised to whip his wife during the holiday to cure her barren womb.  I thought that was a very interesting reference.

 

A few more tidbits of information about Lupercalia, and then we'll move on:

 

I discussed in a post about Greek mythology the story of Hades, Demeter, and Persephone.  The same tale can be found in Roman mythology, with the names replaced as Pluto, Ceres, and Proserpina.  A very brief rundown of the story is that Proserpina represents spring, while her mother Ceres is goddess of the harvest.  When Proserpina is carried to the Underworld to be the bride of Pluto, Ceres mourns for her and refuses to tend to her divine duties, allowing all plant life to die - thus causing winter.  Ceres wanders the earth in search of Proserpina, eventually managing to find her and return her to the earth for part of each year.

 

This tale is celebrated during Lupercalia, since it is a fertility festival and harvest deities are generally associated with fertility.  The celebration revolved around a torchlight procession, meant to represent Ceres searching for her daughter.  We'll talk a bit more about that in the next section of this post.

 

Lastly: Before the beginning of the festival it was common for a box to go around with the names of all of the young women.  The men would each pick a name from this box, and the girl whose name they chose would be paired with them for the celebration of Lupercalia.  This becomes a very important link between holidays as we move to:

 

Candlemas/Groundhog Day

 

Candlemas has its origins in the feast of Lupercalia.  It is intricately tied to the procession representing Ceres' search.  When Christianity and the church arrived in Rome they took issue with the pagan rituals they found in Lupercalia and sought to change them to something more appropriate to the church.

 

This led to the creation of Candlemas.

 

There is a tradition in Jewish culture that the firstborn son of a family is taken to the Temple to be dedicated to God 40 days after his birth, with a sacrificial offering taking place.  After the birth of Jesus, Mary took Him to be dedicated 40 days after His birth.

 

Candlemas is celebrated on February 2nd - 40 days after Christmas.  The celebration is marked by a procession in which the people all hold candles - replacing the torches used in Lupercalia.

 

(While this doesn't necessarily tie into Valentine's Day, I thought it was interesting to note that Candlemas eventually became Groundhog Day.  On this day in the US a groundhog is checked upon.  Whether or not it can see its shadow determines whether winter is still in swing or if spring is coming.  This tradition can be found in many countries, though groundhogs are not always the animals used - sometimes they are a hedgehog, a badger, or "the Candlemas Bear".  Kind of cool, right?)

 

You might be wondering why I'm mentioning Candlemas and Groundhog Day in a post about Valentine's Day - after all, wasn't Groundhog Day on February 2nd?  Well, according to what I've read Groundhog Day was originally held around February 14th, before shenanigans occurred as the type of calendar used was changed in some parts of the world.

All of this ties together to bring us to the original reason for the post...

Valentine's Day

As is the case with so many holidays, a lot changed once the church arrived.  The Christian leaders of the early part of this millennia looked at the pagan rituals of Lupercalia and were horrified by what they saw.  The Pope at that time (469AD), one Pope Gelasius, decided to set aside the day of February 14th to honor a Saint who had been martyred on the same day centuries earlier.  That Saint was Valentine.

There are a lot of stories attached to Valentine.  He was a Christian living in Rome who refused to renounce his faith in God, and so was executed as punishment.  This was enough to make him a martyr, and he was later made a saint because of it.

However, stories also say that Valentine was associated with several romantic legends.  According to some he married young couples in love during a time when marriages were forbidden by the emperor (don't ask me why).

 

 

In others Valentine fell in love with a young woman who was blind.  His faith allowed her sight to be restored, and before he was executed he left her a note signed "From your Valentine."

This last story particularly suits Valentine's Day, though I have no idea how accurate it is.

Regardless of his accomplishments in life, Valentine was the saint tied to February 14th.  The day was declared the Feast of St. Valentine, later shortened to Valentine's Day.

The way Valentine's Day was celebrated changed throughout the centuries, but it retained many links to its earlier origins.  The Lupercalia tradition of drawing names from a jar to assign sweethearts remained, though those who were drawn were now dubbed valentines.

The cards which we now call valentines actually did not appear commercially until sometime around the 1800s, though records exist of individuals creating them long before - for instance, a Duke named Charles who was imprisoned over Valentine's Day wrote poems and sent them to his wife around the holiday.

