Even today many people believe that some misfortune will happen to them if a black cat cross their path. This superstition stems from thousands of years ago. Old Egyptian considered cat as sacred animals, and one of their goddess, named Past, was represented as a woman with a head of a cat. The Egyptians believed that the Goddess Past has nine lives, and this explains why many people today believe that cats have nine lives.In Egypt, when black cat died, she was immediately embalmed and preserved in this way. Indeed a cemetery where thousands of mummies of black cats were, was found.

At a time when people believed in witches there was a belief that black cats are actually disguised witches. So it was not worth killing black cats as witches in this way could not be destroyed besause tof their ability to enter the body of a cat for nine times. In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that witches and pendants always use black cat brain when preparing and cooking their own mysterious potions.

So what can we expect? 

True Blood season four offered as witches with a side a fairy. There was more werewolves and shape shifters. The Vampires were at war again only this time it was the witches that were the undead’s concern. So what will season five bring us?

At the end of the last episode it looks like someone decided it was a good idea to dig up crazy vampire Russell. I have no guesses to who it is or why they would do that but they must really need him. Eric had better watch out Russell will be out for his blood!

What will happen to Sookie and Eric now that he has his memory back? Will they rekindle their romance? Another relationship that needs to get back on track is Pam’s and Eric’s, the can’t go through next season not speaking to each other, they go together like peanut butter and Jelly after all.

And Now for the major one. Tara got her brains blown out last year but producers tell us she’ll be back, as a vampire! Now that I can’t wait to see Tara has always been one of my favorite characters, it will be interesting to see her as one of the undead.

Those are going to be the three major story lines for next season and personally I can’t wait.

Spoiler alerts

An episode that largely follows the plot of classic Star Trek’s Arena. A very tense space battle sees the Liberator surrounded by three Federation space battle cruisers, in the charge of the formidable tactician, Travis.

Blake is reduced to trying to suicidally ram Travis’s ship to break free from the trap, but the ships are frozen in their tracks a few feet from collision. Te freezing is due to interference by two ghostly witches straight out of Macbeth, on a forest World full of the graves of ancient mighty warriors.

The witches invite Blake and Travis to fight a duel to the death in the woods, to teach them valuable lessons in war. Travis relishes the potential for bloodshed while Blake is more concerned for his ship and crew.

The crews of the vessels are left on helpless ships, watching events unfold on TV screens. However, the witches to both aid and complicate the duel as the men pursue one another through the forests take one member of each crew.

Blake’s assistant is Jenna, while Travis is given one of his mutoids as a companion. Though mentioned in an earlier episode this is the first real look at the mutoids in the series. They are genetically enhanced vampires, fed by synthetic blood in tubes they carry in their chests, which need changing daily, though they can drink fresh blood straight from human and animal veins when it is available.

There is a great touch of macabre humour when the mutoid refreshes her temporarily by feeding on the vampire bats that attack her and Blake in the woods at night.

The episode captures a rare insight into Travis’s softer side. Despite his air of indifference to his expendable mutoid forces, he strikes up a bond of affection with his mutoid pilot in the woodland chase. He knows the forgotten past she had erased from her memory when turned from human to mutoid and tries to tell her about it, only to find she is genuinely uninspired by the story.

Jenna kills the mutoid in self-defence, but Blake spares Travis, partly from his convenient and unconvincing conviction that he knows how Travis thinks and that he likes to have someone weak enough to defeat in pursuit of his crew.

The witches applaud Blake’s humanity and reasoning and set him free first, giving The liberator crew a head start on the Federation forces who give chase again once their own ships are released from the power of the witches.

Silly, and sometimes dark, not to mention derivative, with unexpectedly soft moments, especially between Travis and his mutoid friend.  

