10.30.15 The Jack Facts

Who’s Jack? And what’s up with the lantern? There’s a lot of ancient tradition involving scary lights at harvest time. Pre-Christian Europeans celebrated Samhaim, the autumn festival of the Dead, with bonfires and torches and other late-night illuminations. Samhaim was later displaced by All Saint’s Day, but the fascination with…
2015

3.14.14 Snake Patrick’s Day

10,000 years ago, most of Europe was buried under ice. 6,500 years ago, as the ice retreated, there was a land bridge that connected England to the continent. Numerous animals migrated across it, including three kinds of snakes: the poisonous black adder, and the harmless grass snake and smooth snake.…
2014