History about Halloween
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:48 pm
Halloween is a festival celebrated on October 31. Its name means halloweed or holy evening because it takes place the day before All Saints' Day. Halloween is a time of parties for both young and old people. Some schools have costume parties for the children. There are special games which are played at Halloween, such as bobbing for apples and telling fortunes and ghost stories.
Many superstitions and symbols are connected with Halloween. The Irish have a tale about the origin of jack-o-lanterns. They say that a man named Jack was unable to enter Heaven because of his miserliness. He could not enter Hell because he had played practical jokes in the Devil. So he had to walk the Earth with his lantern until Judgment Day.
The Druids. An order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britian, believed that on Halloween, ghosts, spirits, fairies, witches, vampires and elves came out to harm people. They thought the cat was sacred and believed that cats had once been human beings, but were changed as a punishment for evil deeds from these Druidic beliefs comes the present day use of witches, ghosts, and cats in Halloween festivities. The Druids had an autumn festival called Samhain (pronounced SAH win), or summer's end. It was an occassion for feasting on all the kinds of food which had been grown during the summer. The custom of using leaves, pumpkins, and cornstalks as Halloween decorations comes from the Druids. The early people of Europe also had a festival similar to the Druid holiday.
In 700 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church named November 1 as All Saint's Day. The old Pagan customs and the Christian feast day were combined into the Halloween festival.
Early times in the USA, Halloween was an occassion for playing harmless pranks. But in later years, many boys and girls played Halloween pranks that were not so harmless. They overturned sheds, broke windows, robbed people with the masks, stole candies and everything from others, and damaged so much property. In all cities and states, the police must work hard on Halloween to prevent pranksters from doing anything wrong. Many communities now stop such action by holding Halloween parades and community gatherings which provide fun, in place of pranks, for children of all ages.
Sounds very interesting!!
Many superstitions and symbols are connected with Halloween. The Irish have a tale about the origin of jack-o-lanterns. They say that a man named Jack was unable to enter Heaven because of his miserliness. He could not enter Hell because he had played practical jokes in the Devil. So he had to walk the Earth with his lantern until Judgment Day.
The Druids. An order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britian, believed that on Halloween, ghosts, spirits, fairies, witches, vampires and elves came out to harm people. They thought the cat was sacred and believed that cats had once been human beings, but were changed as a punishment for evil deeds from these Druidic beliefs comes the present day use of witches, ghosts, and cats in Halloween festivities. The Druids had an autumn festival called Samhain (pronounced SAH win), or summer's end. It was an occassion for feasting on all the kinds of food which had been grown during the summer. The custom of using leaves, pumpkins, and cornstalks as Halloween decorations comes from the Druids. The early people of Europe also had a festival similar to the Druid holiday.
In 700 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church named November 1 as All Saint's Day. The old Pagan customs and the Christian feast day were combined into the Halloween festival.
Early times in the USA, Halloween was an occassion for playing harmless pranks. But in later years, many boys and girls played Halloween pranks that were not so harmless. They overturned sheds, broke windows, robbed people with the masks, stole candies and everything from others, and damaged so much property. In all cities and states, the police must work hard on Halloween to prevent pranksters from doing anything wrong. Many communities now stop such action by holding Halloween parades and community gatherings which provide fun, in place of pranks, for children of all ages.
Sounds very interesting!!