24.2 days to go until Halloween!

History and Customs of Halloween

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. Ites from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year woulde back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from amon source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.

Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.

nielske_aca, First, please only post up to five paragraphs of any cut and paste followed by the LINK. That's one of the posting guidelines and it has to do with copyright law.

Second, why does my signature and username appear in your posts?

Third, please go by the INTRODUCE YOURSELF forum, introduce yourself, and say hello. It's the polite thing to do.

Thanks...

6-15-07 Since you've done nothing about editing your post, I've done it for you. Your account has been temporarily deactivated as a warning. I will reactivate it when you have sent an email to catherine5336@yahoo.com saying that you will obey those same guidelines.

Outside of that, I remember watching about this on the History Channel.

It was more of a party event, back many decades ago.

Now, it's just an obligatory burden. I just hand out the candy. I don't like touring the neighborhood with the rest of the family.

And it gets me that teens come mooching.