HALLOWEEN IS THE FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD!!!
Halloween, though openly associated with evil, is celebrated by most of the We
stern countries and falls on 31st October. It is also called ‘All Saints Eve’ , ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ and ‘Festival of the Dead!’ (The name says it all...). The festival begins at sunset and ends at midnight every 31st October. As it is celebrated in the night time, the festival is common for the colors Orange and Black, which resembles the darkness of sunset and night. It also symbolises the colour of the fire which comes from the pumpkins called Jack O Lanterns. This is why many Halloween decoration items and costumes are mostly coloured in Black and Orange. The most common Halloween treats are candy or toffe apples, caramel or taffu apples as Halloween holiday falls during the start of the annual Apple Harvest.
Celtic and Christian Cultures- the Halloween Background Traditions
The Halloween festival has a background of mixed cultures with the Celtic Festival of Samhain in Europe and the Christian taditional holy day of All Saints. While ‘All Saints’ is celebrated on 1st November where all the Saints are said to be gathering and remembered, it’s eve, 31st October is celebrated as the night before the Saints arrive where spirits of dead people, good or bad, come back to visit their families. It is from here that the concept of dressing in scary costumes was evolved in order to scare off the bad spirits. Thus the festival is secular with roots from both Celtic and Christian traditions mainly from Ireland and Scotland. It is the main factor how Halloween found it’s entry into America with the entry of Irish immigrants in the 18th century with reminders of the Great Irish Famine Period.
Halloween Celebrations
Halloween os celebrated with Trick or Treats, scary costumes, haunted locations, halloween parties, scary stories, fireworks, bonfires, horror films, carving pumpkins, eating ghost shaped sweets, etc:- Traditionally, the lanterns were a symbol of harvest time. As years passed, these lanterns were introduced to Halloween and were carved from turnips with designs of scary and funny faces. Now everyone carves Pumpkins as they are more bigger and spacier making it easy to carve.These lanterns are then lighted and kept in from of the house after sunset. People decorate their houses with ghostly characters like ghosts, monsters, witches, goblins, skeletons and vampires. Animal characters of wolves, bats, crows and spiders are also used.
TRICK OR TREAT!!!
Children celebrate Trick or treat on Halloween. They visit houses dressed in ghostly costumes shouting "Trick or treat?" With Treat, they mean to ask for sweets or even money. And with Trick, they mean to say that they will do some kind of a prank or mischief to the household if they dont get any treats. As a tradition in Ireland and Scotland, children must earn their treats by telling scary stories, dancing or singing songs. Food treats include Colcannon and Barmbrack from Ireland, Bonfire Toffee from Britian, Candy Corn from North America and other common treats like Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, Candy Apples, Caramel Apples, Soul Cakes, Caramel Corn, Roasted Sweet Corn, etc:-
Some types of Traditional Halloween Games
1. Apple Bobbing or Dunking- The participant must take out an apple from the tub of bucket of water using only his teeth.
2. Fork Dunking- The participant must kneel on a chair with a fork between his teeth which he must drop into the apple.
3. Scone eating contest- Here, participants should try to jump and eat scones, coated with syrup and tied onto strings at a high level, while having their hands tied behind their backs.
RELIGION ON HALLOWEEN- FESTIVAL WHICH GLORIFIES EVIL
Though Halloween is widely a secular celebration, there are some sections of the people who have expressed strong religious statements about it. In the West, many Christians take Halloween as just another festival which is not satanic nor unspiritual for their children. In fact, they see it as a time to value the cultural heritage of their Celtic ancestors. However, there are other Christians who avoid Halloween celebrations as they believe that it practises evil and sorcery making it an accepted public glorification of the devil and other dark powers of hell. Some perceive Halloween as an insult to the Christian faith it originated as a pagan "Festival of the Dead." While many contemporary Protestant churches celebrate Halloween as a fun event for children and hold costume events in their churches with games and candy, few other Churches abstain from celebrating Halloween for they believe that a True Christian should never celbrate a festival orignating from the pagans especially a Festival of the Dead!
