Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Today is Halloween and this is another occasion where we get the opportunity to see how the past still has a strong presence in modern day. Did you ever wonder about the whole tradition of halloween and how it came to be?

It comes to us from the ancient celtic festival called Samhain and during this festival the Celts would build large bonfires and wear costumes.

Halloween is thought to be about 2,000 years old and it comes to us from the ancient Celts who lived in Ireland and Great Britain and for them the year ended in autumn on November 1st. So October 31st was the last day of the year. And they had the belief that the transition between the last day of the old year and the first day of the new year was a time when the past dead were awakened and returned to walk the earth.

It very much is in tune with a culture that was in touch with the world around them. Isn’t fall the demarcation line between life and death - symbolically? The earth itself goes through a transition where the plants of the world die off and fall into a slumber not to be awakened until the following spring.

But the tradition of Halloween also shows how the past changes over the centuries. Halloween isn’t the same for us as it was for them. We don’t, after all, call it Samhain. So how did it change?

The Roman empire had its influence on the tradition and rather than eradicating Samhain they changed it by blending it with their festival of Feralia which commemorates the dead. They also declared it a day to honor the goddess Pomona who was the goddess of Fruit and this could explain the tradition of bobbing for apples on halloween.

The Catholic Church also had an effect on Halloween. In the seventh century the pope declard Nov 1st as all all saints day which in middle english translates as All Hallows Day. And around the tenth century the church changed it into a three day holiday with Oct 31 being the eve of all saints day, Nov 1 being all saints day and Nov 2 being all souls day. During this three day celebration they incorporated many of the ancient celtic traditions including the building of bonfires and the wearing of costumes and masks.

We owe a great deal of the present to the past and the timeline of events of the world over the centuries. And maybe today we don’t really think about halloween as a remembrance of people that have passed but that is where it came from.

It’s a bit early to think about thanksgiving but here in New England where I live there is a definite briskness to the air that makes me think of the holiday of delicious food and checking around the internet for various things I stumbled across this great website that has medieval recipies from a variety of centuries. There is a lot of good stuff including: The Book of Cookrye, A Chaucerian Cookbook, To Prepare a Most Honorable feast, and The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Digbie (Which has Mead recipes). Now who can resist some of those great titles! This stuff is all located here: Medieval Recipes and Cooking

I have written an article about a typical day in the life of a medieval castle and there is lots of stuff about the meals they ate. If you are interested check it out here A typical day in the life of a medieval castle

There are lots of Medieval and Fantasy calendars out for 2008 and I have put together a nice little Amazon store that sorts through the thousands of calendars available.  (Castles, Dragons, Fairies, Boris & Julie, Luis Royo, The Golden Compass, Geiger and more.) They make great christmas presents if you are already thinking about what to get people for christmas. Take a look at calendar store on stormthecastle.com Calendar Store

On October 28th at 9pm/8C the History Channel is having a world premiere of the film “The Lost Book of Nostradamus”. I have received an advanced copy of it and I have watched it. Here are some of my thoughts.

First off I would like to say that as I logged in to work this morning I quickly scanned the news and here are todays big headlines:

Wildfires force massive evacuations
Turkish Troops amass on Iraq border

Is it undeniable that there is some crazy stuff going on in the world? The climate, the war, the global conflict and strife, global warming, climate instability, political and religous instability.

Doesn’t it seem like we are teeter-tottering on the brink of something? Iran is out of control, Russia is threatinging to retailiate if we strike Iran, Iran is threatening Jerusalem, Turkey is threateting Iraq. And this is just the stuff we know about. If there ever was a big handbasket it looks like we are in it. 

Ok, now all of this stuff brings me to to History Channel special about the lost book of Nostradamus.

One of the most famous things about Nostradamus was that he said that his biggest stuff would not be revealed until 500 years after his death. And for a long time scholars have been wondering exactly what he meant and have been poring over his work trying to understand what he meant. Now all of a sudden (it’s 500 years after his death) a lost book is discovered; it has his name on it and it contains some really spooky stuff.

I had to watch this premiere twice. It was that spooky and compelling. And this isn’t some 1-800 psychic hotline that looked into the issue of the lost book. This is the History Channel. They check their facts, interview the experts, and present the case in a balanced way. They are right there with the book as the scholars look at it and examine it.

So, is this lost book really the work of Nostradamus and what does it say?

I am not going to give away everything and you should really make time to watch the world premiere but here are some of my thoughts on it.

I think it is penned by Nostradamus because it still has all of that same “open to interpretation” feel that all of  his work has. You know, he doesn’t come out and say “the apocalypse will happen on such and such day”. It’s hidden in pictures that are open to interpretation. And it always seems that the stuff is chillingly accurate enough to be possibly believable.

As an example of this he predicted three anti-christ’s would bring terror to the world. The first is Napoleon, the second is hitler and the third supposedly is alive today. Nostradamus comes right out and names the second anti-christ as “hisler” which for my money is close enough to be spooky.

What about September 11?

Here is a one of Nostradamus’ most famous quatrains:

Earth shaking fires from the worlds center
Around New City is the earth a quiver
Two Nobles long shall wage a fruitless war
The nymph of spring pour forth a new red river

Doesn’t that just prove my point? It is very spooky and the references to New City and World’s center are very ominous. But of course it leaves you wondering what the rest of the quatrain means. And is it close enough to be believable? Dunno.

The lost book supposedly has another reference to 9/11 in the shape of a picture of a burning tower. And the picture is very spooky. It is a very tall, square tower that is all aflame. And it would be easy to interpret this as the world trade center but… I don’t think this is a correct interpretation.

The world trade center is two buildings, two towers, and the image of these two towers burning and coming down is an event that is burned into our collective unconscious. I don’t think Nostradamus would have missed this. He would have made it two towers and not just one. So this particular image doesn’t represent 9/11 in my mind. I think the scholars got this part wrong.

So, where do I go from here? I gotta tell you that this stuff is very very spooky and if in the near future there is some calamity that brings down one very big tower in a ball of flame then I am done. I’m gonna build a bomb shelter and start hoarding food. That will be enough proof for me. And I will know exactly when the apocalypse is coming because they point this out in the film.

Go to the History Channel to learn more about the film and to view information and videos The Lost Book of Nostradamus on the History Channel

Last week’s book giveaway was for the hardover book: Beowulf, A Tale of Blood, Heat, and Ashes. It is illustrated by one of the lead artists for the Lord of the Rings Movies and it is a beautiful book. That giveaway closed last night at midnight and a winner has been picked. Congratulations to the winner!

If you didn’t win you still have plenty of chances to win another book and this week I am giving away a Beowulf Graphic novel written by Gareth Hinds.

Beowulf by Gareth Hinds -The story of Beowulf is after all a very intense story and it is well suited to the graphic novel genre. This book is a softcover book and you can enter the contest which closes this upcoming sunday at midnight.

To sign up for the contest go to this page:

Free Fantasy Novel Giveaway

These books have been donated courtesy of Candlewick Press. Check out their great selection of books for children of all ages.