Monday, October 23, 2006

 

Halloween ????

I found this on one of the sites and it was interesting to learn how our Halloween first began. A little long, but might be worth the reading.


The history and origin of Halloween lie way back in centuries in the ancient Celtic New Year's festival, Samhain.
Halloween: History and Origin
Sean Carter
Halloween is that time of the year that's absolutely freakish and screamingly fun. A time when the line between the world of the living and the world of the dead is the thinnest and you're sure to feel the freak and scare with ghosts, goblins, witches and werewolves prowling all around -- both in their selves and in costumes. Halloween is an occasion to let loose the naughtier sides in you --playing pranks, sprucing up in freaky costumes and scaring the wits out of your folks. The chill of rib-tickling thrill, a nip of spine-chilling jitters and a good fare of full-blooded scare is at the heart of Halloween celebrations.

Now today's Halloween isn't the same as it was 2000 years ago. The history and origin of Halloween lie way back in centuries in the ancient Celtic New Year's festival, Samhain. So much so that the customs of today's Halloween are also rooted in the ancient customs of the Celts during Samhain, which was said to mark the end of Summer. Samhain, the Celtic New Year was celebrated every year on October 31 -- the day, which the Celts believed, was a day of the rise of the dead, when the deceased would wander the land to possess earthly souls. To keep these spirits at bay, the Celts dressed up as ghouls and monsters and put out all lights in their homes. With that, they ventured out as mischievous and wayward undoers willfully wantoning peace and property. The Celtic priests or Druids also built bonfires on this day and offered sacrifices. The idea behind all these was, of course, to scare away the spirits of the dead and avoid being "possessed" ! Now if you're brainy enough, it won't be hard for you to guess that the modern tradition of wearing costumes on Halloween traces back to this ancient Celtic practice !

The sinister attitudes of the Celts on Samhain toned down over the ages to give way to the less menacing attributes of today's Halloween. The playfulness and fun side of Halloween was first brought to America by the Irish immigrants around 1840. Like for instance, the popular tradition of trick-or-treating on Halloween came from the Irish. This had been 'gifted' to the United States by the Irish immigrants who fled their country during the potato famine. The Irish celebration of Halloween or the Hallow E'en (evening of the Hallow), as it's called in Ireland, means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows'. All Hallows Day is on November 1, and is also known as All Saint's Day (a day to honor all the Catholic saints). 'Hallow' is an Old English word, meaning 'saint'. November 2 is the All Soul's Day -- a day which honors all Christians who no longer live and were not saints. And the period of October 31 to November 2 is known as the Hallow Tide. Now, on All Hallows Eve or Halloween, the Irish beggars went asking for food or money from the rich. If refused, they were threatened to be destroyed by the evil spirits. And, of course, nobody wants to take a chance on Halloween. So soul-cakes or currant buns and candy bags chockablock with goodies were kept ready for the Halloween Day.

Sean Carter writes on holidays, events and celebrations around the world. He also writes on family, relationships, womens issues birthdays, inspiration, religion, love and friendship. He is a writer with special interest in ecard industry. He writes for 123greetings.com.

Comments:
That was a nice tribute to Halloween. One of my favorite holidays btw. Thanks for stopping by via Walker. You're welcome anytime (I just don't post that much anymore) ((((HUGS)))) Schotzy
 
Thanks for sharing this post on Halloween.I posted a halloween post also. I love Halloween .
 
A day before Diwali , we put out lights to guide our forefathers back to our houses - in Hindu mythology , too , this time of the year , the walls are the thinnest for all spirits and ghosts to glide through -
 
Thanks Eve, for explaining what Diwali stood for. I knew about the lights to guide the spirits home, but had never heard the word Diwali before.thanks again.
 
Oh, Annie, I respect your choice to hate Halloween, but I must admit that I love seeing the little ones all dressed up and those beautiful smiles on their faces are so precious.I get those smiles long before they even see the candy. I have loads of little ones who come every year. Many are kids whose parent also came when they were little. Years ago we would get over 100 kids on Halloween, last year I had about 50 show up. My husband used to love giving out the candy while I took pictures of some of them. Now that I am alone to give out the candy, I don`t have enough time to take many pictures- so mostly take just family members. I just love seeing all the happy little ones.
 
hello dot.
i like your post very much and it was very informative. how are you doing today. how is the weather? it is good here in atlanta. have a great day.
 
Have heard so much about and seen lotsa pics regarding Halloween. Yet ur post remains truly worth a read. Somehow it always has struck me as a weird event, and maybe a bit scary, but it seems quite funny as well...

:)
 
Schotzy, thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed reading the Halloween post. I`ll be back to read more.
 
Hi Starrynights.I also enjoyed reading your post on Halloween. I love seeing all the little ones all dressed up. They look so cute.
 
Hi Mr haney, it is getting too chilly here already. At least the snow stayed further north and also further west of where I live, but getting much too close for me. Loved the snow while growing up, but guess having arthritis has changed my love for winter. But, wouldn`t give up any of those fun times memories of sliding, skiing, skipjacking, skating , building igloos and forts, snowball fights and all the other memories from winters past. As you can see, I used to look forward to winters when I was younger.
 
Thanks Velu Nair. Yes, some of the decorations some people put up do scare the little ones. I`m not for that. But some of the costumes on the little ones do bring smiles. It`s nice for the little ones, especially those whose families don`t have much extra money to waste on sweets. I remember when my kids were little, they would make their candy last for a couple weeks. That made me feel better as I never wanted them eating a lot of candy at one time. I just love seeing all those little ones all dressed up in their cute costumes. That makes it worth the money I spend on the candy. I still do a little decorating on windows and door, but not as much as I did years ago. Have a little 3 foot tall ghost that talks (runs on batteries) and the kids love hearing it.
 
That was wonderful reading, dot

Happy Halloween !
 
nver had any clue abt halloween...
thnks for sharing the info...
:)
hope yu are doing fine...
 
Thanks Jac. It truly was a nice Halloween. nice to have you back posting again.
 
Hi Neermathalam, Kids really love getting dressed up and going house to house knocking on door and getting candy. It lots of fun seeing them in their different costumes. Their one night a year that they can do it.
 
Gee Annie, if you lived in my area you could have seen loads of kids. I gave out almost 60 small candy bags, plus I also had some lollypops that I tied together to give to all the little babies that showed up. Wish I could have had time to take pictures of the other little ones that I saw that night. There just wasn`t time, I was kept so busy answering the door and handing out the candy.
 
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