Ancient Greece found death to be inevitable, and therefore he is not represented as purely evil.
He is often portrayed as a bearded and winged man, but has also been portrayed as a young boy. Death, is the counterpart of life; death being represented as male, and life as female.
He is the twin brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. He is typically shown with his brother, and is represented as being just and gentle. His job is to escort the deceased to the underworld Hades. He then hands the dead over to Charon (who by some accounts looks like the modern western interpretation of the Grim Reaper, having a skeletal body and black cloak), who mans the boat which carries them over the river Styx, which separates the land of the living from the land of the dead.
It was believed that if the ferryman did not receive some sort of payment, the soul would not be delivered to the underworld, and left by the riverside for eternity.
Lithuanians named Death Giltinė, deriving from word "gelti" (to sting). Giltinė was viewed as an old ugly woman with long blue nose and deadly poisonous tongue. The legend tells that Giltinė was young, pretty and communicative until she was trapped in a coffin for seven years. The goddess of Death was a sister of the goddess of Life and Destiny, Laima, symbolising the relationship between beginning and end. Later they adopted the classic Grim Reaper with a scythe and black robe.
Now halloween is the classic time of the year to see the grim reaper and we have celebrated this fact at Justbyjulie by creating some halloween products for you to enjoy.
Listed below is one example of our products. To see the full range please visit our online store at Justbyjulie.
Showing posts with label dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dead. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
History Of Halloween
Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain.
The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores.
The ancient Celts believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops.
The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, in Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.
The images below show some Halloween gift ideas. I hope to talk about various aspects of Halloween, like witches, ghosts etc., over the next few weeks. If you want to see my full range of Halloween products then please visit my online store at Justbyjulie.com.
The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores.
The ancient Celts believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops.
The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, in Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.
The images below show some Halloween gift ideas. I hope to talk about various aspects of Halloween, like witches, ghosts etc., over the next few weeks. If you want to see my full range of Halloween products then please visit my online store at Justbyjulie.com.
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