We take great pride in our ancestor’s innocence, the concept becoming a tenant in our mythical past. If we let the shootings go on, our innocence is gone forever. Thoughts inspired by the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.
Christmas Ghost Stories: The Ghost of Christmas Past Goes Further Back Than You Might Realize
Philipsburg Manor in Winter, Sleepy Hollow, New York “When I returned to the drawing-room, I found the company seated around the fire, listening to the parson, who was deeply ensconced in a high-backed oaken chair, the work of some cunning artificer of yore, which had been brought from the library for his particular accommodation. From […]
A Traditional Halloween: If it’s Samhain you’re looking for, ditch October 31
Pagans and Christians don’t agree on a lot. Pagans complain that Christianity is all show and no substance. One point of contention often leveled at Christians is that their holidays are frequently, if not always chosen in order to Christianize existing pagan celebrations. Let’s face it, that’s absolutely true. But when it comes to Christian […]
The truth about Thanksgiving and the creation of an American myth
Thanksgiving is the most Norman Rockwell of all our holidays. Rockwell’s painting shows us a mythologized past of America in the middle of the twentieth century. For some of us it’s not far off the mark, but for most, it’s an America which never existed. Yet like America, the holiday is a melting pot of […]
Urban Legends: Mysteries as dark as the night from a Sleepy Hollow Road in Kentucky
Since teenagers started driving, one of the rites of passages, at least for those who live near real country dark, are nocturnal drives down creepy old roads. It’s my personal theory that the golden age of haunted country roads was the early to mid 1970s, when it became pretty common for teens to have their […]
Daily Life in the American Colonies: Sleeping Patterns in the Pre-Industrial Era
Modern technology sounds a death knell for old ways. This has been true since the stone age gave way to the iron age I’m sure. But is it possible that modern conveniences screw us up, as much as help? Old Bethpage Village Restoration on Long Island holds Candlelight Evenings each December. While most of the […]
