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The Ancient Roots of Halloween
Halloween, as we know it, as well as many of the traditions associated with Halloween are a mixture of ancient religious practices that have been modified throughout the ages.
The Festival of Samhein
In order to explore the history of Halloween, we must go back in time about 3000 years to the archaic culture of the Celts. These were people who occupied the British Isles and France and could be found throughout other parts of Europe as well. This ancient people were like many other pre-Christian cultures practicing polytheism by worshipping the sun and moon as well as many other deities.
On the evening preceding the Celtic New Year, November 1, the Celts observed the festival of Samhein, pronounced (SAH-wen). This celebratory time was very important from a seasonal perspective. Samhein was the time by which all the crops had to be harvested and the domesticated animals were brought in for the winter. Obviously, many of the farm animals had to be slaughtered because there was not room to house all of them over the cold winter months. Because of this, Samhein became a great feasting time – a feast that honored Samhein, the Lord of the Dead. During Samhein, the spirits of the dead were believed to be able to wander the earth and visit their loved ones.
Although this was one of four major festivals of the Celtic year and it was a time of celebration, it also evolved into a time of trepidation for many. The ancient culture began to fear these spirits that were loosed on earth for a short time. They developed rituals such as lighting bonfires to scare the evil spirits away and the wearing of masks to blend in so the presumably hideous looking spirits would not bother the living population. Their ghostly white-robed priests, called Druids, would also be called upon to bless a sacred fire. Each household would carry a sacred ember home in order to ward off the presence of evil. Another eerie ritual performed on October 31 was the practice of human sacrifice. Criminals and other undesirables were put into large cages and burned alive at the hand of the Druid priests.
Roman and Christian Influence on Halloween
In the first century A.D., the Romans conquered Great Britain and subsequently began to impart Roman culture on existing Celtic culture. The Romans had their own version of fall feasting demonstrated by the feast of Feralia, which was the Roman day of the dead, as well as a feast dedicated to the goddess of fruit, Pomona.
During the third and fourth centuries Catholicism was introduced and Christians attempted to alter established pagan rituals. In an attempt to put a Christian slant on Halloween, religious leaders instituted All Saints’ Day or All Hallow’s Day. This fall celebration honored Christian saints as people attended extra masses. It also became a time to offer prayers for the deceased and visit their graves. Halloween got its name a few hundred years later when November 1 was declared a church wide holiday and the evening before was dubbed All Hallows’ Eve, hallow being an Old English word for “holy”.
Getting dressed in costumes, attending parties, bobbing for apples, and trick or treating are just some of the Halloween activities that many children and adults look forward to every fall. Few people are aware that they are shadowing ancient traditions as they celebrate Halloween. Our fall holiday full of spooky, scary fun is a rich conglomeration of ancient religious and cultural rites that have evolved into our modern day tradition known as Halloween.
Written by MelissaMurphy
Professional Life Coach, Freelance writer
Spirit Halloween Store NY 2008
New! Halloween Costume Suggestions that can Locate a Halloween Mask or Humorous Halloween Costume Very easily
Halloween costumes are what make Halloween a unique scary evening of horror and fun. Any child will wake up the up coming morning right after Halloween evening and the very first query that will be on their thoughts, where’s my Halloween candy? And what type of Halloween costume do I want to have following 12 months? The capability to wear a Halloween mask and transform oneself into one thing or an individual else is the exhilaration of dressing up on Halloween night time. Altering yourself into a scarecrow, monster, vampire, or some other new Halloween costume notion this is the most fascinating portion of Halloween night time that you can take pleasure in and the most outrageous sort of Halloween costume is greater.
The sporting of Halloween masks and costumes started out a lengthy time back. The Celts believed Halloween night introduced out the spirits of the dead that would roam totally free amid the living on the earth. Some spirits had been pleasurable and excellent and humorous and then on the darker aspect there would be some resentful and hostile ghosts that did not take pleasure in viewing the residing savoring the bounty of daily life in the land that as soon as belonged to them that have by now previous to the subsequent planet. The Celtics would put on masks and disguises to hide on their own from these dangerous spirits by painting the their faces with soot from which later on developed into the more distinguishable Halloween masks and costumes ideas of today’s Halloween costumes. Not prolonged after it also became custom that by imitating the spirits by dressing as skeletons or ghosts they would blend on their own in and not be viewed by the lousy spirits.
