Halloween
evokes images of ghoulish frolic and fun for all, it will
also see hordes of children in terrifying masks out to provide
a trick or treat. But, unfortunately, this is
also a time when both kids and adults fall victim to injuries
from accidents that could have easily been prevented...
It's a time of fun, but be aware of the dangers involved,
so you can have a happy and safe Halloween. We have included
a page full of safety tips and guidelines more...
Some claim Halloween to be a modern invention, in reality
it is one of our oldest traditions. Marking the end of summer,
it was the time when locals gathered for games, amusements
and feasting.
The background, origins and pumpkins.....
Halloween is an annual
celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of?
And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some
claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige
of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its
origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted
corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows
Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day
of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century
BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October
31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New
year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits
of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would
come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next
year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife.
The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended
during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle
with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed.
So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish
the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable.
They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes
and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive
as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for
bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished
their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so
that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from
a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in
the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at
the stake who was thought to have already been possessed,
as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic
history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But
in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations
of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October,
such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit
and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might
explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for
apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become
more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the
practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches
took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's
by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine.
At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included
tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
Trick or treat, smell my feet, give
me something good to eat.
The custom of trick-or-treating
is thought to have originated with a ninth-century European
custom called souling.
On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk
from village to village begging for "soul cakes,"
made out of square pieces of bread with currants.
The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers
they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives
of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead
remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer,
even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
Our ancestors believed that the spirits of the deceased returned
to their homes and family on Halloween night.
To make the spirits feel welcome they would put out food
and drink for them. This tradition, evolved into 'Trick or
Treat', with children dressing up as ghosts and devils and
going from door to door begging for treats.
Jack-o-Lantern
The Jack-o-lantern custom
probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a
man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster,
tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image
of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the
tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never
tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied
entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also
denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead,
the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through
the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out
turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns"
originally. But when the immigrants went to America, they
found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips.
So the Jack-O-Lantern was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with
an ember. Today, even many churches have Halloween parties
or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day
itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
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