"There'll be parties for hostingMarshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
They'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago"
(from the popular Christmas song
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year")
"We're all familiar with Dickens's A Christmas Story, and the three ghosts who visit Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve. But few know that Dickens did not pluck this idea of a Christmas haunting out of thin air - that, in fact, he was continuing the age-old tradition in England of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, a period of time believed to provide an open door to the other side." ---Mary Beth Crain (from her book Haunted Christmas)
In the beginning, yule-tide activities revolved around ghosts, demons and other weird creatures that dished out punishments to the naughty as a way of co-opting the pagan winter solstices ceremonies in place before "Christmas." As the Christian holiday gained popularity, these more sinister traditions were pushed back to autumn and became the basis for today's Halloween. So, tonight turn back the clock to a simpler time when darkness ruled the winter, and enjoy a truly traditional Christmas with a horror film, or a simple ghost story.
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