SPOILER! From Bloodfever Booklet.

[miss lulu]

Has anyone notice that JB has a middle intial? "Z" And/or that he was born "Oct. 31" Halloween? Mac laughes at this. But should she?

Why would JB choose to have his birthday on Halloween, if he did choose it.

Halloween is popular in Ireland, where it is said to have originated, and is known in Irish as "Oíche Shamhna" or "Samhain Night". Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain(pronounced /ˈsˠaunʲ/from the Old Irish samain), "End of Summer", a pastoral and agricultural "fire festival" or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world, and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. (See Origin: Celtic observation of Samhain below). It is alleged that the Irish continued to practice their deep-rooted, ancient pagan rites well after the arrival of Christianity in the mid sixth century[citation needed].

Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 835. As it now began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. Although there is no official documentation that Gregory had Samhain in mind when selecting this date, it seems consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact (e.g., the Pantheon), while overlaying a Christian meaning.[2] While Celts might have been content to move All Saints' Day from the previous date of April 20th, ("...the Fe-lire of Oengus and the Martyrology of Tallaght prove that the early medieval churches celebrated the feast of All Saints upon 20 April.")[3] they were unwilling to give up their pre-existing April festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain[citation needed].

Unfortunately, there is frustratingly little primary documentation of how Halloween was celebrated in pre-industrial Ireland. Historian Nicholas Rogers has written:

It is not always easy to track the development of Halloween in Ireland and Scotland from the mid-seventeenth century, largely because one has to trace ritual practices from [modern] folkloric evidence that do not necessarily reflect how the holiday might have changed; these rituals may not be "authentic" or "timeless" examples of pre-industrial times.[4]
All info from wikipedia. So any thoughts? What can he's middle name be? Zeus? LOL

[miss lulu]

Druids?

Samhain

The "Irish-English Dictionary" published by the Irish Texts Society defines the word as follows:
"Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signaling the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops were quartered. Fairies were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it, the half-year is reckoned. Also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess)."

The "Scottish Gaelic Dictionary" defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Souls. Sam + Fuin = end of summer." Also know as: ShadowFest, Martinmas, Old Hallowmass.

Eliade's "Encyclopedia of Religion" states as follows:
"The Eve and day of Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken... Not a festival honoring any particular Celtic deity, Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period."

The Celts, a tribal people who inhabited most of Western and Central Europe in the first millennium BC, were a pastoral people as opposed to an agricultural people. The end of summer was significant to them because it meant the time of year when the structure of their lives changed radically. The cattle were brought down from the summer pastures in the hills and the people were gathered into the houses for the long winter. Samhain began at sundown on October 31 and extended into the following day. On the night that ended summer and began winter, the laws of space and time were suspended, the division between the two worlds became very thin, allowing hostile supernatural forces, ghosts and spirits to wander freely. Since the fairies were abroad on this night, an offering of food or milk was frequently left for them on the steps of the house, so the homeowner could gain the blessings of the "good folk" for the coming year. Many of the households would also leave out a "dumb supper" for the spirits of the departed.

The Celtic priests who carried out the rituals in the open air were called Druids, members of pagan orders in Britain, Ireland and Gaul. They built bonfires at sacred hilltop sites and performed rituals, often involving animal and maybe human sacrifices, to honor Pagan deities, ensuring that the sun would return after the winter and frightening away evil spirits.

Certainly tell tales of the human sacrifices of the Celts, but Nora Chadwick points out in her book "The Celts" that "it is not without interest that the Romans themselves had abolished human sacrifices not long before Caesar's time, and references to the practice among various barbarian peoples have certain overtones of self-righteousness. There is little direct archaeological evidence relevant to Celtic sacrifice."

Indeed, there is little reference to this practice in Celtic literature either. The Fomorians, a race of evil giants said to inhabit portions of Ireland before the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan, or "people of the Goddess Danu", demanded the sacrifice of 2/3 of the corn, milk, and first born children of the Fir Bolg, or human inhabitants of Ireland. The De Danaan ended this practice in the second battle of Moy Tura, which took place at the same date.


And you are done. What do you think?

[Maria]

Thanks MissLulu! Very informative:happy0158:

As to JB's middle name, hmmm, has to be something sexy, Z'....? There aren't that many names that I know of that starts with Z..

