Sandra Taylor
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Member # 2492
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posted 12-10-2005 07:56 PM
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Ghosts in Ancient Rome
There are many references to ghosts in ancient Roman mthology.
In 44 B.C., Brutus, an army general, spearheaded a plot to murder Julius Ceasar.
On March 15, he and his co-conspirators stabbed Caesar to death.
Shortly thereafter - Brutus was visited by a huge apparition/ghost claiming to be Julius Caesar, and who then revisited him the night before battle. The purpose of the vision became clear to Brutus, who took it as an omen of doom. The battle was lost and Brutus killed himself afterwards. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar the phantom is described as being that of Julius Caesar.
Ancient China
There is a festival called Da Jui or The Hungry Ghost Festival which occurs on the 15th day of the seventh moon. It to appease the ghosts of the unloved or uncared for. According to Chinese mythology, the gates of hell open during the seventh month, allowing spirits to roam the earth. Spirits of those who have died at their own hands, in accidents, by drowning, or hanging, seek souls on earth to take their place in hell. Lanterns in water are used to guide these bad spirits away, and offerings of fruit and coins are left for the ghosts to take on their wanderings.
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Japan
Japan's Obon Festival uses drums and dancing to ward off the evil dead, much in the same manner of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
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Posts: 172 | Registered: May 2005