Arthur Chappell

The clergymen in Docs 1 and 2 form a minor group based on their religious beliefs. The account of Brother Giovanni di Carlo of Florence in 1468 (Doc 1) shows the goodwill and the generally positive expression of festivals in the late fifteenth century (“portrayal was…so good”, “It was truly lovely”). The Dominican monk expresses a pious, reverent attitude toward his subjects. The sons and father display morality and family ties so coveted by the teachings of the church during that time. In contrast, during the Protestant Reformation, Protestant priests such as Rusow (Doc 2) criticize the very existence of rituals and festivals, reflecting the ideals of Lutheranism at the time (“What disorder…idolatry took place there!”). Generally, the festivals originated religiously and spiritually but were later rejected by other clergymen such as Rusow and Protestants overall.

Objective commenters on the practice of festivals and rituals in Europe compose of the authors of Docs 4, 5, and 6. They are less biased in their point of view on the customs and thus prove to be more reliable. In Doc 4, Taylor censures the festivals developing in the early seventeenth century as opposed to the positive view in Doc 1 by referencing violence and a “quarrel breaking a thousand windows.” However, unlike the Lutheran pastor in Doc 2, he regards the festival as a condemnation and “contempt of justice.” Also in support of Doc 3’s satirical portrayal of a “Battle,” during the late sixteenth century festivals were disorganized and even vicious. Docs 5 and 6, although also written objectively, manifest more optimistic viewpoints than Taylor does. Lassels (Doc 5) procures a neutral but approving stance on the custom, while Bourne (Doc 6) wholeheartedly embraces the festivals in the early eighteenth century, emphasizing “equal freedom,” showing that the festivals are not as disorderly then in comparison to the ones observed by Brueghel and Taylor (Docs 3, 4). “The servant and his master are alike” and “they sit at the same table…without difference or distinction” portray the outgoing, socially equivalent nature of celebrations during the time period. Ironically, only half a century from the date of Bourne’s comment in Doc 6 (1725), American colonies would revolt against Britain for the same stated reason. The writers in these documents hold a number of and even polarized views, and although Taylor and Bourne both originate from the English Isles, they hold opposite views on the value of festivals and customs.

A third grouping of critique of festivals involves small-scale social reformation and stabilization in the forms of “charivari” and public punishment. Doc 7 refers to a minor but lengthy social protest recorded by a police officer, occurring two decades after the Napoleonic Wars. The demonstrators extend the principle of “charivari” beyond the local sense, using the local custom as a basis with which to build upon. Doc 8 explains the custom of “riding stang” (“charivari”) to a friend whom Gaskell might be more overt with in expressing her personal opinions, while Doc 9 calls for and recommends action against abuse. This is clearly a popular theme in the early nineteenth century as the theme has been incorporated into a song. In Doc 10 a woman picks berries too early in the year and is thus subject to public embarrassment and ridicule, and although written by an official, Doc 10 is generally factual and unbiased. The final documents show that in the later years, during the nineteenth century, the purpose of “festivals” was almost to edify the people and served as public punishment.

The transformation from religious custom to general celebration to local practice exemplifies that the traditional rituals and customs in Europe played a wide variety of roles over the centuries. Three main groups with varying but comparable opinions on the festivals include the early clergymen, the writers, and the locals. The religious and social customs, beyond affecting only Europe, affect both American continents as well, as Europe would colonize most of it. These festivals affected commoners’ lives to varying degrees.

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Although Halloween is not celebrate in all countries and all regions of the world but millions of people on this planet are celebrating Halloween in thier own different ways. Hallowe’en or All Hallows Eve, is an annual holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night preceding the All Saints Day or popularly known as Day of the Dead celebrations. As far as history is concerned, the holiday has origin in Christianity. 

Most people in the Christian world are celebrating this occassion, once a year, and so as most christian traditions all things related to Halloween is bring out for this special occassion. The festival honouring the dead, the typical Halloween activities include “trick or treating” also known as “guising” , attending costume parties, nowadays we can we some parties especially on the streets or in the backyard. some are carving jack o’ lanterns, one highlights also is the lighting bonfires, visiting popular haunted attractions, telling stories about the dead and those scary true stories, watching horror films or DVD mostly the scariest movies ever produced such as the collection of Friday the 13th etc.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES?

