Halloween History
The last day of October. Halloween is a popular festival in many parts of
the world. Halloween is among the oldest traditions in the world as it
touches on an essential element of the human condition:
the relationship between the living and the dead.
This ancient tradition, even though some aspects of the holiday are relatively
recent developments, can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain.
In Ireland, people celebrate with bonfires and fireworks. Children put on
costumes and head out for a night of begging candy from neighbors.
Most historians trace the earliest origins of Halloween to Samhain,
a Celtic harvest festival. The multi-day celebration marked the beginning
of winter during pre-Christian times in. The fall harvest and annual
slaughter of livestock made Samhain a time of feasting and heavy drinking,
but historians also describe Samhain as a sacred and somewhat ominous
time. One important tradition associated with Samhain was the bonfire.
Before the eve of Samhain, Celtic priests would construct a large fire on
a hill in central Ireland.
Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year in October.
Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain,
which marked the start of winter and the start of the new year.
The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires
and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Many people participating in Halloween celebrations in modern times light
candles in jack-o-lanterns rather than bonfires. Other elements of the
Pagan celebration are retained, as Halloween is still a night to remember
the spirits and other supernatural themes.
November 1 was set as All Saints Day. Later, November 2 became All Souls Day.
Both were established as days to honor and pray for the deceased and to
attend special Masses. As the population converted, these holidays absorbed
some of the old traditions and sentiment that originated with Samhain.
In fact, All Saint’s Day, which used to be called All Hallows Day, gave
Halloween (All Hallows Eve) its modern name.
Name of Halloween
The name Halloween (in Irish Hallow E’en), comes from the contracted form
of All Hallows’ Eve , where Hallow is the archaic English word that means
Saint: the eve of all Saints, therefore. All Saints ‘Day, on the other hand,
in English is All Hallows’ Day.
Fire festival
As part of the fire festival, Celtic priests would distribute embers from the
bonfire to households throughout the realm. Thousands of ceremonial
bonfires would light up the night on Samhain, and people would dance
around the fires to ward off evil spirits and encourage the Sun not to
vanish for the winter.
Where did the idea for Halloween come from and when did people start
celebrating it? A festival with a long history, Halloween has gone through
several transformations. Modern Halloween is largely a mashup of ideas
and rituals associated with an ancient Celtic New Year’s festival, the
Catholic-inspired All Saint’s Day and All Souls’ Day, and the Protestant
Guy Fawkes Day.
Celebrate Halloween
Halloween is widely associated with costume parties and events where
people dress up as their favorite horror or scary character. Children tend
to participate in trick-or-treat activities, which involves knocking on doors
in their local neighborhood and requesting a trick or treat. Some people give
out treats. Many schools around the world celebrate the holiday by
hosting costume parades and award prizes for creative costumes.
Schools also provide fun classroom activities such as bobbing for apples,
Halloween-themed coloring or drawing contests, and other games
associated with Halloween.
Symbols
There are many Halloween symbols. They include animals, such as black
cats, bats, and spiders. There are also figures like ghosts, skeletons,
witches, and wizards. Pumpkins, graveyards, cobwebs, and haunted
houses. The colors green, orange, grey, and black are also associated
with Halloween. These symbols are used to decorate homes and party
venues and are seen on costumes, gift paper, cards, cookies, cakes,
and candy.
Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain.
The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween.
Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating,
carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating
treats.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain
(pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly
in the
area
that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated
their new year on November 1.
Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary
between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the
night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed
that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
During this time of year, hearth fires in family homes were left to burn out
while the harvest was gathered. After the harvest work was complete,
celebrants joined with Druid priests to light a community fire using a
wheel that would cause friction and spark flames. The wheel was considered
a representation of the sun and used along with prayers. Cattle were
sacrificed, and participants took a flame from the communal bonfire back
to their home to relight the hearth. Failure to participate was believed to
result in punishment from the gods, usually illness or death.
When the celebration was over, they're-lit their hearth fires, which they
had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help
protect them during the coming winter.
What is Samhain
Samhain is a pagan religious festival originating from an ancient Celtic
spiritual tradition. In modern times, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced
“SAH-win”) is usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to
welcome in the harvest and usher in “the dark half of the year.”
Celebrants believe that the barriers between the physical world and
the spirit world break down during Samhain, allowing more interaction
between humans and denizens of the Otherworld.
Halloween traditions in the West date back thousands of years to the
festival of Samhain (pronounced `Soo-when', `So-ween' or `Saw-wen'),
the Celtic New Year's festival. The name means “summer's end”,
and the festival marked the close of the harvest season and the coming
of winter.
Who Were Celts
The Celts were a collection of tribes with origins in central Europe that
shared a similar language, religious beliefs, traditions and culture.
It’s believed that the Celtic culture started to evolve as early as 1200 B.C.
The Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the
dead were thinnest at this time and so the dead could return and walk
where they had before.
Witches
Witches are one of the most traditional as well as mysterious entities
we associate with Halloween. When you think about a Witch, There is an
image of an old, ugly, hook-nosed woman, stirring up a steaming potion.
The word Witch actually is derived from the word “Wicca” meaning “Wise
One.”
Certainly once considered wise and a knowledgeable resource during
trying times, witches were now considered to be something to be
absolutely feared and avoided. These supposed witches were accused
of very bad things, most specifically that of doing the devil’s evil bidding
and being in cahoots with him in some orchestrated plan to destroy
mankind.
Witches have had a long history with Halloween. Legends tell of witches
gathering twice a year when the seasons changed, on April 30 - the eve
of May Day and the other was on the eve of October 31 - All Hallow's Eve.
The witches would gather on these nights, arriving on broomsticks,
to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. Witches were often retold as
being old and ugly beings because evil was considered to be ugly.
Halloween and Witches
Halloween and witches will always go hand in hand. You can bet that
witches will remain as one of Halloween’s favorite personas for costume
dress up as long as there are kids that are out trick or treating.
Many young women especially believed that Halloween was the best day
for divination and would often seek out fortune tellers to find out the names
of their future husbands. This mashup of traditions and beliefs across
millennia led to witches becoming a symbol of a holiday celebrating the
macabre.
Pumpkin and Halloween
Pumpkins are ripe and plentiful in the fall, just in time for Halloween.
There are 30 varieties of pumpkin. Pumpkin is a source of potassium,
vitamin A, and other nutrients. It can be used in pies, breads, cakes,
cookies, soups, and other foods. There are about 500 seeds in a pumpkin,
and these can be roasted or dried for eating. Pumpkin blossoms can also
be used in recipes.
Not all pumpkins are orange. Some varieties yield white, tan, yellow, or
even blue produce. Pumpkins come in a wide range of sizes, too.
People believed that pumpkins could be used to remove freckles
and heal snake bites. Some people also believed that pumpkins could
cure diarrhea and constipation in dogs and cats. These medicinal claims
have been debunked, but there remain plenty of good uses for the
pumpkin.
The history of pumpkins and their use at Halloween contains a mixture of
interesting facts and Celtic folklore. Over time, the practice of carving
spooky faces on a pumpkin evolved into other forms of pumpkin-carving.
Modern pumpkin-carving, though, is often done for entertainment.
While carving faces onto the pumpkins is still popular. students might
use a pattern to carve the name or symbol of their school on a pumpkin.
Pumpkin-carving contests and pumpkin-throwing contests are also
popular at Halloween.
See you again
No comments