How much do you know about what day is the creepiest most haunted days of the year? And most likely the day when your most apt to meet a real lively ghost eye to eye. Besides knowing what phase the moon is at Ghost Hunters are starting to research the actual tradtional haunted days of the year with some ghost finding startling paranormal results.
A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe. Similar superstitions exist in some other traditions. In Greece and Spain, for example, Tuesday the 13th takes the same role. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. It's been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do," Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they are simply unable to get out of bed when Friday the 13th rolls around. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that more than 17 million people are affected by a fear of this day.
Paraskevidekatriaphobia As the word itself suggests, superstitions concerning Friday the 13th combine two distinct bad-luck assocaitions - fear of the number 13 (Triskaidekaphobia), and the day Friday. The combination of these two elements creates the hybrid monster of extreme unluckiness that is 'Friday the 13th'. Yes this day haunts people not with ghost but with real fears of what will befall them.
According to Norse mythology, it was the Vikings who decided a hangman's noose should have 13 loops.
But Friday the Thirteenth does not stand alone, The Day of the dead, Mardi Gras, Easter, Walpurgus night, Halloween, All Saint's day, Christmas, Thanksgiving day even New Years Day, January 1: Haiti (Independence day) Devil's Night is a name associated with October 30, have also been call the most haunted scariest days of the year.
Monday's ghost is fair of face.
Tuesday's ghost is full of grace.
Wednesday's ghost is full of woe.
Thursday's ghost has far to go.
Friday's ghost is loving and giving.
Saturday's ghost works hard for a living,
But the ghost who is haunting on the Sabbath Day Is bonny and blithe and good all day.
Monday's Child is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born. As with all nursery rhymes, there are many versions.
Do you believe in the existence of ghosts? Do you think their is a particular day of any given year when interation with the dead is more then possible? Or is it all superstition?
The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations said to date from ancient times, and their inevitable conjunction from one to three times a year portends more misfortune than some credulous minds can bear. Some researchers say it may be the most widespread believed superstition in the United States.
Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; many wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date. Others believe this is when the world of ghosts coincides with ours and the not so dearly departed try to find ways to make us join them or try to communicate with us.
Sometimes many believe the traditional dream world of the dead is closer to us on a particular chosen day of the year. It is considered a respected day when the veil between the two worlds are at it's thinnest and the dead can communicate and touch us from the other side. Often it is considered the anniversary of the day a close loved one died or on their birthday, burial anniversary or a special chosen day that was most sacred or respected to them whilst alive. Often the day a great tragedy occurred and many souls were taken at once at a specific location. See: The Most Haunted Scariest Places On Earth, Haunted Ground Zero as some professional ghost hunters refer to these places.
Friday The 13th means many different things to different people. Lucky or un-lucky it makes a strong trend turn and run to it's weakest point. Julius Caeser was warned about the Ides of March that was his unlucky day. In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March was a term used to denote 15 March. In general, the Ides fell on the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, or October, or the 13th day of any other month.
Vincenzo Camuccini, Mort de C?sar, 1798.
Seance's in the late 1800's were often held on Friday or Saturday nights this they said was because it was a time when evil and spirits could roam the earth freely. Ancestor Veneration in Poland November 1 (All Saints Day) is the day when families go to the cemeteries and light candles for their dead relatives.
Ancestor worshiping (or ancestoral worship) is a religious practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, take an interest in the affairs of the world, and possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. All cultures attach ritual significance to the passing of loved ones, but this is not equivalent to ancestor worship. The goal of ancestor worship is to ensure the ancestors' continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living and sometimes to ask for special favors or assistance. The social or nonreligious function of ancestor worship is to cultivate kinship values like filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. While far from universal, ancestor worship or ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.
There are many people who experience strange and unusual encounters with things that can only be described as ghosts. And it happens everyday of the week. though some just keep it to themselves for fear of ridicule or personal beliefs.
Stigmatized Haunted Days:
Walpurgis Night
The Bram Stoker short story "Dracula's Guest" takes place on Walpurgisnacht: "Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad -- when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.". Walpurgis Night (or Walpurgisnacht in Germany) is a holiday celebrated on April 30 or May 1, in large parts of central and Northern Europe. Interesting note: Halloween (which falls six months to the day either before or after Walpurgis Night)
Russian legend tells of a witches' sabbath taking place on St. John's Night (June 23-24) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kiev or Brocken in Germany. On Walpurgis Night, Walpurgisnacht (or Hexennacht, meaning witches? night), the night from April 30 to May 1, is the night when allegedly the witches hold a large celebration on the Blocksberg and await the arrival of Spring.
Beltane or Bealtaine is an ancient Gaelic holiday celebrated around May 1. Historically, this festival was celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. There were similar festivals held at the same time in the other Celtic countries of Wales, Brittany and Cornwall. The festival survives in folkloric practices in the Celtic Nations and the diaspora, and has experienced a degree of revival in recent decades.
On St. Mark's Eve, 24 April, it was the custom in the villages of England, from the 17th century to the late 19th century, to sit in the church porch between the hours of 11.00 p.m. and 1.00 a.m. for three successive years. On the third such sitting, the ghosts of those to die during the year would be witnessed passing into the church. This practice took place throughout England, but was most prevalent in northern and western counties. Some accounts of the custom state that the watchers must be fasting, or must circle the church before taking up position. The ghosts of those who were to die soon would be the first observed, while those who would almost see out the year would not be witnessed until almost 1.00 a.m. Other variations of the superstition say that the watchers would see headless or rotting corpses, or coffins approaching.
DAYS OF THE DEAD
In Haiti, New Orleans and Miami voodoo traditions mix with Roman Catholic Day of the Dead observances, as, for example, loud drums and music are played at all-night celebrations at cemeteries to waken Baron Samedi, the god of the dead, and his mischievous family of offspring, the Gede, (Spirits or real Ghosts) do so possess the living and communicate through them.
Many Professional researchers and ghost hunters have now set their eye on investigating these haunted holidays first hand in 2007- 2008. The paranormal community has often overlooked Voodoo rituals in thir investigations of real ghosts in the past. Sci-Fi Investigates in 2006 went to New Orleans and opened the doors for others to see a world where spirits and ghosts commonly interact daily.
The Day of the Dead (D?a de los Muertos, D?a de los Difuntos or D?a de Muertos in Spanish) is a holiday celebrated in many parts of the world, typically on November 1 (All Saints' Day) and November 2 (All Souls' Day).
The Brazilian public holiday of "Finados" (Day of the Dead) is celebrated on November 2. Similar to other Day of the Dead celebrations, people go to cemeteries and churches, with flowers, candles, and prayer. The celebration is intended to be positive, to celebrate those who are deceased.
In many African cultures, visits to the graves of ancestors, the leaving of food and gifts, and the asking of protection, are important parts of traditional rituals, such as rituals just before the beginning of hunting season.
In Prague, Czech Republic, for example, local citizens celebrate the Day of the Dead with masks, candles and sugar skulls.
In the Philippines, it is called Araw ng mga Patay (Day of the Dead), Undas or Todos Los Santos (since this holiday is celebrated on November 1, All Saints Day, designated by the Roman Catholic Church), and has more of a "family reunion" atmosphere. It is said to be an "opportunity to be with" the departed and is done in a somewhat solemn way. Tombs are cleaned or repainted, candles are lit, and flowers are offered. Since it is supposed to be about spending time with dead relatives, families usually camp in cemeteries, and sometimes spend a night or two near their relatives' tombs. Card games, eating, drinking, singing and dancing are common activities in the cemetery, probably to alleviate boredom. It is considered a very important holiday by many Filipinos (after Christmas and Holy Week), and additional days are normally given as special nonworking holidays (but only November 1 is a regular holiday).
In Portugal and Spain, oferendas (offerings) are made on this day. In Spain, the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed. In Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives. In Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia, Austria and Germany, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.In Tyrol, cakes are left for them on the table and the room kept warm for their comfort. In Brittany, people flock to the cemeteries at nightfall to kneel, bareheaded, at the graves of their loved ones, and to anoint the hollow of the tombstone with holy water or to pour libations of milk on it. At bedtime, the supper is left on the table for the souls
The Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar. Along with Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, it is a time to tend to the graves of departed ones. In addition, in the Chinese tradition, the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is called the Ghost Month , in which ghosts and spirits come out from the underworld to visit earth.
The holiday is also known by a number of other names in the English language:
All Souls Day (not to be confused with the Roman Catholic holiday, All Souls Day, of the same name)
Clear Brightness Festival
Festival for Tending Graves
Grave Sweeping Day
Memorial Day
Tomb Sweeping Day
Spring Remembrance
Tomb Sweeping Day and Clear Brightness Festival are the most common English translations of Qingming Festival. Tomb Sweeping Day is used in several English language newspapers published in the Republic of China.
For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honor one's ancestors. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, (joss) paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming. Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera).
The April Fifth Movement and the Tiananmen Incident were major events on Qingming that took place in the history of the People's Republic of China. When Premier Zhou Enlai died in 1976, thousands visited him during the festival to pay respect. In the Republic of China, April 4th coincides with the passing of Chiang Kai-shek and the date is designated as a national holiday.
The Bon Festival is a Japanese Buddhist holiday to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist festival has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves. Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years.
Double Ninth Festival, the other day to visit and clean up the cemeteries in Hong Kong observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar (October 30 in 2006), is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period. Double Ninth may have started out as a day to drive away danger, but like the Chinese New Year, over time it became a day of celebration. In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation.
In Korea, Chuseok is a major traditional holiday, also called Hankawi. People go where the spirits of one's ancestors are enshrined, and perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning; they visit the tombs of immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors.
In Mexico, where the holiday has perhaps its highest prominence, the holiday has ancient Aztec and Mesoamerican roots, and is a national holiday. The Day of the Dead is also celebrated to a lesser extent in other Latin American countries; for example, it is a public holiday in Brazil, where many Brazilians celebrate it by visiting cemeteries and churches. The holiday is also observed in the Philippines. Observance of the holiday has spread to Mexican-American communities in the United States, where in some locations, the traditions are being extended. Similarly-themed celebrations also appear in some Asian and African cultures.
Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the perspective of some other cultures, celebrants typically approach the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs at the same time as Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls Day, the traditional mood is much brighter with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.
The Qingming Festival, or Ching Ming Festival as called in Hong Kong, Clear and Bright Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice (or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox), usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar (see Chinese calendar). Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 4. Astronomically, it is also a solar term (See Qingming). In solar terms, the Qingming festival is on the 1st day of the 5th solar term, which is also named Qingming. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtimeT?qing, "treading on the greenery", and also to tend to the graves of departed ones. It is an official public holiday in the Republic of China, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau though not in mainland China.
St. John's Night
St. John's Night (June 23-24) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kiev or Brocken in Germany is where witches and the dead and infernal spirits are said to gather... Midsummer refers to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice and the religious celebrations that accompany it. Midsummer-related holidays, traditions and celebrations, many of which are non-Christian in origin (apart from the designation "St John's Day"), are particularly important in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, but found also in other parts of Germanic Europe and elsewhere. St. John's Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke states that John was born about six months before Jesus, therefore the feast of John the Baptist falls on June 24, six months before Christmas. This feast day is one of the very few saint's days to mark the anniversary of the birth, rather than the death, of its namesake. Historically, this date has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo. The famous Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo ritual on the Bayou St. John in New Orleans, commemorating St. John's Eve. Modern day practioners of Voodoo have kept the tradition alive.
The Feast of St John coincides with the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, which can technically occur anywhere between June 20 - 26th. The Christian holy day is fixed at June 24th but, in the old way, festivities are celebrated the night before, on St. John's Eve.
Solstitial celebrations still center upon 24 June, which is no longer the longest day of the year. The difference between the Julian calendar year (365.2500 days) and the tropical year (365.2422 days) moved the day associated with the actual astronomical solstice forward approximately three days every four centuries until Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar bringing the solstice to around 21 June. In the Gregorian calendar, the solstice moves around a bit but in the long term it moves only about one day in 3000 years.
Mid-Summer has been Christianized as the feast of Saint John the Baptist: notably, unlike all other saints' days, this feast is celebrated on his birthday and not on the day of his martyrdom, which is separately observed as the "Decollation of John the Baptist" on 29 August. That more conventional day of Saint John the Baptist is not marked by Christian churches with the emphasis one might otherwise expect of such an important saint.
As for his solsticial birthday, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24) as a Solemnity, which is the highest degree a liturgical feast can have. It is even one of the few saint's feasts that is celebrated even when it falls on a Sunday; typically the feast of a saint is superseded when it falls on a Sunday. There is hardly any way that the feast of St John the Baptist could be given more emphasis in the liturgical calendar.
The celebration of Midsummer's Eve was from ancient times linked to the summer solstice. People believed that mid-summer plants had miraculous and healing powers and they therefore picked them on this night. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again. In later years, witches were also thought to be on their way to meetings with other evil powers.
In Sweden Mid-summer celebration originates from the time before Christianity; it was celebrated as a sacrifice time in the sign of the fertility.
The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since Neolithic times. The concentration of the observance is not on the day as we reckon it, commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the pre-Christian beginning of the day, which falls on the previous eve. In Sweden and Finland, Midsummer's Eve is considered the greatest festival of the year, comparable only with Walpurgis Night, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve.
In New Orleans since the time of Marie Laveau a large ritual has taken place on the shores of Bayou St. John. In current times a large several tiered altar is set up against the railing on one side of the old foot bridge that has for years crossed the Bayou in front of Cabrini High School. The altar is decorated with candles, flowers, incense, food offerings and other items; a worn and obviously much-loved statue of Marie Laveau stands proudly on the highest tier. By the end of the ceremony, the statue will be almost entirely obscured by offerings too numerous to name, placed there by devotees of Voodoo and of the woman who made this island religion ? and her hometown of New Orleans ? famous for generations.
Today, these devotees keep the religion alive by following in the footsteps and instructions of another powerful and charismatic Manbo, Sallie Ann Glassman. Sallie Ann is the founder of La Source Ancienne Ounfo, a private Vodou society that has served the Lwa (the voodoo spirits) and the New Orleans community for over 25 years. Mambo Sallie Ann and the Ounfo practice a unique and vibrant form of Vodou based upon the traditional Haitian beliefs but filled with, as Sallie Ann has said, ?ongoing inspiration and innovation.? Sallie Ann and her extended vodoun family are at the heart of the genuine practice of Real Voodoo so often sought but seldom found by visitors to New Orleans.
?The more people that participate the more of an experience we have?the more spiritual it gets, the more energy we have here with us.?
-- Manbo Sallie Ann Glassman
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/vood ... eauritual/
Litha is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats observed by Wiccans, though the New Forest traditions (those referred to as British Traditional Wicca) tend to use the traditional name Midsummer. It is celebrated on the Summer Solstice, or close to it. The holiday is considered the turning point at which summer reaches its height and the sun shines longest. Among the Wiccan sabbats, Midsummer is preceded by Beltane, and followed by Lughnasadh or Lammas.
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/HOLI ... STHAUNTED/
