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No Virginia, Halloween is Not Evil

Posted in A Day in the Life, Articles | No Comments »

Around this time last year, I spent a lot of time at Yahoo! Answers, answering all kind of questions. In addition to the ever-popular “What should I be for Halloween?”, someone asked the question “Is Halloween evil?” No way could I ignore a question like that!! Since my answer was quite long (I did give it some thought. I even provided Wikipedia links!) I figured someone might find it interesting here too. So I’m republishing it this year for your reading pleasure.

Remember always, your mileage may vary! 😉
trick-or-treat
No Virginia, Halloween is not Evil

Halloween is not evil.

Since the dawn of time, humans have always celebrated holidays to mark special days, and the passing of seasons. Originally known as the Celtic holiday Samhain, Halloween was originally known as a special day that celebrated the end of the harvest.

Before Christianity came into being, women were understood to produce life, and it is believed that humans, also known as pagans, worshipped a Mother Nature/Goddess. It is also believed that these nature lovers were mostly peaceful folk.

When Jesus “the Christ” (means “the Anointed”) lived, his power for love, forgiveness, and healing changed people, and the world forever. Long after His death, his devoted followers passionately spread his teachings throughout the world.

Pre-Christian practices were then named evil, in order to discourage followers. Before Christianity expanded, Friday the 13th and black cats were considered very lucky. After Christianity was established, pagan beliefs were then said to be evil, or the work of the devil.

Pre-Christian holidays such as Samhain were too popular to destroy, so they were “baptized” with a new Christian name and story. Samhain became “Halloween”, which is celebrated every October 31st. As Samhain (now Halloween) was the day believed to hold the veil between the living and the dead, to be safe, November 1st became “All Saint’s Day”.

Unfortunately, some of Christianity’s strongest champions employed ruthless methods to convert non-Christians into believers. In addition to physical methods such as torture, pro-Christianity propaganda was also employed.

After a few hundred years, no one even remembers why the name changed. But whatever you want to call Halloween, kids (and bands!) love it as a day to dress up in costumes, and try on another persona. So no, Halloween is not evil.

But in my humble opinion, Mother Nature should have fired her publicist!

Source(s):
Wikipedia: Venus of Willendorf
Women in Prehistory
Wikipedia: Venus Figurines
Wikipedia: Halloween
Wikipedia: Spanish Inquisition
Wikipedia: All Saints Day

Dave Matthew’s Band Halloween Photo!

Posted in Band Halloween | 2 Comments »

Yes, this is Dave Matthew for band Halloween! Creepy, huh??

After a month of begging and pleading for musicians in Halloween costumes, Dave Matthews sends me the MONEY SHOT for Day 31 of the “31 Days of Band Halloween”. Woo hoo!!!

dmbhalloween
Dave Matthews for Band Halloween 2008

If you’re a band reading this after Halloween, I’ll be accepting band Halloween photos until Election Day in the US (November 4th).

After that, stay tuned for next month’s focus at Rock Star Life Lessons: “The Recession Proof Musician”. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to participate in the so-called recession. That’s my choice and I’m sticking to it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Band Halloween PSA Video for Twitter

Yes, it’s almost Halloween, but let’s talk about viral videos for a moment. Singer/songwriter Josh Charles got decked out early in his Tom Burgundy (Anchorman Ron Burgundy’s brother) Halloween costume, and created a video clip. As soon as he was done, he sent the links to all his peeps on Twitter.

I had to marvel of the speed of it all. From the idea, to the execution, to the video being uploaded to YouTube, Josh saw an opportunity and went for it. I believe that it took longer for Josh to stand in line to getinside the costume store than it did for him to make this video. And it won’t take long for this video to make it’s way around the world.

You gotta love that! Josh’s video reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: The universe rewards action!

Josh recently performed during this years CMJ Festival, and his style has been described as “Dr John’s piano playing meets Van Morrison’s vocals”. Learn more about Josh at Josh Charles Music

Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas for Your Halloween Gig!!!

Okay, we’re at crunch time now. Halloween is THIS Friday, two days from now. Do you have a costume yet for your band Halloween show? For you slackers out there, here’s a helpful video “Ten Last-Minute Halloween Costumes” from Metacafe.com


Ten Last-Minute Halloween CostumesClick here for this week’s top video clips