Two days ago was Hallowe'en. As mentioned, it was an old festival centred on the New Year. Spirits of the dead were said to roam the earth and skies. Christianity latched onto the idea and came up with All Saints (or Hallows) Day (1st November), when Christians remembered the saints and martyrs of the early Church. November 2nd is All Souls Day when all Christian dead were remembered.
Over the centuries Christians began to think of spirits of the dead as evil and began to "demonise" the whole festival. Even today there are people who say Hallowe'en is evil. The Church has also been accused of hypocrisy by worshipping ancestors, usually by critics who don't (or won't) understand the idea of remembrance.
Over the centuries Christians began to think of spirits of the dead as evil and began to "demonise" the whole festival. Even today there are people who say Hallowe'en is evil. The Church has also been accused of hypocrisy by worshipping ancestors, usually by critics who don't (or won't) understand the idea of remembrance.
Genealogy is all about ancestors. Does that mean genealogists are also ancestor worshippers? The fashion for family history is about discovering where your roots come. It also reveals the forgotten lives of millions who made the world the way it is today.
There's lots of amazing stories to be found in our ancestries. I've mentioned some of my own in previous entries, but there's stories everywhere you look. Take the ancestors of Ray Wilson, of Nottingham's Breakout group - his great-grandparents were bigamists, another ancestor owned a pub which had a secret passage to the local church, and another who ended up in Nottingham workhouse because he was put out of work by the textile machinery invented by his own grandfather!
Or my friend Mark, whose ancestors include Derbyshire lead mine owners, a highwayman, a Methodist lay preacher, and an American cousin who was a Music Hall dancer and married a Native American.After the fun and frolics of Hallowe'en lets try to regain the original idea of the festival and celebrate the lives of our ancestors. With talk in recent years of putting a new Bank Holiday in October why not have a "People's Bank Holiday" on the last weekend in October to celebrate all who have lived before us, whether we're related to them or not.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
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