{"id":5317,"date":"2016-10-30T19:06:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-30T19:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=5317"},"modified":"2016-11-05T13:02:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-05T13:02:22","slug":"on-halloween-and-fools-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=5317","title":{"rendered":"On Halloween – and “Fool’s Fire”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Japanese view of a\u00a0Will-o\u2019-the-wisp<\/a>\u00a0 – \u00a0That might “lead you to your doom<\/strong>” on Halloween night…<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

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\"Jack-o'-LanternSunday, October 30 – If you\u2019ve been living under a rock \u2013 or\u00a0sticking your head in the sand<\/a>\u00a0to get away from negative political campaigning \u2013 you might not know that Halloween is tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

And speaking of\u00a0jack-o\u2019-lantern<\/a>s\u00a0– like the one at right – they are widely known as\u00a0one of the prime symbols of Halloween. \u00a0And in some<\/em> traditions they are said to represent the “souls of the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another theory is that some old-time people set those carved-out pumpkins on their windowsills, to keep out \u201charmful spirits.\u201d \u00a0(Keep them from invading their home.) \u00a0<\/em> And in yet another tradition,\u00a0 jack-o\u2019-lanterns \u201crepresented Christian souls in purgatory<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

(See also “corpse candles<\/strong>,” in the notes below…)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"William-AdolpheWhich brings us back to Halloween. \u00a0But what many people don’t<\/em> <\/strong>know is that Halloween is actually a religious<\/em> holiday. \u00a0Or that there are actually\u00a0Three <\/a><\/strong><\/em>Days of Halloween<\/a>. \u00a0(Called the\u00a0Halloween\u00a0Triduum<\/a><\/em>.) \u00a0<\/em>The third day of the three-day holiday \u2013 November 2d \u2013 is called\u00a0All Souls\u2019 Day<\/a>. \u00a0The original idea was to remember the souls of \u201cthe dear departed<\/a>,\u201d illustrated by the painting at left.<\/p>\n

The second of the three days – November 1st – was known as\u00a0All Saints\u2019 Day<\/a>.\u00a0 But back in Merry Olde England, the word for “saint” was\u00a0halig<\/a><\/em>, which eventually became \u201challow.\u201d \u00a0(It may have been easier to pronounce…) \u00a0<\/em>So originally – back in England – November 1st was called “All Hallows Day.” \u00a0That meant that – literally –\u00a0the night of October 31 was\u00a0the evening \u2013 or e\u2019en<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 before<\/em><\/strong> \u201cHallows Day.\u201d \u00a0(Or \u201cAll Hallows Day.\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

That then got shortened to “All Hallows E’en” – “Eve” or “Evening” – which in turn got shortened further to what we now know as “Hallowe’en,” or just plain Halloween.<\/p>\n

Two things about the night of October 31. \u00a0One: \u00a0By tradition it started the winter “season of darkness.” \u00a0(Old-timers – seeing the days get shorter and shorter – started thinking the days would eventually get so<\/strong> short there would be no light at all.)<\/em>\u00a0 The other thing old-timers believed was that\u00a0on the Eve of All Hallows, \u201cthe veil between the material world and the afterlife thinned<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0Put another way, the veil between the living and the dead was most permeable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Spirits could more easily \u201cpass through\u201d the veil separating the dead from the living.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0So what was the deal with wearing masks and disguises?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To review, people originally thought that on the night of October 31, the barrier between the living and the dead was pretty much all the way down. \u00a0And<\/em> those old-time people were – perhaps naturally – “scared of those ghosts<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