Speaking of valentines...let's complicate matters a little more and throw in some:

Roman Mythology

Now, today a lot of valentines have ties to modern pop culture.  I myself gave out Star Wars valentines this holiday.  In the past I've handed out Avengers ones, Harry Potter ones, Pirates of the Caribbean valentines, additional Star Wars ones...you get the picture.  Tiny pieces of paper with geeky images and bad, vaguely flirtatious jokes are the norm now.

(I rest my case.)

 

But older valentines (and some of the classier ones, in addition to cards, that are around today), along with the thematic images still associated with the holiday, have their roots in Roman mythology.  Let's take a look at two things: doves and Cupid.

Doves are also called lovebirds.  These birds can be seen on many cards, balloons, and valentines around Valentine's Day.  Doves mate for life, and so are considered very romantic.  This is part of why they're tied to the holiday of Valentine's Day, but the other reason has to do with Roman mythology.  You see, doves were considered a sacred symbol of Venus, the goddess of love, and were offered to her as sacrifices.

Speaking of Venus...the Roman goddess of love is the mother of Cupid, god of love.  You can read more about Cupid in my post about him, but suffice it to say that he was not always depicted as the chubby winged baby with a bow and arrow that now graces many a card.  I've read theories that the god gained this appearance as Valentine's Day grew more commercial in order to better market to women, and that may or may not be so.

Still, a chubby baby he remains on most cards.  Cupid was famous in mythology for his skills with a bow and arrow - not because he was a fantastic archer, but because of what his shots could do.  Anyone struck with an arrow fired by Cupid would fall in love with the next person they saw.

This is another symbol commonly associated with Valentine's Day - that of a heart, pierced by an arrow.

(Behold!  Doves, heart, and Cupid!)

 

I hope you all enjoyed this post!  Did you enjoy your Valentine's Day?  What did you think of the origins of the holiday?

I'll see you next week with a return to the myths of Egypt!

Solstice and Christmas: Old Traditions Made New

Hey guys!

First off: oh my dear sweet goodness Star Wars!!!!  SO.  GOOD.
(If you're interested, you can check out two posts I've done in the past about the mythology behind Star Wars here and here.)

Now that I've got my fangirling out of the way, let's take a look at today's post!

I have a tradition of looking at different holidays in this blog - you can check out my Christmas post from last year here.  Due to that, I want to move away from Jewish folk tales to look at some of the ancient traditions and celebrations that have influenced the modern holiday of Christmas.  The holidays I've chosen to discuss today primarily come from Celtic, Norse, and Roman traditions, but if you're curious and go looking you might find that the mythologies of a lot of different cultures have influenced the current celebration of Christmas.  Should you do so, please shoot me a message - I'd be interested in seeing what you find!

Let us begin with the celebration of Yule.

Mention of Yule appears frequently in the celebration of Christmas.  A certain song immediately comes to my mind:

If, like me, you've sung this song while caroling, the words Yuletide carols being sung by a choir might have made you question their meaning.  After years of cheerfully singing along I began to wonder...just what is Yule?  The mention of a Yule log in several older books also piqued my curiosity, and so I began to research.

Yule is an old Norse holiday celebrating the end of the cold season.  Many cultures have festivities to celebrate the turning of the seasons (we'll talk more about another in a minute), and the Norse were no exception.  Yule was marked by feasting (particularly upon boar, which was hunted during the season), drinking, and praising Odin (called the Yule father at times) for victories and Freyr and his father Niord for successful harvests.



 

(Of course there was drinking at the feasts!)

Perhaps the most important aspect of Yule was the burning of the Yule log.  Yule is celebrated from November to January, which are the darkest and coldest parts of the year (in the region in which it is celebrated, at least).  Many cultures from around the world have celebrations during those months that revolve around light and fire.  A few older examples come to mind - the Egyptians praying for Ra, god of the sun, to rise again - but there are a considerable number of modernly celebrated festivals as well.  We talked about Hanukkah last week, which celebrates the miracle of light.  Kwanzaa begins later this week, and also revolves around the lighting of candles.  The Yule log, still commonly used in some parts of the modern world, is lit and then allowed to smolder for 12 days.  Should the fire go out, bad luck is signified.  The remnants of the log are then saved for a year and used to light the Yule log the following year.

(Modern versions of the Yule log tend to include the burning of candles instead of the actual log.  As such, they can be very beautifully decorated!)

