| NY
Halloween Parade 1999
The History of Halloween
The origins of today's celebration on October
31st trace back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celtic
people were very conscious of the spiritual world and had their
own ideas of how they could gain access to it - such as by helping
their gods defeat their enemies in battle, or by imitating them
by showing cleverness and cunning. Their two main feasts were Beltane
at the beginning of summer (May 1), and Samhain
at the end of summer (Nov. 1). They believed Samhain
was a time when the division between the two worlds became very
thin, when supernatural forces were active and ghosts and spirits
were free to wander as they wished. Because the lives of the Celts
were deeply intertwined with nature, the death of the world around
them became associated with human death. During this time, it was
believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the
dead were thinnest. The living were able to communicate with their
dead loved ones during Samhain.
In the Celtic
year, November 1st was the beginning of the new year.
marked the transition from life to death. During this time, the
crops have been harvested, and animals were slaughtered to be prepared
as food for the long, dark winter. The Druids had all fires estinguished,
and created a huge bonfire on this night, buring sacred oak branches,
along with sacrifices to mark the end of the sun's reign.
"Trick
or Treating" may have developed from the custom of people leaving
food out for the spirits that were believed to wander the earth
during this time. Another theory is that it developed from the celebration
honoring Muck Olla, where a parade of people begged for
food. The leader of the parade wore a mask, which may have been
the origin of the Halloween costume.
Of course, if
the spirits were able to travel between the worlds on Samhain, so
too could malevolent spirits.
To scare these
baddies away, the Celts carved faces into turnips and lit them with
candles. Scary costumes were also worn to frighten the bad spirits.
Feralia, the Roman festival of the dead, was later combined
with Samhain. With the Christianization
of the Celtic people, the Church found that old habits died hard.
Because the Celtic people weren't easily willing to give up their
traditions, the Church tried to replace Samhain
with All Saints' Day, a day to celebrate
dead saints. Witches (those who dared to follow the old ways
against the will of the Church) and evil demons were said to
ride that night, doing the Devil's bidding.
Halloween didn't
become widely celebrated in the United States until the 1800s. Immigrants
from Ireland and Scotland were beginning to settle in the U.S.,
and brought many of their customs with them. The New World provided
pumpkins, which were more suitable as lanterns, and are a major
symbol of modern Halloween. Bats, owls and other nocturanal animals,
also popular symbols of Halloween, were originally feared because
people believed that these creatures could communicate with the
spirits of the dead. Black cats had religious origins as well. During
the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves
into black cats. Thus when such a cat was seen, it was considered
to be a witch in disguise.
Halloween
Facts
-
Many experts believe
the Druids were the first to observe Halloween.
Dating back to 700 B.C., they celebrated the festival of Samhain
(the end of the harvest and a time to honor the dead) on November
1. In the ensuing years, the night before became known as the
Eve of All Hallows, a.k.a. Hallow
Even, a.k.a. Hallow e'en.
-
Ever wonder how trick-or-treating
got started? On the evening before Samhain,
people left food on their doorsteps to keep hungry spirits from
entering the house. Festivalgoers started dressing in ghost,
witch, and goblin costumes so wandering spirits would leave
them alone. To this day, these are Halloween's
most popular costumes.
-
The word witch
comes from the Saxon word wicca, which means "wise one."
-
Black cats, those customary
Halloween icons, were originally
believed to be witches' familiars, a kind of cosmic sidekick
who protected the witches' powers from negative forces.
-
Some so-called vampire
bats do drink blood, but they're not from Transylvania. They
live in Central and South America and feed on cattle, horses,
and birds.
-
The biggest pumpkin
in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,337.6 pounds.
This gigantic gourd was weighed in October, 2002 at a pumpkin
festival in Topsfield, Mass.
-
Of all canned fruits
and vegetables, pumpkin is the best source of vitamin A. Just
a half-cup of the orange stuff has more than three times the
recommended daily requirement.
-
The very first jack
o' lantern was made out of a turnip.
-
Halloween
isn't just for kids. While 82 percent of children take part
in Halloween festivities, a surprising
67 percent of adults also join in the fun.
-
Candy corn, anyone?
With an estimated $ 1.93 billion in candy sales, Halloween
is the sweetest holiday of the year, beating out Easter, Valentine's
Day, and Christmas. In fact, one quarter of all the candy sold
each year is purchased between September 15 and November 10.
-
U.S. consumers spend
as much as $ 1.5 billion on costumes each year, and more than
$ 2.5 billion on other Halloween
paraphernalia, such as decorations and crafts — more than
$ 100 million of which is spent online.
-
The first Halloween
card was made in the early 1920s. These days, U.S. consumers
spend about $ 50 million on Halloween
greetings.
|
 
|
