Greetings:
Well, Halloween is nearly upon us. This provides me with an opportunity to suggest
something that may be both fun and useful. Halloween was originally just the day before
All Saints Day, November 1. One of the early ideas concerning "All Saints Eve"
was that the dead would visit the living, wanting to be remembered. That is certainly more
congenial -- to a genealogist, anyway -- than the notion that one might be oppressed by
appearances of "ghoulies, ghosties, and long leggedity beasties, and things that go
'bump' in the night."
Why not post to the list the name of the ancestor, or other "departed" relative,
whom you would MOST want to visit you "from beyond", if that could actually
happen? What questions would you ask? Why do you think a conversation with this person
would be interesting ... if you could get beyond the see-through bit? What could you say
about his or her descendants that might bring joy, or cause pride?
Alternatively, what "departed" family member would you LEAST want to have walk
through your bedroom wall at midnight? What stories have you heard about this person that
cause you to shudder?
We are not going to get into a discussion of Halloween itself, please. To me, *ACTUALLY*
being visited by a ghost would be anything but desirable. King Saul visited the witch of
Endor to try to talk to the prophet Samuel, and it can hardly be said that it worked out
well for him ... The intent is to stimulate conversation, and hopefully to have a little
fun doing it. (As always, any commentary about the administration of the list must be sent
to me, PRIVATELY, and *NOT* to the list itself.)
Darrell
list admin
Darrell A. Martin - RootsWeb list admin
e-Mail: darrellm(a)sprynet.com
List rules:
http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm