BELA LUGOSI AROUND THE CORNER NEAR THE CHURCH - ALL SOULS DAY

I met a man recently who was telling me that he was looking on the 1940 census and found out Bela Lugosi lived right around the corner from his present day church...  I dared him to try and find out if the Hungarian was Catholic and if he might have gone to that church, which was in its humble mission church phase but is now a landmark. I thought it was a bit of a coincidence since I'd been looking for Bela Lugosi posters for this blog.


Walking my dog around the neighborhood, some of my neighbors have gone all out with decorations, because they expect trick-or-treaters, or because they are what I call Ghoul School, or because they work for the studios doing sets; one family has Halloween all year long with an evil looking cemetery out front which must save them having to water.  One house in particular was really impressive.  Out on their white wicker setae on the front porch are two loved up human-sized monsters, reminiscent of the couple, both with significant teeth.  That one made me laugh.


But as I'm not at all into the violence and gore that has become part of the celebration that was rooted in spirituality and honoring the ancestors for so long, I refrain from entertainments that are not spiritual.  The Celtic tradition of carving a turnip to hold a candle as symbolic of the soul - the flame of the spirit - in the body, moved to smiling carved pumpkins, and then to demonic ones.  The church that's around the block from where Bela Lugosi once lived is having a special All Souls Day evening Mass, and I may just attend.


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MYSTERY CASTLE

AMERICAN MEDICINE - SOCIALISM - BERNIE SANDERS - and THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER BITE

The election of the next President of the United States is far away but the election process has started as various candidates dare to run, some more famous than others.  I have a friend who wants Bernie Sanders, the openly socialist candidate to win.  In particular he thinks of Obamacare, the slang term for mandatory medical insurance coverage that has begun under the administration of President Barack Obama, as socialist. 

I don't agree.  Social medicine is run by the government.  Here we have to pick a plan and pay for it, though if you are truly poor you might be covered by a plan that uses taxes.

But right now I'm so turned off of politics that I can't imagine voting for anyone who is running!

I did notice some grassroots campaigning for Sanders taking place, and that cheered me.  Some common citizens with hand drawn posters were standing at a busy intersections and waving these posters.  "Honk if you want Bernie!"  I prefer that kind of local activism to all the expensive media campaigning.

Do I really want to live in a Socialist  country?  No.  No more than I would want to live in a Communist Country.  I think my friend doesn't know how much is dictated to you when you are a participant in government health care and other so called social welfare programs.  Yes, we can take care of the poor better than we do, but that is a spiritual choice.

This friend is from Texas where he says there are black widow spider's everywhere.  I found some in my apartment crawling but not their nest.  I managed to kill one crawling on the wall with some ecologically correct insect spray.  I believe they came inside because of the drought. 

Well, my friend managed to never get bit in Texas but about five days ago he got bit here in Southern California by something on his back - in his car!  (I've since learned that mechanics here frequently find Black Widow spiders in vehicles and get bit! ) He can't see it but he can feel the pain and the swelling, which is about five inches in diameter.  And he will not go to a doctor or urgent care.

Why not?

He is covered under Obamacare.

Certainly that is the place to go where the bite can be examined to be sure it is not infected and perhaps besides some pain killers or antibiotics he can get something to reduce the swelling.

This is not the first time this year that he has had a medical issue that might have benefited from seeing a doctor.  He also decided to let his body fight an infection in a tooth, and when I saw him he had lost 10 pounds and looked like the blood had drained from his face.

What is the fear of using his insurance.

One of my friends thinks that he is afraid because he knows that there is actually something else very wrong with his health and that seeing a doctor over something minor might lead to tests that might reveal a more serious diagnosis.

Hmmm

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HALLOWEEN - A TIME TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ANCESTORS

To read past posts about Ancestor Worship, Halloween in Hungary, and Halloween in the United States, just use the search feature embedded in the sidebar of this blog!

END OF THE YEAR IN SIGHT! CERTAINLY THE STORES THINK SO!

This is the point in the year where it seems - almost over.

