Halloween: Did you mean...?

The Anthesteria celebrated two seemingly disparate things: wine and the dead. Both Dionysos and Hermes Chthonios (Hermes of the Underworld) were celebrated as part of this festival. In many ways, the Anthesteria is similar to...

The Inquisition was the official institution of the medieval Catholic Church that established ecclesiastical judges to investigate and judge divergent opinions and practices that...

Many world religions have elevated individuals with the title of "saint," which often simply means "pious one," "devout," or "holy one." The reference is to their moral lifestyle...

"The Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire," wrote Voltaire, and this interpretation still dominates the popular imagination, so the Holy Roman Empire is treated as a bad joke, a pale...

The Legend of Ticonderoga is among the most famous ghost stories of the last 200 years and remains a favorite among folklorists and, especially around Halloween, storytellers at seasonal events. Any summary...

An 1871 oil-on-canvas painting titled The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli. (Detroit Institute of Arts)

On All Hallows Eve, the Irish hollowed out turnips and carved them with faces, placing a candle inside, so that as they went about “souling” on the night when the veil between life and death was thinnest, they would be protected...

The Old Hall, Fairies by Moonlight; Spectres & Shades, Brownies and Banshees by John Anster Fitzgerald. Made c. 1875.

Guy Fawkes Day celebration in Leamington

Scandinavia has a rich cultural heritage and Norse Mythology, which was once simply their religious belief system, has continually fascinated and influenced others for centuries. The Norse beliefs and traditions...