My closest friends know that I am fascinated by Halloween. I just love the fact that you can be who you want to be on this special time of the year. But How did this tradition begin? Who were the first crazies, (like myself) that felt is was humorous or good fun to get dressed up and go door to door for tricks or treats. Did they really threat their neighbors into submission by scaring them with their weird costumes into giving them treats. It is all perplexing to me, since I don't remember studying this in our History classes while growing up in school.
So I had to dig down to find out what the true origin of this fascinating time of my growing years and now adult fascination.
So it turns out that today's Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festivals known as Samhain (Irish pronounced: saun). This festival was apparently a celebration of the harvest season in the Gaelic culture, and also known as the "Celtic New Year".
According to the wikipedia, the ancient Gaels believed that on this day, October 31, was the "boundary for the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops." In turn the Gaels would start bonfires on this festival, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. And they would wear costumes and masks so that they could calm these evil spirits. Pretty cool if you ask me.
What about the History of the name Halloween?
The whole history of the name is complex but goes something like this:
The term Halloween is short for All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", also known as "All Hallows' Day", also known as "All Saints'Day". Which in turn has been incorporated in to the"Feast of the Lemures". Lots of names for a religious day of festivities in that stems from various northern European Pagan traditions.
I wonder if this is the same as "el dia de los muertos" in Mexico. I am not sure on this but what I do understand it was a day that the Church celebrated as the Vigil of All Saints.
So what about the great symbols related on this wondrous occasion?
A jack-o'-lantern is among the must haves in any Halloween haunt and why?
The carved pumpkin, lit inside by a candle, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly known as jack-o'-lantern.
Turns out this crazy pumpkin head has its origins in an old Irish legend. The legend of "Stingy Jack" tells of a greedy, gambling drunk farmer who tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. So the devil placed a curse on Jack by condemning him to forever at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.
The carving of pumpkins in North America became associated with Halloween because pumpkins were more common and much larger, as well as easier to carve than turnips. Now the art of carving pumpkins is a common activity this time of year, with a broad assortment of either faces or scenery's. Painting the pumpkins in black has also been a new version of the jack-o-lantern. http://www.marthastewart.com/ has great original ideas for the advanced pumpkin carver.
Many families place several frightening or comical faced jack-o-lanterns on their home's doorstep after dark.
In America the carved pumpkin was originally associated with harvest time and did not become associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.
The many other symbols associated with Halloween have to do with the imagery of Halloween movies and the commercialization of the holiday. Images like witches, vampires, bats, ghosts, ghouls, crows, vultures, black cats, spider and spiderwebs, as well as skeletons, zombies, mummies, rats, and other creepy critters.
Inspiring Classic Movies and TV shows have played a part in incorporating fictional characters into Halloween haunts like Frankenstein, Count Dracula, Elvira, The monsters, The Grinch, Harry Potter, as well as the many witches in various films.
Well, I still don't get the "trick or treat" part. There is so much that still remains a mystery to me concerning Halloween. But I still find it a fascinating time of year with unlimited imagination and creativity for all of us to enjoy.
But I did find this video from National Geographic that pretty much answered my questions.
Hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween this year. Enjoy!
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