Halloween, though openly associated with evil, is celebrated by most of the We
stern countries and falls on 31st October. It is also called ‘All Saints Eve’ , ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ and ‘Festival of the Dead!’ (The name says it all...). The festival begins at sunset and ends at midnight every 31st October. As it is celebrated in the night time, the festival is common for the colors Orange and Black, which resembles the darkness of sunset and night. It also symbolises the colour of the fire which comes from the pumpkins called Jack O Lanterns. This is why many Halloween decoration items and costumes are mostly coloured in Black and Orange. The most common Halloween treats are candy or toffe apples, caramel or taffu apples as Halloween holiday falls during the start of the annual Apple Harvest.Celtic and Christian Cultures- the Halloween Background Traditions
The Halloween festival has a background of mixed cultures with the Celtic Festival of Samhain in Europe and the Christian taditional holy day of All Saints. While ‘All Saints’ is celebrated on 1st November where all the Saints are said to be gathering and remembered, it’s eve, 31st October is celebrated as the night before the Saints arrive where spirits of dead people, good or bad, come back to visit their families. It is from here that the concept of dressing in scary costumes was evolved in order to scare off the bad spirits. Thus the festival is secular with roots from both Celtic and Christian traditions mainly from Ireland and Scotland. It is the main factor how Halloween found it’s entry into America with the entry of Irish immigrants in the 18th century with reminders of the Great Irish Famine Period.
Halloween Celebrations
Halloween os celebrated with Trick or Treats, scary costumes, haunted locations, halloween parties, scary stories, fireworks, bonfires, horror films, carving pumpkins, eating ghost shaped sweets, etc:- Traditionally, the lanterns were a symbol of harvest time. As years passed, these lanterns were introduced to Halloween and were carved from turnips with designs of scary and funny faces. Now everyone carves Pumpkins as they are more bigger and spacier making it easy to carve.These lanterns are then lighted and kept in from of the house after sunset. People decorate their houses with ghostly characters like ghosts, monsters, witches, goblins, skeletons and vampires. Animal characters of wolves, bats, crows and spiders are also used.
TRICK OR TREAT!!!
Children celebrate Trick or treat on Halloween. They visit houses dressed in ghostly costumes shouting "Trick or treat?" With Treat, they mean to ask for sweets or even money. And with Trick, they mean to say that they will do some kind of a prank or mischief to the household if they dont get any treats. As a tradition in Ireland and Scotland, children must earn their treats by telling scary stories, dancing or singing songs. Food treats include Colcannon and Barmbrack from Ireland, Bonfire Toffee from Britian, Candy Corn from North America and other common treats like Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, Candy Apples, Caramel Apples, Soul Cakes, Caramel Corn, Roasted Sweet Corn, etc:-
Some types of Traditional Halloween Games
1. Apple Bobbing or Dunking- The participant must take out an apple from the tub of bucket of water using only his teeth.
2. Fork Dunking- The participant must kneel on a chair with a fork between his teeth which he must drop into the apple.
3. Scone eating contest- Here, participants should try to jump and eat scones, coated with syrup and tied onto strings at a high level, while having their hands tied behind their backs.
RELIGION ON HALLOWEEN- FESTIVAL WHICH GLORIFIES EVIL
Though Halloween is widely a secular celebration, there are some sections of the people who have expressed strong religious statements about it. In the West, many Christians take Halloween as just another festival which is not satanic nor unspiritual for their children. In fact, they see it as a time to value the cultural heritage of their Celtic ancestors. However, there are other Christians who avoid Halloween celebrations as they believe that it practises evil and sorcery making it an accepted public glorification of the devil and other dark powers of hell. Some perceive Halloween as an insult to the Christian faith it originated as a pagan "Festival of the Dead." While many contemporary Protestant churches celebrate Halloween as a fun event for children and hold costume events in their churches with games and candy, few other Churches abstain from celebrating Halloween for they believe that a True Christian should never celbrate a festival orignating from the pagans especially a Festival of the Dead!
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