[stormsandsins]

Went on babynames.com... There aren't that many 'Z' names, but what I found is... interesting.

Zachariah: God Has Remembered (Hebrew -- maybe... absolution?)
Zain: Handsome (Arabic)
Zander, Zasha: Defender of Men (Greek, Russian -- remember, they're going on war to protect Mankind...)
Zareb: Guardian (African -- of Mac?)
Zeke: God Will Strengthen (Hebrew -- again, absolution?)
Zelig: The Blessed One (German -- kind of ironic since he's supposedly 'cursed'. Play on his character, so to speak?)
Zephan: Irish Saint (Celtic/Gaelic -- mayhap he's Fae royalty, so that could be a play on this)
Zev: Wolf (Hebrew)
Zevi: My Wolf (Hebrew)
Ziven: Vigorous/Alive (Polish)

So, what do you think? Personally I really like Zev and Zevi. *smiles wolfishly*

[miss lulu]

Went on babynames.com... There aren't that many 'Z' names, but what I found is... interesting.

Zachariah: God Has Remembered (Hebrew -- maybe... absolution?)
Zain: Handsome (Arabic)
Zander, Zasha: Defender of Men (Greek, Russian -- remember, they're going on war to protect Mankind...)
Zareb: Guardian (African -- of Mac?)
Zeke: God Will Strengthen (Hebrew -- again, absolution?)
Zelig: The Blessed One (German -- kind of ironic since he's supposedly 'cursed'. Play on his character, so to speak?)
Zephan: Irish Saint (Celtic/Gaelic -- mayhap he's Fae royalty, so that could be a play on this)
Zev: Wolf (Hebrew)
Zevi: My Wolf (Hebrew)
Ziven: Vigorous/Alive (Polish)

So, what do you think? Personally I really like Zev and Zevi. *smiles wolfishly*

Great work Stormsandsins!!! I think I like the name Zelig. Maybe not the name but the meaning.

[Debbie_D]

Went on babynames.com... There aren't that many 'Z' names, but what I found is... interesting.

Zachariah: God Has Remembered (Hebrew -- maybe... absolution?)
Zain: Handsome (Arabic)
Zander, Zasha: Defender of Men (Greek, Russian -- remember, they're going on war to protect Mankind...)
Zareb: Guardian (African -- of Mac?)
Zeke: God Will Strengthen (Hebrew -- again, absolution?)
Zelig: The Blessed One (German -- kind of ironic since he's supposedly 'cursed'. Play on his character, so to speak?)
Zephan: Irish Saint (Celtic/Gaelic -- mayhap he's Fae royalty, so that could be a play on this)
Zev: Wolf (Hebrew)
Zevi: My Wolf (Hebrew)
Ziven: Vigorous/Alive (Polish)

So, what do you think? Personally I really like Zev and Zevi. *smiles wolfishly*

I personally like Zareb. The meaning could fit. He's cursed and a Guardian... That's why he's looking for the Hallows. Maybe he's the last of his family and they were the last guardians of the hallows????

[miss lulu]

I personally like Zareb. The meaning could fit. He's cursed and a Guardian... That's why he's looking for the Hallows. Maybe he's the last of his family and they were the last guardians of the hallows????

I'm liking the idea!

[stormsandsins]

I personally like Zareb. The meaning could fit. He's cursed and a Guardian... That's why he's looking for the Hallows. Maybe he's the last of his family and they were the last guardians of the hallows????

That's why I added it in Knew some people might be interested by it (I know I was, too). I'm not sure KMM would take an African name for Barrons, though, (I wasn't sure what the line of demarcation of Basque country is/was, so I checked and it's in Spain and France mainly, therefore nowhere near Africa like I originally thought *is stupid*) but it's still possible.

[miss lulu]

That's why I added it in Knew some people might be interested by it (I know I was, too). I'm not sure KMM would take an African name for Barrons, though, (I wasn't sure what the line of demarcation of Basque country is/was, so I checked and it's in Spain and France mainly, therefore nowhere near Africa like I originally thought *is stupid*) but it's still possible.

Good insight, but remember people traveled back then too. Morons, like in Othello, where from African bloodlines that ended up in Europe. So the name can easy end up in these two countries.

If I say something wrong please feel free to correct me. I don't like sounding like an idiot. Thanks

[Cheryle]

Wow ladies nice research, definately have the mind a thinking!