Answers to Halloween Folklore

 

1. A familiar is something (usually an animal) that amplifies a witches own power, and protects her from negative forces.
2. The word warlock is a derivation of the saxon-english "war-loek" or oath breaker.
3. Gaia was the name of the goddess "Mother Earth".
4. Arthur Edmund Waite designed a tarot card deck. It is probably the most popular design used.
5. "Oidhche Shamna" , the "Vigil of Saman (Lord of the Dead), when the dead walked the earth...pagan holiday on October 31.
6. The word comes from the original word "boon-fire"; a huge fire built to honor the spirits of the air, to invoke favors. It was also used to drive off "evil" spirits.
7. On the Vigil of Saman(October 31), it was believed that the dead walked the earth. People would leave food on doorsteps to keep them out of the house, to keep the hungry spirits from entering the house.
8. It comes from the practice of dressing up and imitating the spirits who walked on "Oidhche Shamna"
9. A "dumb supper" is the custom of setting extra places at a dinner table, for the dead, and eating the meal in silence, in honor of those who can no longer speak.
10. The "blood-moon" is the first full moon between solstice and Halloween. It is also called "Hunter's Moon" and "Harvest Moon".

JR's Tough Trivia

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