So those old-time people originally started putting on masks and\/or costumes to fool<\/em><\/strong> the ghosts and spirits. \u00a0(In other words, to disguise their identities.)<\/em> \u00a0The idea was to keep the afterlife \u201challows\u201d \u2013 ghosts or spirits \u2013 from recognizing<\/em><\/strong> the people in this, the \u201cmaterial world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Another thing they did was to build \u201cbone fires:\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fires were thought to bring comfort to the souls in purgatory<\/a> and people prayed for them as they held burning straw up high.\u201d\u00a0 The idea came from pagan times, when evil spirits had to be driven away with noise and fire.\u00a0 (Note also that \u201cbonfire\u201d is short for bone-fire<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 See\u00a0Bonfire \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>, noting the term \u201cis derived from the fact that bonfires were originally fires in which bones were burned<\/strong>.\u201d)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And there was another old-time custom. \u00a0If you had to travel on\u00a0All Hallows E\u2019en <\/em><\/strong>– like from 11:00 p.m. until midnight \u2013 your candle could tell your future. \u00a0If your candle kept burning, that was a good\u00a0<\/em>omen. \u00a0(The person holding the candle would be safe in the upcoming \u201cseason of darkness.\u201d)<\/em>\u00a0 But if your candle went out<\/em> , \u201cthe omen was bad indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The thought was that the candle had been blown out by\u00a0witches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to “fool’s fire,” will-o’-the-wisps, and\/or\u00a0jack-o\u2019-lanterns. \u00a0A note: \u00a0Such jack-o’-lanterns are now made from pumpkins, but were originally carved from large turnips.<\/p>\n

And both the jack-o\u2019-lantern and\u00a0Will-o\u2019-the-wisp<\/a>\u00a0are tied in with the strange ghostly light known as\u00a0ignis fatuus<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0(From the Medieval Latin for \u201cfoolish fire.\u201d)<\/em>\u00a0 That refers to the \u201catmospheric ghost light<\/a> seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes.\u00a0\u00a0It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached:\u201d<\/p>\n

Tradition had it that this ghostly light \u2013 seen by travelers at night and especially over bogs, swamps or marshes \u2013 resembled a flickering lamp.\u00a0 The flickering lamp then receded if you approached it, and so it \u201cdrew travelers from their safe paths,\u201d to their doom\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Put another way, the phenomenon of fool’s fire<\/em><\/strong> was “linked with the leading astray of weary travelers into mires.” \u00a0The guy leading people astray was said to be a “mischievous spirit,” carrying a lantern or torch and was said to play tricks on people.<\/p>\n

Not that there’s any connection to the election coming up next week or anything…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/div>\n

\u00a0\"[FeuxAnother view of some \u00a0ghostly “Fool’s Fire…”<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Will-o’-the-wisp – Wikipedia<\/a>. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0“A Japanese rendition of a Russian will-o’-the-wisp.” \u00a0(<\/em>It should also be noted that any resemblance between that “upper image” and any of the political candidates\u00a0running for office\u00a0is purely coincidental…)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Much of the text and “imagery” for this post was gleaned from my companion blog, to wit: \u00a0\u201cAll Hallows E\u2019en\u201d \u2013 2015<\/a>, and \u2013 in 2014 \u2013\u00a0On \u201cAll Hallows E\u2019en<\/a>,\u201d Parts I and\u00a0Part II<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Will-o’-the-Wisp – Lantern Man, Feu Follet, Ignis Fatuus<\/a>. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0“Artist unknown. Source: ‘Flammarion, L’atmosph\u00e8re: m\u00e9t\u00e9orologie populaire’<\/em> (1888, p.749):”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Will-o’-the-wisp has been recorded as flickering over marshy ground since at least the middle ages… \u00a0The lights have also been incorporated into modern literature, e.g. Dracula, and have even had a children’s television show named after them. \u00a0The most commonly cited explanation for them is that they’re the product of ignited marsh gas: \u00a0most likely slowly leaking methane whose ignition is triggered by\u00a0phosphene<\/a>…\u00a0\u00a0Some of their synonyms reveal what cultures thought about them[, such as:] \u00a0“corpse candles<\/strong>” suggest[ing] that they’re the souls of the departed… \u00a0The phenomenon is also inextricably linked with the leading astray of weary travellers into mires. \u00a0The light was taken to be a lantern or a torch carried by a mischeivous [sic] spirit … said to play tricks on people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Japanese view of a\u00a0Will-o\u2019-the-wisp\u00a0 – \u00a0That might “lead you to your doom” on Halloween night… * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * Sunday, October 30 – If you\u2019ve been living under a rock \u2013 or\u00a0sticking your head in the sand\u00a0to get away from negative political campaigning \u2013 you might not know that Halloween is tomorrow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5317"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5317"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5390,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5317\/revisions\/5390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}