H

Image by sean_hickin via Flickr

ere are some popular Halloween costumes:

Monsters

Ghost

Skeletons

Witches

Devils etc.

Image by markhillary via Flickr

SOME FOODS RELATED TO THE OCCASSION:

Pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread

Candy corn, candy pumpkin

Caramel Apples

Caramel Corn

Barmbrack

Bonfire Tofee

Roasted pumkin seeeds

Roasted sweet corn

Soul cakes

And many other foods.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HALLOWEEN

Some christians do not celebrate this holiday because they feel it trivializes or celebrate paganism or the occult.

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First year haunt “Haunted School of Terror” located at 2850 Weir Ave. in downtown Weirton. Need to be check out. At first I didn’t know what to think. I mean I saw a sign on US 22 West. So I started to look around the internet to find more information. All I found was direction on how to find 2850 Weir Ave. We set out to find the location which was easy.

The “Haunted School of Terror” is the former Dunbar School. Also the home of Krazy ’bout Sportz. They have a wonderful indoor facility. Krazy ’bout Sportz has a variety of sports activities and entertainment for adult and kids alike. The only indoor facility that offers soccer, flag football, field hockey, lacrosse, bocce, basketball. Plus an arcade room, concessions, concerts, dances and now a haunted attraction. Unfortunately, the haunting season is short this year. October 21,22,28, & 29, 2011 only.

Even though its a short season. This is a MUST SEE! This tour starts out with the rhyming janitor, and a elevator ride to the second floor. Where you may run into little Johnny Rotten former student of the school. You’ll be lead to different “classrooms” including shop class, Chemistry (my favorite, You may get to experience the Ghost in a Bottle), the nurse’s office, cafeteria, the principal’s office, even a trip to the schools beauty shop and the boiler room.

There’s more because a Halloween Maze. Talk about getting lose, many twists and turns and multiple ways to escape and maze. This is just pure fun, and a little less scary for the younger ones. Like I said it FUN. Its price is only $5 for admission. Both the “Haunted School of Terror” & The Halloween Maze. What a value! For more details concerning Krazy ’bout Sportz call 304.914.3248 or click on there website here.

Cover of Boo! (Halloween Glow Books)

Our first trip to Wells Township Haunted House in Brilliant, Ohio. Which was a surprising terror afflicting joyride. Voted #1 Haunted Attraction in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

The unforgettable characters such as Wolfie, Sinister Clown, Ghost Cowboy, and Baseball Player to name a few. Don’t miss the other characters like the “Old Man” it took me a while to realize that he was an actor. Personally I am very happy to see Wolfie. He is a favorite from many haunts ago.

Outside local bands playing nightly, check the web site for schedule. With barrel fires lining the grounds and ghouls roaming throughout the crowd. Usually, the festivities start off with a bang. No Really !! A Hugh “Fireball”.

Walking into the haunted house you’re greeted with non-stop action as you are lead by a guide though rooms like, the Egyptian, Twenty Foot Vortex, Torture Table, Morgue, Bedroom where the tooth fairy lurks, and The Slide to Hell.

Did you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes ? October 20 is your chance. The Lights On Tour Geared for that and younger children.

Defiantly a must-see Haunted House! Add barrel fires, concessions, gift shop, music from live bands it has it all, and Don’t Forget The FIREBALL.

See Wells Township Haunted House Web Site for more details.

Could it be that one reason many of these people were accused of this was lack of understanding? People who suffered from epilepsy were belived by many to be possessed by the devil, simply because of how they appeared whilst fitting. And then branded witches due to their fits being seen as demon possession. This is so sad that people who were seen as different or had special needs were seen as evil and killed because of being different.

Really makes you think how awfull it must of been in those days, to be killed for being something that simply does not exsist! and people actually believed that these people cou