Halloween and Christmas seasonal items are now on display in many of the stores.

Halloween has become outrageousness and a festival of horror, savagery, and violence, instead of a celebration of the ancestors or a time of prayer for the deceased. 

Christmas has become all about shopping.

Well, I remember what it was to work retail during the Christmas season and I can say that it made the holiday a NON-EVENT FOR ME.  After you've heard the same Christmas songs for weeks,  dealt with a surge of customers who are not always nice, it's not easy to center back to the purpose of the holiday, which is religious.

Although I get it that giving gifts to friends and family is in imitation of the Three Kings who visited Jesus Christ in his infancy,  and that being generous and loving is good, I think even the tradition of Santa Claus, based on St. Nicholas, has become too much a celebration of materialism.

I confess to having been effected by the Hustle Bustle of shopping in years past, but mostly I try to keep holidays to a small, private, celebration these days.  I give few gifts and usually small or home-made ones.  I prefer to celebrate the birthday of a close friend as the time to give a better gift and to  give attention to them as an individual then.  I love music but I don't enjoy loud parties.  I prefer to host a smaller dinner party where people can enjoy conversation and hear each other, perhaps with some low background music on.  Good food, a little wine, and appreciation for what we have, to take a pause, that is a holiday to me.

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS - THEY'RE SPOOKY! (ALL THOSE HAUNTED CASTLES?)

 

This morning, laying in bed, I was thinking about the upcoming Halloween Holiday, which came out of a spiritual, religious celebration affiliated with ALL SOULS DAY in the Catholic religion, and has now become a HORROR FEST. 

I can do without the horror. Horror films may just be my least favorite genre, though in real life I'm very interested in SPOOKS - ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists. 

(Yes, I have seen a full color ghost, many years ago!) 

A few years ago I decided to light candles for some people who I learned had passed into the next life (Yes, I think there is one!) and some of those candles flickered, while others did not, leading me to believe that something or someone was effecting them besides the non-existent draft in the room!

When I say that a STEREOTYPE of Hungarians is that they're SPOOKY, I mean that these people are associated with fiction characters such as Dracula (technically a Romanian!) based on the real character VLAD THE IMPALER who cut off heads and lined the roads with the heads on sticks to scare the living hell out of everyone.

One time I told someone who knew I was into genealogy that I was related to both VLAD THE IMPALER and KATO KAILIN (of Simpson Murder Case Fame) and they believed me!

Along with the idea that we all have some genetic link to barbarians and invaders of one type or another, which means a genetic propensity to bloody violence, there is the idea that we are depressed, that we sulk and are moody, that we're all ready to commit suicide (if we don't drink ourselves to death with WINE), maybe throw ourselves off a bridge or a turret, which is another way of being SPOOKY.

Here's a classic song, by the Zombies (I think they were British), that has another definition of SPOOKY!

HALLOWEEN GREETINGS : TIME TO TELL GHOST STORIES

So there is no Halloween in Hungary. But I can bet there are plenty of spook or ghost stories in Hungary. Would you like to tell one to us? Use comments!

THERE IS NO HALLOWEEN IN HUNGARY

There is no Halloween in Hungary...  But of course most Americans do celebrate this holiday beginning in grade school where the cycle of Holidays is usually played out througout the year.  For some this is an opportunity to wear a mask and costume and play at some alter-ego for a while.  Usually this is playful and silly and there is no harm in it at all.

Personally, I like the pumpkins and gourds, the harvest festival aspect of the American Holiday.   I also like the spiritual aspect of it, the idea that at this time of year this world you can celebrate or communicate with your ancestors. 

What I can do without is all the fright and gore,  the Haunted Houses, the way this celebration has been perverted into something evil rather than reverent.  There is no good reason as I see it for EVIL to be associated with this holiday or time of the year, as if evil doesn't exist all the time.  I don't think the celebration of ancestors or trying to communicate with them (this is usually through psychicism) is evil either.  For most of us, going through the family album or old scrapbooks is good enough.