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All Things Halloween!

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Everything Halloween!

Yay! It's my favorite time of the year! Autumn brings with it all things warm, cozy and spooky. Everything from apple cider, caramel apples, trick-or-treating and Halloween itself make up this lens. I have a great passion about Halloween, and have loved it since I was a child. Now I have a place where I can share my knowledge about Halloween with all of you!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy this lens! And, of course......

Happy Halloween!

Contents at a Glance

Countdown With Me!!!
The Origins of Halloween
Maybe one of these scary DVD's is your f...
A History of Trick-Or-Treating
Here's some cute Halloween costumes!

Countdown to Halloween

Halloween: October 31, 2009

The Origins of Halloween

The background of how Halloween came to be.

Halloween can be traced back to the Celtic culture and it's festival of the dead. The Celts divided the year by four major holidays. Their year began on what is our November 1st, and it marked the beginning of winter. The Celts, being pastoral people, used this time of the year to move cattle and sheep to closer pastures and to secure all livestock for the winter months. This time was also used to harvest and store crops.

There was a festival called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) that was observed at this time. It was their biggest and most significant holiday. During this time they believed the ghosts of the dead could mingle with the living because the dead from the previous year were traveling into the otherworld. They would sacrifice animals, along with harvest foods. They would light bonfires to honor the dead, aid them on their journey, and keep them away from the living. On this day, ghosts, fairies, and demons were all present with the living.

The Halloween we know came about when Christian missionaries tried to change the Celtic religious practices. In early A.D. the Celts practiced religion through the Druids who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all in one. The Christians, under the command of Pope Gregory the First, were told not to do away with the Celtics' customs and beliefs, but instead incorporate them. In this way, the church holy days were set to coincide with the Celtic holy days. Christmas was given the current date of December 25th because it coincided with the mid-winter celebration, and St. John's Day was given the summer solstice.

Samhain was labeled pagan because of the supernatural origins. The Christian's labeled the Celts supernatural deities evil and of the devil. Thus the Druids were considered to worship demonic gods and spirits. Their underworld became the Christian Hell.

These practices did not take away their beliefs in the traditional gods as a whole. The Celtic beliefs in the supernatural creatures stayed and the church defined them as malicious. The followers of the old religion went into hiding. These elusive people were then branded witches.

The substitute for Samhain became the Christian feast of All Saints and was given the date of November 1st. This was supposed to draw the Celtic devotion, and eventually replace it. However, what became of this was the traditional Celtic deities being diminished in status and becoming what are now known as fairies or leprechauns. The old associations with Samhain never really left. The symbolism of the traveling dead could not be replaced with a feast honoring saints. Once again the Christians tried in the 9th century to replace it with a Christian feast day called All Souls Day, on November 2nd. This would be a day where the living prayed for the souls of the dead. Yet still the old beliefs stayed on in new ways.

All Saints Day, or All Hallows, continued the ancient Celtic tradition. Supposedly the evening prior to the day was a time of the most intense human and supernatural activity. All Hallows Eve was continued to be celebrated as a time of the wandering dead, but now the supernatural entities were considered evil. People would offer gifts of food and drink to the spirits. It eventually became known as Hallow Evening, then Hallowe'en. Hallowe'en was an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year's Day that involved contemporary dress.

English people would make cakes for the wandering souls, and then people would go "a' soulin'" for the cakes. Halloween was known for the magic and the divination. Almost all of the Halloween traditions we know today can be attributed to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. The tradition of trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and going door to door demanding treats, can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era when it was believed that the souls of the dead were out and around, as were fairies, witches and demons. Offers of food and drink were left to please them. Over time, people started dressing as the creatures and would perform trickeries to get the treats. This was called mumming, and trick-or-treating came directly from it. Dressing as witches, ghosts, and skeletons are some of the age old favorites. The harvest holiday of Samhain can be seen in the modern day traditions of bobbing for apples and carving pumpkins, as well as drinking apple cider.

This was written from "The Fantasy and Folklore of Halloween," Jack Santino, About.com and the first photo is from the article.

Maybe one of these scary DVD's is your favorite?

There's no better time than Halloween to watch a good horror movie! Pick one of these and settle down with some popcorn, turn out the lights, and get scared!

All Things Halloween!

Everything Halloween!

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Countdown to Halloween

The Origins of Halloween

The background of how Halloween came to be.

Maybe one of these scary DVD's is your favorite?

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A History of Trick-Or-Treating

Here's some cute Halloween costumes!

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“Trick-Or-Treat!!!”

Ghost Tours!

Halloween is here!

Here's some Halloween Google blogs.

Are you up for a ghost video?

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True Paranormal Ghost Story 0 points

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Here are some ghost pictures

For all of you Nightmare Before Christmas fans!!!

Take my 'Do You Believe' poll!

Thanks for voting! Now invite your friends to vote.

How about some scary movies from Netflix?

Halloween items from Amazon

Tell me if you like my lens!

by ambtst

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