Certain aspects of Yule can be seen in modern Christmas celebrations.  I know that ham is one of my favorite holiday foods, and while I don't pray to Odin, Freyr, or Niord I do tend to give thanks around Christmas.  My heater is currently broken, so fires in the fireplace have been a huge blessing this year...though I tend to look forward to a blazing fire every Christmas season.  What about you guys?  Do any of the practices of Yule show up in your own celebrations?

Lastly, we have the tradition of mistletoe.  While not specifically tied to Yule, mistletoe nonetheless has strong ties to both Norse and Celtic mythology.  When Loki goes full-on Dark Side and arranges the death of Baldr, it is mistletoe that ends the god.  As such, it was regarded as a very powerful plant.

 

 

(Death by mistletoe...gotta be an embarrassing way to go!)

 

Mistletoe was also considered sacred by the Celts and druids; enemies who met under it were required to stop fighting and make a temporary peace.

I'm not sure how we went from that to kissing under the mistletoe, but hey.  Whatever works?

If you're interested in learning more about Yule, I found this quick guide quite interesting, especially since it focuses more on the modern celebration of the holiday and some of its Celtic influences.  For a truly fantastic in-depth look at the Norse origins of Yule, check out this article.

We'll move now to a Roman holiday called Saturnalia.

Saturnalia is celebrated towards the middle/end of December - another solstice festival.  It is named for the Roman god Saturn, god of the harvest.  Candles were commonly used as both home decorations and gifts during this time - for it was a time of gift giving.  Sweets and goodies were exchanged, and both holly and ivy were used as decorations given their being sacred plants to Saturn.  All of these things show up in modern Christmas celebrations.

What I find most interesting about Saturnalia is the common reversal of roles, including the election of a Mock King.  During Saturnalia slaves and masters swapped places for a time, allowing the slaves to give the commands to their masters.  Of course, to quote Terry Pratchett: "We suspect that the slaves were magnanimous in office, though; tomorrow the masters would be the masters again."  After all, it isn't wise to antagonize the person who will soon rule over your life once again!

This custom of swapping roles is still alive in some places of the world.  It was adapted into Christianity in the form of the Boy Bishop.  Around the feast of Saint Nicholas (the patron saint of children), a church would elect a boy to be temporary bishop.  He would then elect many of his fellows to aid him in his duties.  The boy was allowed to give the sermons and lead the church for a time, before the actual bishop resumed his duties.  This practice is still held, primarily in Europe.

I hope you found this post interesting!  I was very intrigued to see just how much of what I celebrate has been influenced by past holidays.  If you're interested in learning more I recommend checking out a book on holidays symbols (if your library has one) - the one I flipped through is called Holiday Symbols and Customs.

If you haven't read anything by Terry Pratchett, I highly recommend all of his works.  I usually reread Hogfather during this time of year, which blends all of the traditions mentioned above with many others to create an entirely unique take on holidays - plus, Death is Santa!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and whatever other holidays you might celebrate.  I'll leave you with a cheerfully burning Yule log of sorts, and I'll see you next week!

Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights

Hey guys, I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I'm super happy - the semester is almost over, and this Friday is STAR WARS!!!!!!

(Not that I'm excited or anything.)

Ahem.  Anyway, on with the post!  The Jewish people celebrate several festivals throughout the year.  Last week we talked about the festival of Purim; this week, in keeping with the season, we're going to talk about Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated in December.  I think most people know at least that much about the holiday.  Menorahs, the eight-branched candleholders used in the festival, may also be familiar to some.

But how many of us know the history behind the holiday, or the reason for the candles?  I know I didn't until I took an Old Testament class last year.  I found the story of the origins of Hanukkah beautiful, and I wanted to share it with you.

The story of Hanukkah takes place after the end of the book of Isaiah.  In the Christian Bible, Isaiah is the last book of what Christians call the Old Testament.  Following Isaiah is the period of several hundred years before the next book in the Christian Bible - the gospel of Matthew.  This is quite a large time gap, with nothing there to fill in the blanks.

The Jewish Bible ends at Isaiah, but they have several writings to fill in the centuries-long period that follows.  These writings are not actually part of the Hebrew Bible, but are considered historical instead of sacred.  Their stories are commonly taught in synagogues, for they focus on a part of history that is particularly important to the Jews.