In this day and age there are hundreds of Halloween costumes to pick from there is a werewolf, vampire, Halloween witch, Halloween nurse or a mask and costume from the most current horror film that is enjoying. Bear in mind in the easiest sort of all you need to have is a hockey mask and a knife or a scream mask to deliver out the chills in anybody close to. Bear in mind how Michael Myers would make you wake up in the middle of the night time with a sweat from the Halloween motion picture. Based on who you want to be for Halloween may possibly almost certainly depend on two things to begin with what character is your favourite and that you would like to portray and determining how significantly are you eager to invest on your Halloween costume. If you analysis Halloween masks and costumes you will come across easy economical discount Halloween costumes, humorous Halloween costumes or some extremely hugely thorough costumes that you could shell out hundreds of dollars on. If you’d like to retain it in the spending budget recall you can effortlessly transform a normal discount Halloween costume with a tiny bit of Halloween makeup on your experience with maybe some Halloween get in touch with lenses to give that eerie appearance. If you’re a innovative man or woman you can quickly transform your self with supplies that are all-around your house which wouldn’t consider a whole lot of time and work and cost you a good deal significantly less dollars. All you would need is a very good Halloween costume notion some great effects can be induced with the every day products are all-around you and some imaginative application of some Halloween makeup.
Based on what you’re making an attempt to accomplishment Halloween makeup may possibly enable you to transform yourself into one more Halloween character much better than buying a Halloween mask. By working with makeup it can be less costly and a lot safer for kids when Halloween trick-or-treating and not impairing their vision with a Halloween mask, also with the range of Halloween makeup that is offered you can produce some wonderful Halloween influences. You can attempt Halloween makeup ideas with some theatrical grease paint kits that have fantastic shades that are very effortlessly applied and can be removed at the conclude of the night time problem totally free. By making use of normal daily makeup like eyeliner pencils, blush, lip liners, and eye shadows you can preserve the expense down on your Halloween costume. If you are like some men and women and the last minute to choose on your Halloween costume and nevertheless don’t know what you want to be for the Halloween night here is a wonderful tip, You can use some h2o-primarily based paint with some low cost makeup application resources and some resourceful Halloween makeup tips you will be in a position to paint your encounter that would be in a position to stand alone as a final-minute Halloween mask. You could paint your deal with green and goes the Incredible Hulk or it’s possible a Green goblin Halloween makeup concept that would do the job nicely even wearing your normal garments.
Makeup does not maintain the magical electrical power that a Halloween mask can. They have the capacity that will transform you into an additional spot and time regardless of whether you want to be a superhero or heroine. By beginning with a Halloween costume thought you can be anyone or something that you want for one night time of the yr. From the starting of time humans wore masks both to worship gods or spirits of the earth. With today’s know-how of the Web you can search and see the variety of Halloween masks and that are accessible for your Halloween suggestions from the Halloween witch and vampire to the capability to transfer your self into a Halloween ballerina. If you want to try out one thing incredibly distinctive right here is a trick for a Halloween masquerade mask that would be superb, get a every day plain mask a hot glue gun and gorgeous factors that you may well find in nature like leaves or ferns, flower petals or perhaps discovering some beads that you would be capable to set on it would make a fantastic mask.
One more regular item for this variety a mask would be making use of bird feathers and developing a beak that would develop a haunting bird mask. The Celtics would put on bird feathers at their annual samhaim festival and also by the Venetians in Venice Italy, make confident you do some study for your Halloween costume concept so that you can develop a Halloween costumes 2011 that will stand out from all of us else.
I was born in East Meadow, New York on March 20, 1954 and lived there until third grade. My dad worked on the 78th floor of the Empire State Building, and maybe that somehow inspired Wayside School, who knows?
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The History of Halloween ? or ? What is Samhain?
Samhain, pronounced sow-wen, is a Celtic word meaning “summer’s end.” It is also the Irish Gaelic word for the month of November. Samhain is the last of three harvest festivals in the Celtic year, and it is the Celtic New Year. The Celts only recognized two seasons: summer, and winter. So, with the last harvest, the summer ends, and the cold, dark, dangerous days of winter begin. Any food that was not brought in from the fields by the end of the day on October 31, Samhain, was left in the fields and not eaten. It was considered to belong to the fairy folk at that point, and would make anyone sick who tried to eat it.
The food in the storerooms by this time was all the food you were going to get between this first day of winter and the coming spring. It had to last through the cold, dark winter months. Starvation was always a possibility. Livestock was slaughtered at this time, both to preserve meat for the winter months, and to cull the herd. With fewer animals to feed, the ones that were left would have a better chance of survival until spring. This is one reason why death and the dead are associated with this day.
