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Halloween is full of symbols. Every year people decorate their house with ghosts, skeletons, mummies and more. We carve pumpkins, place a candle inside and put them on our doorstep. We dress up in costumes and for one night a year we get to be Superman, Batman or whoever we want to be.

These symbols and customs had their start with the pagan folklore of the British Isles. The ancient Celts would place a skeleton in their window on All Hallows Eve to represent the recently departed.

The Jack-O-Lantern might be the most widely recognized symbol of Halloween. Originating in Europe, they were originally carved from a turnip or rutabaga. The original story talks of a man named Stingy Jack who tricked the devil into a tree and carved a cross into the tree trunk to trap him there. The devil was so angry he cursed Jack, condemning him to wander the Earth at night forever with only the light he had with him: a candle inside a hollowed turnip. Today we carve pumpkins because they are so available in America and much larger making them easier to carve.

Other imagery surrounding Halloween is usually a conglomeration of the season itself and Gothic horror stories and movies. Dracula and Frankenstein have been popular at Halloween for almost a century. The overall imagery revolves around horror, death, skeletons, bats, ghosts, witches, spiders, black cats, scarecrows and more. Other signs of the season such as corn husks, apples, and pumpkins are also popular. The colors orange and black are most associated with Halloween.

Mystical Charm wishes you a wonderful Autumn season and Halloween. This is truly a magical time of year.

Tags: Halloween, history, mythology

During the middle ages, dragons were a thing of everyday life.  No one ever stopped to ponder where dragons came from.  It was assumed that they had been around since the beginning of time.

During the 17th century, scientists began to doubt the existence of dragons yet still believed that fantastic creatures could exist.  Soon after, “fake” dragons began to appear in “Cabinets of Curiosities” or what we would call a museum.  At the same time, another question arose.  How did dragons come into existence?  Surely such creatures could not be of God’s creation since the Bible never says anything about them.  Is it possible there is another explanation?

Between 1683 and 1691, Eberhard Werner Happel published his Relationes Curiosae, a collection od curiosities.  So popular was this book that faked editions were printed as well as fake sequels.  The book brought together tales from far away lands, exotic countries and folk lore.  Of course, Happel could not ignore the dragon.

He first presents the story of Deodatus de Gozon, a young knight of St. John who killed a dragon on the isle of Rhodes in 1345. HappelL afterwards lists some well-known facts: Dragons are manyfold – some possess wings and others do not, some have four and others two legs. Their feet could be compared to those of goose, lions or eagles, but all dragons are said to be venomous. But then he suddenly states that they are monsters or miraculous creatures which could not spring from a copulation of two common animals of different species.

It wasn’t until the late 17th century that scientists began to unearth (literaly) the truth about dragons.  Scientists began to pull “formed stones” (or fossils as we would call them) from the Earth.  For a time it was assumed that dragons were real and that the proof was to be found in the ground.  Palentologist later discovered their true nature but the myth of the dragon has persisted through time.

Dragons today are known to be mythical but they are still facinating.  Images of dragons can be found everywhere.  They symbolize strength, beauty, destruction and rebirth just to name few.  Regardless of your own thoughts, the beauty and majesty of these mythological creatures can not be mistaken.

Tags: dragons, history, mythology