Good Morning, Jethro.
It's nice to see you this morning.
Seems that everyone is taking advantage of that extra hour.
Posted on 10/24/2003 4:57:40 AM PDT by JustAmy
Edited on 11/11/2003 7:47:46 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
Historical Halloween
Halloween or Allhallows Eve, is the name applied to the evening of October 31, preceding the Christian feast of Hallowmas, Allhallows, or All Saints' Day. It developed from ancient new year festivals and festivals of the dead. The Celtic festival at the end of summer was named Samhain (pronounced "sow-in"; the first part rhyming with cow). The festival of Beltane was observed on May day (see also our May Day page), which was the beginning of summer. These festivals marked the 2 main seasons of the Celtic year. In the Celtic belief system, turning points such as the time between one day and the next, the meeting of sea and shore, or the turning of one year into the next were seen as magical times. The turning of the year was the most potent and was the time when the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest, and the living could communicate with their beloved dead in Tir nan Og, a land of eternal youth and happiness. The Celts did not have demons and devils in their belief system, but they did believe in fairies, who were often considered hostile and dangerous to humans because they resented humans taking over their lands. Fairies were considered to be particularly active during the season of Samhain. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long dark winter.
The eve of the new year in both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times, Samhain was one of the ancient fire festivals. It was connected with the return of the herds from summer pasture, and its importance is indicated by the renewal of laws and land tenures, the rekindling of fire for the coming year, the practice of examining the portents of the future, and its association with the dead, whose souls were supposed to revisit their earthly homes on this day. Although primarily a pastoral observance, the crops and herds had to be protected from demonic influences also, so it was not only a harvest festival but also a time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. Samhain acquired sinister significance with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons of all kinds roaming abroad.
On the evening of the festival, the Druids ordered the people to put out their hearth fires. This symbolized the dark half of the year. The Druids built a huge central fire of sacred oak branches at Tlachtga, 12 miles from the royal hill of Tara. This fire was kindled from rubbing 2 sticks together. All hearth fires were re-lit from this sacred fire, symbolizing the hoped-for new life, brought about through the ministrations of the priesthood. They burned animals, crops, and possibly even human beings as sacrifices to the gods at Samhain. Then each family relit its hearth fire from the new year's fire. During the celebration, people sometimes wore costumes made of animal heads and skins and they also practiced divinations dealing with marriage, weather, and the coming fortunes for the year.
After the Romans conquered the Celts in A.D. 43, they occupied what is now Great Britain for about 400 years. During this period, 2 Roman autumn festivals were combined with Samhain. One of them, called Feralia, was held in late October to honor the dead. The other was a harvest festival held on November 1st in honor of Pomona, goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the playing of games involving fruit, such as bobbing for apples (also done by the Celts in their marriage divinations), reveals the lingering traces of these Roman festivals.
The festival of the dead was gradually incorporated into Christian ritual. During the 800s, Pope Gregory III of the Roman Catholic Church established All Saints' Day as a feast in honor of all the saints (All Hallows) on November 1st. The night before came to be called All Hallows' Even, All Hallows' Eve, or All Hallow e'en, and the common people integrated the old pagan customs with the Christian holy day. The church later began to honor the souls of the dead, particularly those who had died the preceding year on November 2nd and called it All Souls' Day. St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, France, who died in 1048, is credited with having instituted this holiday by ordering its observance throughout Cluniac monasteries. By the end of the 13th century it had spread to all Christendom.
There were fire rites, divinations, funerary practices and masquerades, partly serious and partly frivolous in their later development as Halloween passed into the realm of folk observances. Regional Halloween customs developed among various groups of Celts. In Ireland, for example, people begged for food in a parade that honored the god, Muck Olla. The parade leader wore a white robe and mask made from the head of an animal. In Scotland, people paraded through fields and villages carrying torches and lit huge bonfires on hillsides to drive away witches and other evil spirits. In Wales, every person marked a stone and threw it into a bonfire--if a person's stone was missing the next morning, it was believed that he or she was not long for this world. In England, Halloween was sometimes called Nutcrack Night or Snap Apple Night. Families would sit by the fire, telling stories, and eating apples and nuts. On All Souls' Day, poor people went a-souling (begging)--they received soulcakes in exchange for promises to pray for the dead. The church encouraged the distribution of soulcakes as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. Eventually going a-souling was taken up by children who would visited the houses in their neighborhood and be given, ale, food, and money.
As the U.S. was settled by many people from Celtic regions, Halloween customs were brought early to America. But the strict religious beliefs of other settlers largely suppressed these customs, especially in New England, where the celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited. It was much more common in Maryland (many Roman Catholics there) and the southern colonies. Then in the 1800s, large numbers of Scottish and Irish immigrants (many fleeing the potato famine of 1846) made secular Halloween customs popular in the U.S. People began going house to house asking for food or money. Mischief making by boys and young men involved overturning sheds and outhouses and breaking windows; property damage was sometimes severe. In later years the occasion came to be observed mainly by small children demanding trick or treat--usually the treat was doled out and the trick rarely played. During the mid-1900s, trick-or-treating became less popular in large cities where neighbors often didn't know one another. Pranks became rowdy and destructive and traffic accidents increased. There was a move to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers. As a result, family parties and large community celebrations gained popularity. The parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything frightening or grotesque out of the celebrations. So Halloween in the U.S. lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the 20th century. Then in the 1950s, with the baby boom in full force, Halloween evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Today, many communities sponsor bonfires, costume parades, dances, skits, and other forms of entertainment to celebrate Halloween. Adults are again dressing up and having parties of their own. Today, Americans spend $2.5 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.
LOL !Trying out some new 'bump' gifs another Freeper gave me ...
Too MUCH coffee:
Not enough coffee:
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