HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!  IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!


you may have noticed that i am writing in orange ink today. this is to signify the coming of halloween! yep, it's coming up and I am HAPPY! halloween is one of my favorite holidays! it is filled with many wonderful activities like


Carving pumpkins        

bobbing for apples 

Dressing up   





....Which goes hand in hand with trick-or-treating!  

And, of course, many other fun activities! 


Everyone loves halloween (including Charlie Brown) but no one really knows it's  origins.  I would like take this opportunity  to write about them!
















Halloween has it's roots in a Celtic festival called Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints day. Today it is a secular holiday, obviously.  Samhain translates roughly to summer's end.  A festival not unlike it was held by ancient Britons, and it was called Calan Gaeaf . What a cool name. It's so much fun to say! Go ahead, say it a few times. You know you want to! Calan Gaeaf  Calan Gaeaf  Calan Gaeaf. hahaha. that was fun.
anyway,  the festival Samhain celebrates the "darker half" of the year, sometimes regarded as the Celtic new year!
           The Celts believed that on Samhain, the border between the world that we know and the mysterious other world of ghosts and spirits thinned, allowing these ghosts and spirits to come in. Ooooooooooooh, spooky! The Celts also thought that while this meant that the spirits of ancestors would cross over to our world, it also meant that evil and harmful spirits would  follow them!
     And so lost relatives and ancestors were welcomed, and harmful spirits were warded off.  How did they ward off these harmful spirits? COSTUMES AND MASKS! this is where our modern tradition of dressing up in costumes comes.  In Scotland young men would even disguise themselves as the evil spirit to avoid harm. pretty crafty.    
    other festivities during Samhain included bonfires and divination.
          
Even the name Halloween has roots. Halloween is the contracted form of                        All Hallows Eve.   Gosh, Halloween is absolute history!
Eeek. Better try and push that thought out of my brain.


        
     there is TONS of symbolism in Halloween! Like Jack'o lanterns:  The souling practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved out of turnips ( eeeeeeewwwww) has become  our modern practice of carving pumpkins! I can see why the changed from turnips to pumpkins: pumpkins are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy cooler than turnips!


As cool as the history of Halloween is, I sure am glad for the traditions we have today. I am greatly looking forward to trick or treating! i'm going as an alien. I love the scary stories, the folklore, the TV specials, the Ouija boards,  the preparation and decorations! It's all so much fun! I have been reading and learning about some interesting spooky activities! Here are some you might be interested in:


1. divination games: there are tons of stuff you can do to learn about the future. One game is where you take a long apple peel and throw it over your shoulder. supposedly the apple peel will take the shape of the first letter of your future spouses name. this is traditionally done in Scotland.
  Another cool divination experiment: legends say that if a girl looks into her mirror on halloween night in a dark room, she will see the face of her future husband.
  There are several divination activities to do (mostly with food)!
  
2. Ouija Board: Great for asking questions about the future and contacting spirits, just make sure you'r careful about blessing the house or whatever precautions are recommended. You wouldn't want to bring in any evil spirits! I'm serious.

3. ROCKY HORROR SHOW: Great to go see if you're old enough ( some adult themes)

4. Pulling pranks: Don't be afraid to freak people out!
5." Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board": Wanna make your friends levitate? get three people. have one person lay down, and the other two stand on either side of that person. Everyone closes their eyes, and chants " light as a feather, stiff as a board " keep you eyes closed, and WHAMMO! levitation. look it up if you want more information.



I hope you enjoyed reading my post! It was fun to write! Now go out and have fun! threaten the neighbors with eggs and toilet paper, and gorge yourselves on candy, and frighten your younger siblings to the point where they need a change of pants! 
And most of all............Happy Halloween!!!!!!
your blog writer,
Avigail

DEVIL MONKEYS!

