History of the Day: 10/31

Happy All Hallows Eve, a holiday with an interesting history. There are festivals of the dead, many of them around this time of year, all over the world. This makes sense, as the world seems to be dying around us, the Holly King triumphant. Halloween started with the Celtic (that's "K"eltic) festival of the dead, Samhain (which is not the Celtic god of death). They believed that, at this time of year, the wall or veil between our world and the land of the dead (and of fairies and elves, which were not nice, friendly beings) was particularly thin and traverse between the worlds was possible. So, people were scared of the dead and thinking of their own death. Memento mori.

One way to ward off the evil beings was with a bone fire, literally a fire made with bones, which is where we get "bonfire." All the other fires in the village were extinguished, and the new fires were lit from the central one. Another way was to leave an offering of some kind to satisfy your great-great grandma or whatever elven mobster was going to mess up your domicile.

Fast forward to St. Patrick and the Christians. As the Celts converted, their fear of death was translated into a celebration of the saints. Thus, All Saints Day (tomorrow) and All Hallows/Saints Eve' (tonight). Many of the former traditions were preserved, as you can see in Robert Burns' (very long) poem Halloween. Fast forward again to the 17th. century, when the Puritans in Massachusetts discouraged the celebration of Halloween (and Christmas) because of their pagan roots. No mention of the holiday is found until the Irish and Scots began emigrating here 300 years later. Halloween quickly became a night for vandalism and hoodlumdry (my word). Then come the Boy Scouts to the rescue! In 1912, they began the tradition of "beggars nights" or "Sane Halloween" as we have come to practice it today.

Thus, we have come full circle, from a night where we feared little imps doing mischief which we placated with offerings to leave us alone, to a night where we feared little imps doing mischief which we placated with offerings to leave us alone.

Speaking of death, Harry Houdini died on this day in 1926 after his appendix ruptured in a magic trick gone wrong. Why can't this happen to David Blaine or Criss Angel? Speaking of Harry, Harry Potter's parents were killed by Voldemort on this day as well. Side note: Avada Kedavra (the killing curse) is derived from Abracadabra, which means, "I create as I speak." Avada Kedavra means, "I destroy as I speak." Cool!

The last successful cavalry charge happened on this day in 1917 during WWI at the Battle of Beersheba. This picture was taken of the charge. I think, given the perspective of the shot, we can assume the photographer died on this day as well.

Joseph Campell, author of the Masks of God series and The Hero with A Thousand Faces, died on this day in 1987. His books greatly affected popular and academic perceptions about mythology. His theory of the hero cycle were particularly influential on entertainment. Both Star Wars and the Matrix were largely structured on it.

In 1975, Queen released their most famous single, Bohemian Rhapsody. You can tell it's famous because of the bajillion covers and parodies that have been created, including Bohemian Polka by Weird Al, Iliad Rhapsody, that scene from Wayne's World, the 25 most annoying singers, and what might be the greatest, September of this year at my sister's wedding. They had Karaoke at the reception, and my son was inspired to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. I was terrified, because he'd never sung in public before, but he absolutely rocked it! Knew every word (which surprised the heck out of me). Of course, the next day he was absolutely mortified but, as I told him, that's what Karaoke's all about!

Finally, on this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany; thus sparking the Protestant Reformation. This religious equivalent of a Dear St. John letter led to a bit of heartache and even more fragmentation (kind of a nuclear reaction of denominational fission) and one of my favorite jokes.

Asked why he chose 95 instead of 100 Theses, Luther responded that he had five more which included, "I hate this stupid haircut," but he didn't want to be petulant. Also, he didn't want to miss trick-or-treating.

On this day 482 years later, the Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church (well, one of them) issued the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Faith and Justification, in which they pretty much agreed on everything they were disputing in the 16th. century (though they still haven't resolved all the new disputes that have arisen since then). It was subtitled Whoops, My Bad.