Halloween is celebrated on the 31st of October, every year, especially in North America, but also in some areas of Europe. It is usually associated with the supernatural, being celebrated especially with a ceremony specific to the Anglican Church and Romano-Catholic, a day when all saints are being commemorated.
Even though at the beginning, the Day of All Saints was considered to be pagan, in the 9th century the Catholic Church decided that this day will be a day when all the Christian saints will be celebrated. A century later, the Catholic Church established that on the 2nd of November the Day of All Souls was to be set, a celebration with the purpose of purifying the souls of those who are dead, strongly connected to the day of the 31st of October.
The Origins of Halloween
In ancient Europe many people were marking the end of their harvests within a celebration that took place near autumn. The Celtics were naming this ceremony Samhain, and considered it to be the beginning of a new year, and apparently this habit had a great influence over the Halloween ceremony of today. Samhain was starting at the sunset and was continuing until the next day, and the people who were celebrating it where believing that the souls of those who died during the past year were wondering on Earth during that day. In order to help them to pass over, in the other world, the Celtics were offering them food, drinks and at the same time, they were setting big fires in which they were sacrificing humans or animals, being convinced that only in this way, the Gods will protect them during the next year.
When the Roman Empire conquered almost all the Celtics tribes, the Romans adopted some traditions from them, and also the Samhain celebration, which they combined with their own traditions referring to the Goddess of the fruit trees, Pomona.
Samhain continued to be celebrated in places like Scotland, Ireland, or in the north of France, because in these places the Roman Empire didn't enter. The people here gave up this habit only in the medieval times, when they converted to Christianity. In order to attract more people, the Romano-Catholic Church decided to replace Samhain with the Day of All Saints, and like this offered to the people a reason of celebration.
The name Halloween was used for the first time in the 16th century, coming from the Scottish sentence "All Hallow Even".
Halloween traditions:
Taking into consideration that this celebration is associated with the forces of evil, and in generally with the supernatural, most of the traditions are based on these beliefs. Therefore, the decorations are always connected with supreme forces, as witches, vampires, werewolves or ghosts, and are representing things that are considered to bring bad luck, like the black cat.
Perhaps the most representative symbol of this day is the "Jack-o' Lantern, as in a pumpkin of large dimensions, sculpted in a grotesque manner, inside which is placed a light, in order to transform it into a lantern. Apparently its name comes from a character from the British folklore, named Jack O' Lantern, whose soul was thrown away from both Heaven and Hell, and was forced to wander on earth with a lantern.
Another popular tradition for Halloween is the people's disguise in different characters, tradition that attracts everybody's attention, especially the children's. In this night, a person can become whoever she/he wants, from president or vampire, to spider or some other supernatural being. After they got their costumes on, the children are going to "Trick or Treat" and the hosts must give them sweets and candies, otherwise the children will call pranks on them. The most popular sweets and cookies during this night are the caramelized apples.
Besides games, food and trick or treat, there are a lot of special activities on Halloween that are attracting the American people. For example, during the night, they are watching horror movies, and the movie industry is trying every year to bring up a new horror movie, especially dedicated to this ceremony, or they go parking in scary woods, or visit old, abandoned houses, about which people say they could be hunted.
Some amusement parks are offering the curious various tunnels and labyrinths which are designed to scare them. Unfortunately, in time, unhappy events were signaled as well and nowadays people are trying to maintain alive this celebration but in the same time, are also being very careful. The children are being escorted by an adult, after the event in the 70's, when it was rumored that some children received poisoned candy or caramelized apples inside which were placed razor blades. Of course, it is very possible that these rumors have been also created during the holiday, in order to improve its horror character.
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