Halloween

Have you ever wondered how Halloween began and who 

started the eccentric practices which evolved into our celebrations today?

Let's explore local and global customs and traditions that make Halloween what it is today -and why it's so much fun.

What is Halloween?

Halloween is an ancient festival, which has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain (Sah-ween), when the Celts (ancient inhabitants of Great Britain) celebrated their New Year. They believed that on that day souls of those who had died progressed to the underworld. It was said to be the night when ghosts, demons and witches roamed the earth and people tried to placate them with offerings of nuts and berries.

Nowadays these offerings are more likely to be the Mars Bars and Snickers given out to children trick or treating. Today Halloween is celebrated on All Hallows Eve, the night of October 31, the last night of October which was originally the eve of Samhain.

What are the colours of Halloween?

As you probably guessed, these are black and orange. Orange is a symbol of strength and endurance. Black is usually
a symbol of death and darkness.

The main symbol of Halloween is obviously hollow and lit from the inside pumpkin with chipped teeth. Other popular themes are ghosts, demons, zombies, vampires, witches, skulls...

Halloween traditions

"Scary farm"

Youth organise events called 'scary farms', They are held in adapted for this purpose large areas, with special sceneries, looking like a plan for horror films such as Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy.

"Trick or Treat"

It is great fun for kids. Children take Halloween buckets and knock on doors in their neighbourhood asking for sweets. If you don't have any treat for them you may get a trick!

"Apple bobbing"

In this game you need to fish out an apple floating in a bowl of water. With no hands... With your teeth! Undamaged apple will bring you happiness in the coming year.

Superstitions associated with Halloween

Halloween was believed to be the night when the barrier between the living world and that of the spirits was the weakest. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some places they used to jump over the fire to bring good luck.

Now we light candles in pumpkin lanterns called Jack-o'-Lanterns. This is intended to scare away evil spirits from home. Halloween was also the time to honour the dead and divine the future.

Jack 'O Lanterns

The traditions of carving jack 'o lanterns originates with the Celts. A miserable man named Jack, tricked the devil. Unable to enter heaven or hell after his death, he was destined to roam the earth listlessly. Jack placed a piece of coal into a carved-out turnip and used it as a lantern to keep the evil spirits away. Nowadays the typical Jack-o'-lantern
is a pumpkin which top and stem have been carved off and inner membranes and seeds scooped out to leave a hollow shell. Sections of a side are carved out to make a design, usually a face. A light source (traditionally a candle) is placed inside the pumpkin and the top is put back into place (often after a "chimney" is carved in the lid in order to allow heat to escape). The light illuminates the design from the inside. Jack-o'-lanterns were originally made of large turnips, beets and swedes, before the introduction of the now more familiar pumpkin from America.

Costumes

It's traditional for people (especially children) to dress up at Halloween. In the past this wasn't done just for fun, it was thought that the costume would confuse evil spirits so that they wouldn't play any pranks on you.

Halloween tittle-tattles 

#1

Traditional lanterns were made of turnips. Pumpkins were adopted with the arrival of settlers to North America.

#2

Pumpkins are usually orange in colour, but they can also be green, white, red and grey.

#3

Thousands of people suffer from samhainophobia - the fear of Halloween.

#4

It's hard to imagine a holiday without Candy Corn, or candy in shape of corn kernels. Every year its sale is approx.
9 000 tonnes.

#5

Candy even has its official holiday, set the day before Halloween.

#6

A legend says that if you see a spider on Halloween, it will be the spirit of a loved one watching you.

#7

In Alabama, you can not dress up as a priest.

#8

When approaching Halloween, many animal shelters do not allow the adoption of black cats. It stems from the fear that they may be tortured or someone will use them to perform rituals.

#9

The most popular among sweets on Halloween is Snickers. Next on the list of the most popular sweets are: Reese's, Kit-Kat and M & M's. The largest sale of sweets in a year falls on October 28th.

#10

First Halloween costumes appeared in 1930.

#11

Halloween was originally called All Hallows' Eve which means the evening before All Saints' Day. "Hallow" is an Old English word for "saint". This was shortened to Hallowe'en and finally to Halloween.

Halloween Around the World

The Day of the Dead celebrations (in Mexico) might seem to be very similar to Halloween. In both celebrations people dress up in costumes, there are a lot of skeletons everywhere, and there are special sweet treats and candies given out. Also people spend a lot of time in graveyards and death imagery is everywhere.

But there are some crucial differences between the holiday that promotes fear of the dead and the holiday that celebrates the dead. The Day of the Dead holiday is about celebrating the dead, not being afraid of the dead.
It’s a holiday for people to honour their ancestors and loved ones who passed away and invite those spirits back into their homes to be part of the family once more. It’s a celebration of family and that shows respect for those who passed away.

by K.S.