Why Do We Celebrate Halloween?
Halloween is celebrated on October 31 each year. It is a mix of Celtic, Catholic and Roman rituals that adopted European folk traditions. Nowadays we celebrate it in America with trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, and passing out candy.
Halloween falls on October 31 which is between fall and winter, symbolizing the middle of life and death. Halloween is celebrated all across the world although it is a superstitious holiday. People think that it is the day that the dead can return to earth.
Costumes started with the ancient Celtics who would wear costumes and light fires to ward off ghosts.
Halloween has transformed to a less religious, more community based holiday for the children.
Heres the answer. Halloween finds its roots in the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain. In Gaelic culture, samhain marks the end of the harvest season. Gaels believed that the boundary between the live and the dead dissolved on October 31 and that the dead harmed the living world. People wore costumes and masks and lit bonfires. This was an attempt to emulate the evil and appease them. Why is the name Halloween? The term Halloween is an abbreviated form of All-hallow-even because it is the All Hallows Day. It is also known as the All Saints Day. It was regarded as a religious day of the European Pagan culture. Pope Gregory III and Gregory IV shifted the Christian Feast of the All Saints Day to November 1. Today, All Saints Day follows Halloween. But during the 9th century, both of them were celebrated on the same day! Till 1970, people used to fast on that day. Halloween Celebration A carved pumpkin with a candle inside makes up a lantern. This Halloween pumpkin symbolizes the Sting
Many cultures have similar origins, but I beleive it was bvrought here mainly bu the Celtic or Irish people. These are pretty good explanations that I found: 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
Halloween began as a Pagan celebration. The purpose of the celebration was to give thanks for an abundant harvest and to celebrate the beginning of the New Year, which began November 1. Samhain was the original name of this harvest celebration – a Celtic-Gaelic word meaning summer’s end. Due to some misinformation over the years, it was believed that this was a devil worshipping ceremony or one in which human sacrifice occurred. In fact, the only objects ceremonially sacrificed were animal bones and items from the recently harvested fields. They were thrown onto one or two bonfires in the center of the village. In addition to the bonfires, some aspects of the original celebration that we are familiar with today include trick-or-treating, masks and carved vegetables.
Since I was brought up in a family that has never celebrated Halloween, I have always wondered why do we (as a culture) in the United States celebrate Halloween? What is the whole reason behind dressing up in silly costumes and going trick-or-treating? Should Christians celebrate Halloween? What exactly is it that we are celebrating and what is the reasoning or history behind it? I’m sure some will agree with me and some won’t, but just like many of the other holidays that have lost their meaning, I think Halloween too has been added as an over-rated “holiday” and celebrated for the wrong reasons. It may have to do with my religious beliefs, but I never quite understood all the commotion and chaos behind Halloween. To me, Halloween has always been known as “the devil’s holiday” – and I have never celebrated it in any way, shape, or form. No, I didn’t trick-or-treat, which I can admit, as a child was a bummer sometimes. But I never really felt like I missed out on anything. The only thi
