Joshua Dowidat

Eerie For Thoughts: Krampus

Hello Everyone,

Well the season is in the air. Or at least in some parts of the world. It hasn’t been very cold where I’m at. But then again it hardly ever does. Still I am reflecting on things that happen this time of year, or subjects that are relevant. So this blog will be about Krampus. Christmas’s darker side.

Krampus in History:

Krampus typically out-dates Christianity in certain Alpine traditions. This is only the description of a matching the character. But the creature we know as Krampus today was incorporated into the Christmas traditions sometime in the 17th Century.

This is when Krampus became known as one of the Companions of Saint Nicholas and originated in the regions around Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and other countries in that general region.

Appearance:

Krampus has many forms throughout history but many of them all agree that he shares the features Continue reading →

A Regular Blog: The Original 12 Days of Christmas

Hello Everyone,

Once again and as usual thank you for reading. I hope everyone celebrating had a splendid and very Merry Christmas. And those celebrating Chanukah, Happy Chanukah. And to the rest of you Happy Holidays. Still, this blog is going to focus on Christmas and not just Christmas day but the Original 12 Days of Christmas.

The Reason:

It’s interesting how many of us go through day-to-day activities and seldom notice the origin or understand why we do what we do. I myself am guilty of this. However with the modern day technologies at hand, smartphones, it is a lot easier to find explanations at our fingertips for many things. But what about the questions that never arise because we think we know the answer?

Besides the day-today activities and questions that arise what about those with those further underlying factors? What about Christmas and what we think we Continue reading →

Samhain: A Festival, a Tradition

Hello Everyone,

Since I have been mentioning it in several of the last blogs I thought I would share a little information about Samhain. As many people know, because they have heard it before or read some of my previous posts, Samhain has a lot of relevance to Halloween. A topic I have been focusing on this month.

What is Samhain?

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and celebrating the beginning of the darker half of the year. It is traditionally celebrated from sunset of October 31st to the sunset of November 1st. This marks a Gaelic day in full cycle.

It is one of the four seasonal Gaelic festivals that also include Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. All of which celebrate or mark the beginning or ends of seasons in the Gaelic cycles. Samhain just happens to fall on Halloween or Continue reading →