But I'm disappointed that the origin of 'evening' is unrelated to evening in the sense of 'becoming even'. Because that would be a charming way to describe the period of the day when light fades and colour drains away.
Ho hum I shall face the truth bravely and move on.
Thanks for a wonderful account of Halloween! I am appreciating the change in language and the eventual loss of our everyday use of Hallow. This explains why it translates to Dutch as heilige!!! Oh boy, the morphology is quite close!
Love this! I give a short (because that's all I knew until now) version of this every year when I try to explain to my middle schoolers that Halloween is a sort-of Christian holiday and not the devil's birthday. Therefore I am safe to celebrate it in all my witchy ghoulish glory without worrying about going to hell. And because as a kid I noticed that older spellings used an apostrophe, which begged the question, what dead body is the apostrophe hiding?
Lovely article.
But I'm disappointed that the origin of 'evening' is unrelated to evening in the sense of 'becoming even'. Because that would be a charming way to describe the period of the day when light fades and colour drains away.
Ho hum I shall face the truth bravely and move on.
Thank you! If it’s any consolation, “lightning” comes from where you’d expect it to come from…
Thanks Colin for this great read.
After reading this I am tempted to start a gothic-tinged band called "þā Dēaðlīcan Hālgan"
Oh, and the cemetery painting is a masterpiece.
Thanks, Tom! I’ll buy your album!
Thanks for a wonderful account of Halloween! I am appreciating the change in language and the eventual loss of our everyday use of Hallow. This explains why it translates to Dutch as heilige!!! Oh boy, the morphology is quite close!
Great story, answering several questions I've wondered about but never got around to investigating!
Thank you!
Love this! I give a short (because that's all I knew until now) version of this every year when I try to explain to my middle schoolers that Halloween is a sort-of Christian holiday and not the devil's birthday. Therefore I am safe to celebrate it in all my witchy ghoulish glory without worrying about going to hell. And because as a kid I noticed that older spellings used an apostrophe, which begged the question, what dead body is the apostrophe hiding?
That’s a good lesson though: never trust an apostrophe.
Scary stuff indeed! I love this. Thank you!
Orþanc geweorc!
Ic þancige þe!