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A cool autumn night, skeletons, pumpkins, werewolves, mummies, Frankenstein, and Dracula- we all know what time of the year it is… Halloween! Children are dressed in costumes going door to door asking for candy and playing pranks. Halloween today is similar to its beginnings from thousands of years ago. So how did it all begin? About 2,000 years ago, Halloween started as a Celtic festival called Samhain (sow-in). The Celtic people lived in the area that we know as Ireland; part of what is now the United Kingdom, and northern France. It was celebrated on November first because they believed that summer officially ended on October 31. Samhain (sow-in) marked the end of the year and beginning of a new year. It also marked the end of harvest time and the beginning of winter. The Celtics believed that during the night before, the spirits of all the people who had died in the previous year that did not make it to heaven would return to wander the earth and possess the bodies of the living. In order to keep the spirits or ghosts from coming into their homes and possessing their bodies, they put out all the lights and fire, so the houses were cold, dark, and uninviting for the spirits. They would also put on scary masks to frighten away the spirits. The Druids or Celtic priests would create huge bonfires and offer sacrifices of animals and crops to the spirits. In 43 A.D the Romans conquered most of the Celtic land. Two of their customs and celebrations intertwined with the Celtic holiday of Samhain (sow-in), Feralia and the celebration of the goddess Pomona. Pope Boniface declared November 1st All Saints Day in the seventh century. In the 9th century Europeans had the tradition of souling. Souling is when Christians would go from village to village asking or begging for soul cakes and the more soul cakes they received from a particular family the more prayers they would offer up for their deceased relatives, because they believed that the souls stayed somewhere in between heaven and the world of the living for a while, and the more prayers that person received the faster they would get to heaven. All these celebrations mixed together and this is why we have the Halloween traditions we have today and how Halloween came to be. So next Halloween when you’re dressed up and going out to play pranks or trick or treat think about how this holiday came to be.
history of halloween written by kissgurl94
chalkdawg added this comment 2011-11-01 22:02:14-05:00
Really interesting - I love this kind of stuff! 5 and faved.
kissgurl94 added this comment 2011-11-02 17:22:39-05:00
thanks =)
chalkdawg added this comment 2011-11-01 22:02:14-05:00
Really interesting - I love this kind of stuff! 5 and faved.
kissgurl94 added this comment 2011-11-02 17:22:39-05:00
thanks =)