The History of Halloween
Photo taken from lifeinthepresent.wordpress.com
Well everyone Halloween is just around the corner so I thought it would be appropriate to discuss where this great holiday got its origin from. First of all, Halloween is celebrated on the 31st of October, and is acknowledged by only several countries in the world. These countries include: The United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Japan, and New Zealand.
Halloween was created in ancient times by the Celtics and their festival of Samhain. The festival was a celebration for the end of the harvest season. It was also a time for the ancient pagans to slaughter all their livestock for the stores during the winter months. On the date of October 31st, these people believed that the boundary between the living and the dead was dissolved. The dead could cause harm to the living through sickness and destroying crops.
Bonfires were started and the bones of the livestock slaughtered were thrown into it in an attempt to scare away the dead spirits. Also, these people would dress up with masks and elaborate costumes to mimic these spirits. The term Halloween then came out from All Hollows Eve. All Saints Day is on November 1st, and is sometimes referred to as All Hollows Day.
Halloween is the one day all year anyone can dress up and pretend to be someone else. This is accompanied with ringing the doorbell of everyone’s house in the neighborhood in exchange for candy. This action is referred to as trick-or-treating. There are also decorations on many houses with eery and gloomy things such as witches, skeletons, black cats, ghosts, graves, and horror movie characters. Enjoy the season and atmosphere of Halloween 2008!
Works Cited/ Further Reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
