halloween -mystery, magic and superstition….by Ifi

In the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.

Humans’ fascination with the dark side has made Halloween the second-largest commercial holiday behind Christmas(in US and Canada).

It provides a perverse pleasure to celebrate death and destruction.It also gives people permission to do openly what is usually done in secret: wear masks.Halloween puts people in touch with their inner little monsters.

Halloween what does it mean

The name is actually a shortened version of “All Hallows’ Even,” the eve of All Hallows’ Day. “Hallow” is an Old English word for “holy person,” and All Hallows’ Day is simply another name for All Saints’ Day, the day Catholics commemorate all the saints.It takes place on October 31.

Trick or Treating?

In medieval times, one popular All Souls’ Day practice was to make “soul cakes,” simple bread deserts with a current topping. In a custom called “souling,” children would go door-to-door begging for the cakes, much like modern trick-or-treat. For every cake a child collected, he or she would have to say a prayer for the dead relatives of the person who gave the cake. These prayers would help the relatives find their way out of purgatory and into heaven

Costumes

Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter. In Now-a-days for children, dressing up and trick-or-treating door-to-door is still the main event.Many adults dress up themselves, to go out with their children or to attend costume parties and contests.

Jack O Lantern

pumpkins go hand in hand with the fall holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns is a popular Halloween tradition that originated hundreds of years ago in Ireland. Back then, however, jack-o’-lanterns were made out of turnips or potatoes.

Facts

1.Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween. Orange is a symbol of strength and endurance and, along with brown and gold, stands for the harvest and autumn. Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and acts as a reminder that Halloween once was a festival that marked the boundaries between life and death.

2.Ireland is typically believed to be the birthplace of Halloween

3.Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C., which means Halloween has been around for over 6,000 years

4.More candy is sold (in US) on October 28 than any other day of the year

5.Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween

6.The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches

7.The word “witch” comes from the Old Saxon word “wica”, meaning “wise one.” The earliest witches were respected dealers in charms and medicinal herbs and tellers of fortunes.

Mark Twain
Everyone is a moon and has a dark side, which he never shows to anybody.

all images are from mama.nu