Halloween,
the time of pumpkins, candies, ghosts, witches and much more, is annually
celebrated on 31 October.
That's the night before All Saints Day. Its origins date back thousands of
years to the Celtic festival of Samhaim or The Feast of the Sun, a most
significant holiday of the Celtic year. This day marked the end of summer but
also the season of darkness as well as the beginning of the New Year on 1
November.
Druids
in Britain and Ireland would light bonfires, dance around them and offer
sacrifices of animal and crops. The fires were also intended to give warmth to
the households and to keep free from evil spirits. Through the ages these
practices changed.
The
Irish hollowed out turnips, placed a light inside to keep away the bad and
stingy Jack. As the legend says, Jack was a man who tricked the devil and after
Jack had died he was allowed neither in heaven nor in hell. With a lantern in
his hand he began to search for a resting place on Earth. This was the original
Jack-o-Lantern. Since Halloween came to America from Ireland (Scotland and
Wales) people used pumpkins because they were bigger and easier to hollow out
than turnips.
During
the centuries the cultures have added their own elements to the way Halloween
is celebrated.
Children
love the custom of dressing-up in fancy costumes and going from door-to-door
yelling "Trick-or-Treat". Adults instead join spooky parties which
are nearly held all over the cities and villages on that special evening. A
spooky decoration, games and "frightening food" are nuts and bolts
for a Halloween party your friends won't soon forget.
Ulrike
Schroedter wrote the text.
