A little Halloween history

[Goose and Fig]

Got this from peacemonger.org-

Happy Samhain!

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").

The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.
Masks and consumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.

 

[turtleblossom]

Quote:
This is true for modern day Pagans as well

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Really interesting! Thanks for sharing some of the history. I love learning about stuff like that (like where we get the names of the days of the week from, etc.). So much of what we do today has ties to ancient customs.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
There was an archaeologists(can't recall his name) who stated that Samhein(Samhain) was the name for an entire season and not just one day. I don't remember what he based his ideas upon.


I think that a lot of Halloween customs have several origins. During the medieval times the poor would go around and knock on doors. They would offer to pray for the departed loved ones in return for food. I have heard other origins for trick or treat also. Perhaps they are all true.

I think that remembering our ancestors is perhaps a very good way to celebrate Halloween.

The early Puritan(spoiled sports

) did not celebrate Halloween or Christmas because they were considered "Catholic' holidays.

 

[Blackbird]

 

[katiesarahsmom]

 

[ranchhand]

Technically a bump, but still, interesting information on a day so many find important. Thanks for the info, I like history as well.

 

[deb1]

I wish that more people would post on this thread.

 

[turtleblossom]

I did my part!

 

[Mahonri]

interesting how different sites report it differently.

Halloween means Hallows Eve (the eve before the Day of the Dead, on the 1st of November), and its origins are Celtic. 2,500 years ago the Celtic people from what is now the UK celebrated New Years Eve at the end of the summer, not in December, and for them this day was the 31st of October. For some reason, the Celts thought that on this day the spirits would come out of their tombs and walk the earth. To scare off the spirits, people decorated their houses with bones and other scary objects that would ward off the spirits.

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The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

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