Ah
Halloween, the holiday all about candy and chocolate and costume competitions,
or so we think. Halloween, surprisingly, used to be a serious transition of
life or death. I know what most of you are thinking and no please don’t go yet
to eat your candy. Let’s hear about the true story of the night of the dead and
the dark and cold. Muahaha*cough*
According
to this article, Halloween’s origins date back to the Celtics who lived 2,000
years ago in modern day Ireland. They celebrated their new year on November 1st,
which marked the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold
winter. The Celts believed that on the night of October 31st, the
boundary between life and death became distorted, causing ghosts and the dead
to return to earth. That’s not what it says on the news nowadays but you know.
Anyways, the Celtics would gather around a campfire in costumes of dead animals
(yay) and burn crops and animals in hopes to survive the “attack” of the undead
or in other words, the coming winter.
So
how do we go from burning animals while wearing dead animals to where we are
now? I have no clue. Good thing this article does. By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire
had conquered the majority of the Celtic territory. They would influence the
Celtic traditions with various traditions they enjoy doing, such as bobbing for
apples. By around the first century, the Roman Christian church presented the
All Souls’ Day which is believed to have replaced the Celtic’s sacred festival
of the dead. This All Souls’ Day was also called All-hallows day, which is
where the name Halloween is believed to have originated from.
As
most of us should probably know, churches are good and try to keep things dead
animal free. So the church tinkered with the Celtic tradition a bit. Instead of
trying to scare away the undead or satisfy them with the flesh of animals, the
church decided to celebrate them with parades and fun and costumes and stuff. Now
it’s starting to sound like the Halloween we know and love huh. Well, that’s
because it is.
The
British came to America and along with them, the practices of Halloween. Yaay.
The British weren’t the only ones trying to show the goods, however, immigrants
from Ireland, the homeland of Halloween, spread ideas of Halloween in America
as well. Taking from both English and Irish traditions and some ideas of their
own, Americans began to dress up in costumes (not the dead animal kind) and go
door to door asking for candy and sometimes even money.
Well
there you have it folks. That is the story of how people went from wearing dead
animals to taking two pieces of candy when the sign says only take one.
Sources
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
I really enjoyed your blog entry. It was extremely factual, and entertaining, which is hard to display simultaneously. Your entry was the first I've read to incorporate humor, and I've found that it has kept me deeply enveloped in your entry. I look forward to reading your future blog entries Aivan!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog, it had a mix of facts and as well as comedy. It was serious at times and lighthearted at others, which in my opinion made for a great transition from topic to topic in you blog. Lastly, I found it very interesting that the Halloween we celebrate today dates back to about 2000 years ago if not longer. I look forward to your future posts.
ReplyDeleteYour blog entry was extremely detailed. I knew prior that Halloween night was originally a day for worship as it is supposedly the night when the world of the dead and the world of the living are closets, but the Celtic animal sacrifices was new to me. I found this to be a very intriguing post and I enjoyed your bit of humor.
ReplyDeleteGreat voice in this post.
ReplyDelete