But first,
my little friend here is just DYING to tell you all about Halloween . .
.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween
is celebrated on October 31st. It precedes the Christian feast of
Hallowmas, Allhallows or All Saints' Day. It began as the festival
of Samhain in the days of the ancient Druids in ancient Britain, Ireland
and France. It marked the beginning of the cold season and was believed
to be a night when Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth hosts of evil
spirits. They believed that on Halloween, ghosts and witches
roamed the land and the souls of the dead came to visit places where they
had lived when they were alive. The Druids customarily lit great
fires on Halloween, apparently for the purpose of warding off all these
spirits. Among the ancient Celts, it was the last evening of the
year and was regarded as a favorable time for examining the portents of
the future.
the church tried
to discourage these pagan beliefs, but nonetheless, many people still clung
to their customs. In Ireland, lanterns and candles were lit to keep
spirits away and costumes and masks were worn to frighten them. Of
similar origin is the use of hollowed out pumpkins carved to resemble grotesque
faces and lit by candles placed inside - that which we call jack-o-lanterns.
After the Romans
conquered Britain, they added to Halloween features of the Roman harvest
festival held on November 1st in honor of Pomona, goddess of the fruits
of trees. The Celtic tradition of lighting fires on Halloween survived
until modern times in Scotland and Wales, and the concept of ghosts and
witches is still common to all Halloween observances. Traces of the
Roman harvest festival survive in the custom, prevalent in both the United
States and Great Britain, of playing games
involving fruit,
such as ducking for apples in a tub of water.
Today, costumes
are worn and children gather goodies from different houses greeting the
occupants by saying,
"Trick or Treat",
meaning "Give me a treat or I'll play a trick on you". This stems
from centuries ago when a group of Irish villagers went from house to house
asking for food for a feast, saying that if people did not donate generously,
surely troubles would befall them.
Today we look
at Halloween as a time to have fun and collect lots of goodies!
- or
. . . is it the time to be . . .
SCARED
TO DEATH?!!!
Follow
the ghost through the door before he disappears and find out . . .
HALLOWEEN
