The Lush Life: And the Geeks Shall Inherit the Holiday
Okay, not exactly sure what happened with my post over the weekend, so today’ll be a double-header. First up…Halloween in Geek Culture!
Now, I know I’ve already touted such fun things as the Hallow’s End event on World of Warcraft, but did you realize the annual Wickerman festival in WoW has taken a new turn for the year? Long gone are the early days of gnomes reenacting It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but we are now treated with a speech by none other than Genn Greymane himself on the Alliance side (and, if you witness the speech by him or Lady Sylvanas, you get a lasts-through-death buff).
There’s also events throughout the MMORPG world such as The Nights of the Dead event in Everquest II, The Moon Festival in the Star Wars Galaxies, the Harvest Festival in LOTRO and so much more!
ThinkGeek gets in on the Halloween fun with a page dedicated to their creepier wares and they’re having all sorts of fun in their office as witnessed by the ThinkGeek blog.
Also in on the fun is The Guild. I know this is a little older, but this is too awesome not to post.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTWto-vJRq4]
And who could forget the memorable The Big Bang Theory costumes throughout the years?
Even better, Geekologie‘s in on the Halloween fun.
So, I close with this question before I go onward, what is your favorite geeky Halloween event?
And now, of course, onward with the history!
Some of the most interesting associations with Halloween are based in superstition. Black cats, believed to be witches transformed or spirits of the dead, are especially bad luck around Halloween. However, sales and adoptions of black cats spike drastically this time of year (unfortunately, the number of black cats dropped off at shelters also spikes just after the holiday). Sneezing on Halloween is seen as especially dangerous as the Devil is walking the Earth looking for whatever souls he may steal. There are also all sorts of rituals associated with young women seeing their future husband (including, but not limited to, breaking an egg into a glass of spring water- the very same game which incited the Salem Witch Trials). And, of course, it was thought that children born on Halloween were gifted with the “second sight-” they could see ghosts and spirits as plain as one would see you or I. It is also said that these Halloween babies are offered a life protected from the spirits that would harm them (awfully handy since you have to seen them all the time).
Check back in just a few for the Halloweens of this Lush’s past. 🙂
The Schedule
October 17th: Party Ideas
October 19th: Costumes
October 21st: Decorations and Crafts
October 23rd: Recipes (Food and Drink- Alcoholic and Non)
October 25th: Jack-o’-Lanterns
October 27th: Last Minute Makeup Tips
October 29th: Halloween in Geek Culture
October 31st: An Extra-Special look at Halloweens of this Lush’s past…yeah, I’m going to bare my costumed soul for you all!