  
*sigh*. It's just so beautiful. Behold, the majesty of the Appalachian Mountains, in our own beloved USA! Filled with beautiful wildlife, like bears,
Elk,

   

And vicious evil monkeys. *sigh* just beautiful.
You weren't expecting that last one, were ya? I know I wouldn't have! I am writing this post at the request of my younger brother, and because I myself recently returned from a vacation at the smoky mountains, so I became inspired to write about the devil monkeys. While I did not have any encounters with these predatory primates ( much to my disappointment ), a few other people have.  These devilish monkeys are dog like monkeys that are extremely aggressive. It is would be a bad idea to pet one, unless you were seeking an amputation. Man, can you blame 'em? I know if a had a set of chompers like that I'd be tempted to chomp off a few fingers, whether I was a monkey or not! Hmm. that lasted sentence must've sounded a bit odd. Ah, well, honesty is the best policy. 
These 'lil cuties like to eat/attack livestock and pets. So keep your small hybrid dogs in your purses.
 Now, I'm sure you are wondering, " do these guys have a taste for people"? as a matter of fact, dear reader,  they do! What a good guesser you are! Now your thinking " well, they won't attack if I'm in my nice safe car, right?" WRONG!  Silly little reader, they LOVE those yummy crunchy cars! 
   "well, I'm safe if the car is moving, right"? WRONG AGAIN!  they will even attack moving cars! Isn't that just absolutely awesome?!
they stand from 3-8 feet tall, and are said to be able to leap 20 ft into the air! they are muscular, fast, and crazy. they leave three toe footprints and have been described as cat-like or kangaroo-like in movements. While most are described as having tails, every now and then you get a report about a tailless devil monkey.
Wow. These things are incredible. i can imagine what this horrifying monster looks like. I am picturing it right now:




















Yep, it's like they pulled that image right out of my mind.






And now, it's what you've all been waiting for..... drumroll please..... dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdudmdum diddly
POW
THE BIG QUESTION: is it real?????
hmm. this is a toughie. Well, there aren't that many sightings, but it's not that unlikely! Chimps and other primates can be extremely vicious! some chimps have been known to attack humans and even eat each other. Maybe these devil monkey are some escaped primates from a zoo, or maybe they are an ancient species we just don't commonly see. Whatever the case may be for these big and hairy beasts, I don't expect to see one around my house any time soon.        *chuckle*.
Wait.
What is that thing looking at me through the window?
it's eyes are glowing.....
AAAAAAAAACK! IT JUST BROKE THROUGH THE WINDOW!
OH MY GOSH, IT'S RUNNING TOWARDS ME!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! IT'S GOT ME!
GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF! AAAAAAAAAAA, BAD DEVIL MONKEY, BAD!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
your blog writer and about-to-be-eaten-by-an-evil-monkey buddy,
Avigail

THE JERSEY DEVIL!

 

" Don't worry about what those kids at school say. you are beautiful! ( on the inside)"

I guess that's what it's mother might have said if it hadn't run away almost immediately run away after birth. It must have been tough being the thirteenth kid. And his mother was a WITCH! Literally. She was said to be a witch that invoked the devil while giving birth, and so after a couple lovely minutes of being a normal human being, little baby jersey devil became a horrifying winged biped with horns, claws and a weird pointy tail, and flew into the surrounding pines. Home sweet home.                      
                            If you have not already guessed, this super model is known as the Jersey Devil, or sometimes the Leeds Devil. I like the first name better. Leeds just doesn't sound very scary or intimidating to me, even with the word "devil" after it. Anyway, he is a bit of a celebrity now. He has made his way to pop culture, which is no surprise, considering how awesomely cool he is! New Jersey's team in the National Hockey League has the Jersey Devil to thank for their name.

      There have been too many sightings of this devil dude to count. people report sightings all the time.
Throughout the 1800's,  the Jersey Devil was said to be behind livestock killings, strange sounds and strange tracks. In 1960, merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 for the capture of the Jersey Devil, and even said that they would build him a private zoo. I do not think i am alone in thinking that they were idiots. Even if the Jersey Devil is real, there is no way a mere mortal could possibly capture it. or cage it.
This brings me to our favorite part of my posts.  THE BIG QUESTION!!!!!!!
You all know by now what the big question is, even though i have never ever ever ever called it that.
THE BIG QUESTION:  Is it real?? While common sense, logic, and science will defy what I am about to say, I kind of think it could be real. there is no denying that there have been countless accounts of sightings, and surely at least a few of those people who reported a sighting were sane. As unlikely as it seems, I am a bit of a believer. This is a gut instinct, obviously. But my gut can be pretty accurate at times.
     Well, I hope you enjoyed my post, even if it was a bit short.
Thanks for reading, and if your in New Jersey, LOOK OUT! Our frightening friend could be flying over the roof right now...........
Your buddy blogger,
Avigail