Our Lady of Fandom, Thursday
Castiel was back to his usual, stoic, ungremlin bit self, this week. Anyone expecting any sort of apology for his behavior the week before, however, would be waiting a long time.
Instead, he gave the congregation a long, hard look, cleared his throat, and began to speak.
"This Saturday," he said, "is Halloween."
Well, this was sure to be interesting.
"Halloween, as you may know, is an abbreviation of 'All Hallows Even', or the night before All Hallows Day. This is also known as All Saints Day, and occurs, as one might guess, on November 1st of each year. As you may also guess, All Hallows Even has very little to do with either pumpkins, costumes, or candy. These parts of the American Halloween tradition are said to be based on the old Celtic harvest festival Samhain, which, despite what some have claimed over the centuries, had very little to do with the Devil. You can thank early and Medieval Christianity for that one; I assure you, Heaven was as surprised as anyone by some of the conclusions that they drew.
"However, this does not mean that certain agents of Lucifer didn't . . . embrace Christian paranoia. One particularly powerful demon took full advantage of the early Church's demonization of pagan religion, renamed himself 'Samhain' -- without even pronouncing the term correctly -- and became so involved in the day that it became the only time of year when he might even be summoned -- which when you think about it, seems to be something of a tactical error.
"The ritual requires a witch -- that being a person of magical ability gifted to them by a demon in exchange for their eternal souls, not any of the other sorts of witches and magical beings we have on this island -- to make three blood sacrifices, the last of which just before midnight on the final day of the final harvest.
"I'd like to ask each of you to not attempt to summon Samhain -- or resurrect any dead -- this Halloween. It's just generally a bad idea, and I would hate to have to destroy the entire island." He gave the congregation a look that hopefully clearly said and, no, I'm not kidding on that last bit, then brightened. "In other news, the Church will be participating in Halloween this year by handing out sugary foods with no nutrional value to any 'trick or treaters'. I hope you all enjoy your co-opted, commercially driven holiday."
[ooc: OCD is on its way. up! Have at ye.]
Instead, he gave the congregation a long, hard look, cleared his throat, and began to speak.
"This Saturday," he said, "is Halloween."
Well, this was sure to be interesting.
"Halloween, as you may know, is an abbreviation of 'All Hallows Even', or the night before All Hallows Day. This is also known as All Saints Day, and occurs, as one might guess, on November 1st of each year. As you may also guess, All Hallows Even has very little to do with either pumpkins, costumes, or candy. These parts of the American Halloween tradition are said to be based on the old Celtic harvest festival Samhain, which, despite what some have claimed over the centuries, had very little to do with the Devil. You can thank early and Medieval Christianity for that one; I assure you, Heaven was as surprised as anyone by some of the conclusions that they drew.
"However, this does not mean that certain agents of Lucifer didn't . . . embrace Christian paranoia. One particularly powerful demon took full advantage of the early Church's demonization of pagan religion, renamed himself 'Samhain' -- without even pronouncing the term correctly -- and became so involved in the day that it became the only time of year when he might even be summoned -- which when you think about it, seems to be something of a tactical error.
"The ritual requires a witch -- that being a person of magical ability gifted to them by a demon in exchange for their eternal souls, not any of the other sorts of witches and magical beings we have on this island -- to make three blood sacrifices, the last of which just before midnight on the final day of the final harvest.
"I'd like to ask each of you to not attempt to summon Samhain -- or resurrect any dead -- this Halloween. It's just generally a bad idea, and I would hate to have to destroy the entire island." He gave the congregation a look that hopefully clearly said and, no, I'm not kidding on that last bit, then brightened. "In other news, the Church will be participating in Halloween this year by handing out sugary foods with no nutrional value to any 'trick or treaters'. I hope you all enjoy your co-opted, commercially driven holiday."
[ooc: OCD is on its way. up! Have at ye.]