Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy Halloween

Dancing Skeleton

The Night of All Hallows Eve
as interpreted by I. H. Nitram

Twas the night of All Hallow’s Eve, when all through the cemetery
All the creatures were stirring, and all quite merry.
Shrunken heads were hung on tree branches with care,
In hopes that a great demon would soon be there.

The witches were starting to rise out of their beds,
While visions of spells and magic danced in their heads.
The mummy was nestled all snug in his wrap
As he began to awake from his eternal nap.

When out by the crypt there arose such a clatter,
They all hovered over to see what was the matter.
When, what to their demonic eyes should transpire,
But a flying black hearse and a very well dressed vampire.

With a skeleton driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it must be Vampire Nick.
More rapid than vultures his bats they came,
And he moaned, and wailed, and called them by name!

“Now Dagger! Now, Slasher! Now, Lasher and Scratchen.
On, Blade! On, Spade! On, on Slicer, and Gashen.
To the top of the tombstones! To the top of the cemetery walls!
Now hunt away! Hunt away! Hunt away all!”

Then like those bats that vampire did fly
Like a soaring eagle against a moonlit sky.
So up to the crypt-top he flew
With his undead driver and his bats too.

They landed on the crypt in a furious gale
And you could hear the screeching of each little nail.
As the shrunken heads screamed and turn around
Down the crypt Vampire Nick came with a bound.

He was dressed in black from his cape to his shoes
And on his spiked collar dripped liquid red ooze.
A bundle of oddities flung on his back,
And he looked like a wolf just about to attack

He reached is long fingers into the pocket of his suit
And his hand reappeared holding fresh eye of newt.
The witches were thrilled as they grabbed their brooms.
They chanted spells as they danced on the tombs.

The zombies started to arise from their graves
And the night dwellers emerged from their caves.
A banshee played harp and began her song
As a trio of bridge trolls sang along.

Then he presented the werewolf with a giant bone
And the mummy a purple velvet lined casket of his very own.
The cemetery was filled with eerie laughter and shrills
All the creatures of the night were getting their thrills.

They shrieked and danced and partied away,
The zombies all got new limbs for the ones lost from decay.
All the undead received brand new toys
And one was given a couple of obnoxious teenage boys.

Then Vampire Nick reached into his cape and without a word
Pulled out an extraordinary beautiful raven black bird.
You could hear it call as it flew into the moonlit sky out of sight
“Happy All Hallows Eve, and to all a very frightening night!”

Friday, October 23, 2009

Superstition of the Week - Cats

Illustration from The Curious Curse, one of the featured stories in the debut issue of the Edible Raven, coming soon.



CATS

For thousands of years, cats have been regarded as mysterious creatures with supernatural powers and were associated with witches and death. In the Middle Ages, cats were held to be demonic. It was believed that witches could change into cats; in fact, they could make that change nine times.

Cats were said to help out sorcerers and midwives with their herbal magic, adding to their reputation as witches' helpers. Accused witches were usually single women – often widows – who probably kept the animals more for companionship than anything else. But village gossip made the relationship far more ominous. Witches changed their shapes, transforming themselves into cats. In a witch trial in Scotland, one supposed witch explained how the women managed this trick, saying that her coven assembled in human form to work their spells. As they gathered, the Devil appeared among them, shaking his hands above their heads and turning them into snarling four-legged beasts.

Across the Atlantic, the transformation theory was taken up during the Salem witch trials. As the local hysteria heated up, Sarah, the 7-year-old daughter of accused witch Martha Carrier, testified that "a cat, identifying herself as Martha Carrier, had carried her along to afflict people while her mother was in prison." Ultimately, Martha was convicted; along with four others, she was hanged on August 19, 1692.

The animal's habits and grace – prized today – didn't help her image either. Moving silently along, merging seamlessly into the gloom of night, the cat seemed to appear and disappear at will. While most people feared the darkness, the animal, with her natural nocturnal habits, seemed to seek it out.
The cat's pupils – narrow slits in the daytime, but luminous globes at night linking them to the moon and emphasized their ability to see into the future. Her unearthly yowlings in the dark only added to her fearsome reputation. Some people believed that cats were the spirits of the dead.

If a black cat chanced to cross someone's path and through some trick of fate nothing happened to him, that, too, was a sure sign of the cat's complicity with the devil. That person was clearly protected by the King of Darkness.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Superstition of the Week - Apples Part 3

APPLES AND TRUE LOVE

Apples
In a group of unmarried girls and boys, each should mark an apple and place it in a bucket or tub of water. Apples that are not marked should also be added into the group. Each person should try to bite an apple floating in the water without using their hands. The apple one is able to bite is the person who they are fated to marry. This is probably where the custom of bobbing for apples came from.

However, the American custom does not have the apples marked. And, whoever snags an apple first will be the first to marry.

Think of 5 or 6 names of boys or girls you might marry. As you twist the stem of an apple say the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you said when the stem fell off. The number of seeds inside an apple you cut in half is the number of children you will have.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Superstition of the Week - Lucky Cats

Lucky Cats
LUCKY CATS

Normally it is thought you need to avoid that black cat crossing your path, but there are also cases of lucky cats. You could cure a sty by rubbing it with the tail of a black cat or find a lover by dreaming of a tortoiseshell cat. In France, it was thought black cats were particularly good at sniffing out buried treasure. All you had to do was take a cat to an intersection where five roads connected. Then, you turned the cat loose and moseyed along behind her until she found you a fortune.

Of course those of us who have the honor of being cats' humans, know how lucky we truly are.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Superstition of the Week - Apples Part 2

Apple in the Mirror
THE APPLE OF MY EYE

The apple has been associated with predictions of love for many years. Apples are thought to help one find true love. There are many superstitions concerning finding out who a future husband will be. To see the image of her future husband, a girl should stand in front of a mirror while eating an apple. She should do this while combing her hair at midnight on Halloween. The image of her future husband will be reflected over her left shoulder.

Another way to find out who she will marry also involved apples and a mirror. The girl should cut an apple into nine pieces at midnight on Halloween. Then, she should pick up each piece with a knife one at a time. This should be done while looking into a mirror. The apple pieces should be held over her left shoulder. As the ninth piece is held up, the image of the future husband will be seen in the mirror.

Apple peels can also predict the identity of a future partner. While peeling an apple, one should do their best to keep it all in one long piece. Again, this should be done at midnight on Halloween night. Take this long piece of peel and toss it over the left shoulder. The shape that the peel lands in will reveal the first initial of one's future partner's name. Or, take that apple peel and hang it by the front door. The first initials of the first man to enter the home will be the same as the future lover.