Halloween

May your day of the dead be alive with excitement.

Behind the name… Halloween, or the Hallow E’en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the ‘All Hallows’, also called ‘All Hallowmas’, or ‘All Saints’, or ‘All Souls’ Day, observed on November 1. In old English the word ‘Hallow’ meant ‘sanctify’. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown. They used to consider it with all solemnity as one of the most significant observances of the Church year. And Catholics, all and sundry, was obliged to attend Mass. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. The festival was celebrated on February 21, the end of the Roman year. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints’ Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. Later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1. The Greek Orthodox Church observes it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Despite this connection with the Roman Church, the American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called “Samhain”, celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Samhain is pronounced “sow-in”, with “sow” rhyming with cow. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun. In Scotland, the celebration was known as Hallowe’en. In Welsh it’s Nos Galen-gaeof (that is, the Night of the Winter Calends. According to the Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society: “Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as “Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer.”(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a “lord of death” as such. Thus most of the customs connected with the Day are remnants of the ancient religious beliefs and rituals, first of the Druids and then transcended amongst the Roman Christians who conquered them.

http://gcards.com/halloween/history.html

The festival of Halloween as we celebrate it today is an interesting juxtaposition of a Christian and a pagan festival.

Searching for the origin of this festival takes us back to the 5th. century B.C. in Celtic Ireland. In those days, the year ended with the end of summer which officially used to end on 31st.October. This day was called Samhain.

The Celts had a strong belief in the afterlife and they believed that the spirits of those who died in the preceding year came back on this day to possess the living bodies for the next year. This was the only hope of the spirits for afterlife. But obviously those who were living did not want to be possessed. So to repel the evil spirits the common custom was to extinguish all the fire in the house and then dress up in a horrible manner and parade in the streets. If anybody was believed to be possessed then as a warning to the spirits that person was burnt alive. A better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires is that this was done not to ward off the evil spirits but to rekindle it from the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the middle of Ireland.

The Romans adopted this Pagan festival but in the 1st. century A.D. the custom of burning live human beings was replaced by the custom of burning effigies.

The custom of Halloween came over to America in 1840 with the Irish who had immigrated there to escape the potato famine. The favorite prank in New England at that time was tripping over the outhouse and unhinging the poultry gate.

The custom of trick or treat is thought to have originated from a ninth century European custom called souling. On 2nd Nov…”All Saints Day” the early Christians went from door to door begging for ‘soul cakes’ (square pieces of bread made with currents). The more cakes a person gave the more prayers were said for the soul of those dead in that house. It was believed that the souls did not receive entry into heaven till prayers even by strangers were uttered on behalf of the dead.

The custom of Jack-o-lantern probably comes from Irish folklores. Jack was notorious as a drunkard and trickster. He once tricked Satan to climb a tree and then carved out an image of cross on the trunk so that Satan was trapped on the tree. Only after Satan made a promise that he’ll never tempt Jack again he was allowed to climb down. After death Jack was denied entry into heaven for his evil ways and the door of Hell was also closed to him for tricking Satan. Satan gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. To make it light longer it was placed inside a hollowed out turnip to make it glowing longer.

The Irish used turnips as Jack-o-lanterns but in America they found pumpkins to be far more plentiful than turnips, so the turnips were replaced by pumpkins.

Hence contrary to the popular belief Halloween did not grow out of evil practices. Today Halloween is celebrated in a jovial mood. Children dress up in different costumes and go from door to door calling out trick or treat. They are given candies and sweets. There is nothing evil about this day.