[wherever]

Username: snobby.coffee
Show Name: Light The Way.
Name: Lantern.
Halter Color: Surprise?
Fact: Teng Chieh or the Lantern Festival is one Halloween festival in China. Lanterns shaped like dragons and other animals are hung around houses and streets to help guide the spirits back to their earthly homes. To honor their deceased loved ones, family members leave food and water by the portraits of their ancestors.

[dreamwalker]

username: Stumpy STMP
show name (optional): All Hollow's Eve
name: Korbol ('pumpkin' in Silesian)
halter color: Green looking like the stem of a pumpkin,
or
black with a couple tombstones with extremely low fog (where it is just a little above the ground, like this 8] ), in grays and whites
fact: (Kind of long, but I don't want to take out something that might be important to the explanation. x] )

At the beginning of the Christian era in Britain, when the ways of Pagans were still widely accepted, Christians wanted to incorporate some of the Pagan traditions of Samhain into their own religion in an effort to convert the practicing Pagans. Samhain was the beginning of the dark half of the year and was celebrated on what later became known as All Soul’s Day. The name of this holiday has undergone reconstruction throughout the centuries, changing to All Hollow’s Evening, All Hollow’s Even, All Hollow’s Eve, and finally Halloween.

This Pagan celebration was a way of saying farewell to days of sunlight and to prepare for the days of darkness and cold weather. Large bonfires were held and it was believed that the spirits of the dead could return to the earth on this day because it is the darkest and the veil between this world and the hereafter is the thinnest.

It is during these times that it is thought that the Soul Cakes supposedly came into being. There are many variations to the origin of Soul Cakes. Some say that Soul Cakes were baked upon a bonfire as a means of lottery. But this was no ordinary lottery. If you chose the burnt cake you became the human sacrifice that ensured your people had a prosperous crop during the following year. Others claim that the cakes were thrown about the land in an effort to appease evil spirits curse to wander the land in animal form.

No one quite knows the absolute origin of the cakes, but by the eighth century this tradition became a household practice in a very different way. Many Christians at the time (and in modern times) believed in Purgatory, the stage of waiting between Heaven and Hell. Purgatory is thought to be less torturous as Hell but not exactly pleasant. It is believed that the offering of prayers for a soul that is trapped in Purgatory will bring about a saving grace. If enough prayers were offered up, that soul would pass into Heaven.

Enter the tradition of Soul Cakes. The poor and destitute would travel from door to door asking for food in exchange for prayers. Each cake would represent a prayer for a departed soul stuck in Purgatory (hence, the name “Soul Cake”.) This tradition spread rapidly and eventually morphed into what is now modern day trick or treating.

congrats!

[ExVenor]

Thank you! I just love his facial markings. 8]

I also love his halter.

[dreamwalker]

I'm glad you like it! The halter idea you had was really cute