Such original holiday is my favorite! And I want to tell you about it. Halloween is the holiday of vampires, witches, ghosts and other evil spirits. Because of that children wear costumes and masks with their images.
This holiday until recently wildly celebrated only in the United States and now it is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and gradually USSR. What do we know about this holiday, from where it originates? For thousand years in October, different people celebrate different holidays and festivals.
Halloween-is one of the oldest festivals in the world. It’s history numbers millennium, beginning from the Celtic festival Samhejn, the Roman Day of Pomona (the goddess of plants) and Christian “Day of all sacred”. This holiday in strange way combines the Celtic tradition of celebrating of evil ghost and the Christian-worship all sacred.
Across all Europe this night marked transition by the winter. They hold that at this time souls of the
All evil spirit goes down on the earth. Because of fear, people extinguished the centers in houses and dressed up as it is possible more terribly-in animal skins and heads, hoping to scare away evil ghosts.
At the end of XIX century a Halloween have tried to transform it into a public holiday, and
Many superstitious traits of a Halloween were dissolved in the history.
Now Halloween is a festival that takes place on October 31. In the United States children wear costumes and masks and go trick-or-treating. Many of them carve jack-a-lantens out of pump kinds.
Fortunetelling and storytelling about ghosts and witches are popular activities.
People once believed that there were many ghosts and witches on the Earth and that they met on October 31 to worship the devil. Today, people do
Halloween is a world-famous festival, which is the interplay of Celtic tradition to worship evil spirits, and Christian, all the saints. Its history goes back far into antiquity. Celtic year was divided into two parts-winter and summer. These people believed that in winter the sun was captured by Samheyn – tsar of dead men. They believe that at Halloweeen night Samheyn opened the gates of hell in the past and future, those guarding the gates of the shadow of the custodians (witches, demons, ghosts etc.).
Celts believed that at Halloween night the souls of dead people came down to earth to complete unfinished business, while they can take any shape they liked, and the most evil soul could enter black cats.
When the Romans conquered the Celtic territory, they established their holiday rituals and traditions. The celebration took place on 31 of October at night in honor of the goddess Pomona, whose symbol was an apple. Nowadays there is such a tradition, as a game with apples, she took the beginning from the day of Pomona. In the seventh century Halloween was accepted as the Feast of All Saints. Although the church was against the traditions of coaxing the evil spirits, they could not do anything, and the holiday merged with Halloween.
Halloween came to America with immigrants from Ireland and gained great popularity. During this festival people dress up, frighten and played tricks. The main attribute is a pumpkin with carved eyes, nose and mouth. There are many different views of the appearance of this attribute. The Romans pumpkin labeled wandering souls, druids put them near the house to scare ghosts.
There is a legend about a drunk Jack who tricked the devil. He was forced to renounce Satan of his soul, but in heaven the soul of Jack could not enter and was forced to wander forever in the void. And that the soul could see the way the devil had given it a turnip lantern with embers inside.
In the 19 century some people tried to oliminate the mystical roots of the festival. That is why many traditions and features of the festival have been lost. Many of us forgot that the essence of Halloween is to understand the link between past and future.
Today Halloween is celebrated around the world. This unusual holiday charms by its traditions and customs, which have gone through many centuries and come down to us.
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