The story of the origins of Hanukkah is contained in the books of 1st and 2nd Maccabee.  Its events take place between 200-150BC, when Greece took over Jewish lands and attempted to outlaw their religion.

The Greek leader in charge of this expansion was named Antiochus; texts more commonly refer to him as Antiochus Epiphanes.  "Epiphanes" translates to "God Manifest", and it was a title Antiochus had given to himself.

Yeah.  He was slightly full of himself.

Antiochus hated the Jews because they refused to acknowledge the Greek gods.  As revenge, he passed laws forbidding the Jews from practicing their faith.  One law forbade the Jewish custom of circumcision, something their beliefs required of them.  Another set a death sentence for any Jew found worshipping their God.

Then Antiochus did something truly horrific: he stormed the Temple of Jerusalem and desecrated it.  He raised a statue of Zeus within the Temple, and sacrificed a pig upon its altar.  These acts were known as the Abomination of Desolation.

I don't know how familiar you guys are with the Jewish religion, so I'd like to explain why these acts were so awful.  One of the 10 Commandments given by the Hebrew God is "You shall have no other God before me."  Raising a statue of a heathen god within God's own Temple was a huge violation of that commandment.

Certain foods are considered unclean in the Jewish faith.  Eating them is forbidden.  This includes anything with cloven hooves - including pigs.  The act of sacrificing an unclean animal upon the Temple's altar made the entire Temple unclean.  No additional sacrifices could be made to God, because they would be tainted and unpure.  At the time, animal sacrifice was a huge part of the Jewish faith - and it had to be done at that Temple.  Antiochus' act made that nigh impossible.

One of the books I have on the subject calls this act "abhorrent".  The word does not do the deed justice.

For some Jews, this was the last straw.  Instead of subduing them, it made them rise up.

In a village near Jerusalem there lived an old priest named Mattathias.  His temper was at the breaking point, and it snapped completely when a group of Greek soldiers attempted to force him to make sacrifices to the Greek gods.  He rose up and killed the soldiers, then escaped into the country with his five sons.

(These sons were called the Maccabees, commonly translated as "hammer".  It is from them that the books of Maccabee get their names, along with the Maccabean revolution I'm about to talk about.)

Jews began to flock to Mattathias, who led them in rebellion against the Greeks.  The Jewish army was small, but its members knew the land well.  They used their knowledge of the area to make hit-and-run attacks against the larger forces of the Greeks.  The tactic was quite successful.

Eventually Mattathias died of his age and his son Judas took his place.  Under his leadership Jews who had fled when the Greek army first came returned to take up arms.  Judas was a genius at military strategies; after many defeats Antiochus began to consider the Jews a serious threat.

Antiochus raised an army of tens of thousands to crush the Jewish rebellion.  Several generals commanded this army, and one of them led a few thousand men to make a surprise attack on the Jewish camp.

Judas got wind of this before it happened and moved his army.  Instead of running, he headed straight for the main part of Antiochus' army, hoping to catch them unawares.  The plan worked beautifully - after all, the Greeks expected Judas and his army to be under attack!  Though vastly outnumbered, the element of surprise left the Jews victorious and sent the unprepared Greek army fleeing.

When the general who had planned to ambush Judas' forces returned to camp his found it in ruins.  Realizing that the Jews had bested his allies, the general retreated with is remaining soldiers.

With no forces left to oppose them, Judas and his men made for Jerusalem.  They retook the city and began to ritually cleanse the Temple - a process that would be quite lengthy and difficult.  Eventually the work was completed, and Judas began to rededicate the Temple to God.

After he had lighted the menorah Judas made a nasty discovery.  Once lit, the menorah was supposed to stay aflame.  This was a problem, because here was only one jar of oil left - and that was only enough for the light to burn for one day!  It would take eight days to prepare more oil.

There was nothing the Jews could do.

And then...a miracle occurred.

The oil that was only enough for one day somehow kept the lights burning for eight days.  It was enough time for more oil to be prepared.  The menorah was able to stay lit.

And so it is that the Jews celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights - a festival which revolves around the lighting of a menorah for eight days.

Whether you guys celebrate Hanukkah or are just reading this post because you were curious, I hope you have a happy Hanukkah, since today is the last day of the holiday this year.  And, given the approaching movie, I'll end with this picture:

Have a great week!