Facing the long, deadly winter, unsure of your food supply, with no central heating, you would have to brave the elements and the dangers of the forest to gather all the wood you would need to keep yourself warm. With the days getting shorter and shorter, you would start wondering if the sun was ever going to come back. The wild animals would get hungrier and more aggressive as the winter got harder for everyone. All made this day, marking the beginning of the winter season, one of fear and danger. But it was also a day of celebration, akin to the American Thanksgiving — thanking the gods for the blessings of a bountiful harvest.
To the Celts, “between” times and places were very important. At these points, the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, and communication between the fairy realm, the land of the dead, and the human world is much easier. “Between” places include doorways between one room and another, or between inside and outside; or the seashore, marking the meeting of earth and sea. “Between” times include dusk and dawn, marking the transitions from night to day, and day to night; and in more recent centuries, midnight, representing the transition between one calendar day and the next.
The transitions between seasons are even more important “between” times. The transition from winter to summer at Beltaine (May 1), and the transition from summer to winter at Samhain, were the two most important days of the Celtic year; but Samhain was the most important, because it also marked the transition from one year to the next. Ergo, it is at this time that the veil between the worlds is thinnest, and communication between the world of the living and the world of our deceased ancestors, the fairy folk, and other spirits is easiest. This is also a good night for divination for that reason.
At this harvest celebration, when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, one’s ancestors are therefore honored and venerated. Hospitality was very important to the ancient Celts. They would leave food out on their hearth, or out on their front step, as an offering to the spirits of their ancestors, whom they believed would visit them on this night. Offerings of food or milk were also left out for the fairies, and some Wiccans today invite fairy beings into their homes to share their hospitality with them for the winter. The Celts also extended this hospitality to wandering travelers and beggars, because Celts considered it very bad luck to withhold hospitality from anyone in need.
But the thinness of the veil between the worlds also allowed more dangerous spirits to wander into the human realm, so Samhain was also a time of fear and foreboding. These two ideas influenced our modern custom of “trick or treating” at Halloween (our modern name for Samhain). Today, wandering beggars in the form of children, dress up as horrible spirits that go from door to door begging for food, and threatening pranks if they are not appeased. That is a very recent tradition, however, invented in America.[1]
The carved pumpkins we call jack-o’-lanterns also have their root in ancient hospitality. The Celts did not have pumpkins in the Old World, as we have here in America; pumpkin is a New World fruit. So rather than carving pumpkins, the Celts used turnips and gourds. They hollowed out the inside, and put candles in them to create a lantern. Then they would set a light out each evening to let any wandering strangers know that hospitality was available at that particular home. However, to frighten away the evil spirits that might also be out wandering, these home owners would take the precaution to carve ugly faces into the lanterns, to scare anything nasty away.
Many ancient pagan holidays, including those of the Celts, were adapted by the Christian church in an attempt to convert pagans to Christianity. Many of the traditions of Yule, such as the decorated evergreen tree, became the traditions of Christmas. Many of the traditions of the spring equinox, such as decorating eggs, became customs of Easter. And many practices of Samhain became the traditions of Halloween.[2]
“Hallow” means “sacred.” For example, “hallowed ground” means a place that has been blessed and is appropriate for burial. The suffix “-een” is short for “evening,” the night before a holiday. Halloween, like our New Year’s Eve, is therefore the celebration before the actual holiday, in this case November 1, dubbed “All Saints Day” by the Catholic Church. Halloween is also known as “All Souls Day,” following the tradition that this is a time to celebrate the dead and commemorate them.
There are several misconceptions and outright lies that are spread by religious fundamentalists about Samhain every year, in an attempt to get Halloween banned. The first is that the holiday is of Druidic origin; the Druids were a priestly class of the Celts, but they were a very late manifestation of the Celtic religion. The Celts were practicing their religion for thousands of years before the priestly class of the Druids developed.
Another misconception is that the ancient Romans adopted Samhain and added their traditions to it; however, the traditions of Halloween, as we know them, have come down to us from Ireland. Ireland was never conquered by the Romans. Samhain was also celebrated by the Picts in Scotland, but the Picts were never conquered by the Romans, either. The only territory in the British Isles that the Romans successfully conquered was England.
Another error is that Samhain is pronounced Sam Hane and is the name of a Celtic god of the dead. The Celts had no god of the dead.[3] Samhain is also not pronounced that way, it is pronounced “Sow-ween,” due to the odd way Irish Gaelic ended up being spelled when written in English letters. There is a very minor character in Celtic mythology that has a name with a similar spelling, but he has nothing to do with death or with that particular holiday.
Some people also claim that at this holiday the souls of the dead were supposed to move into the bodies of animals if they had been “sinful,” and that human sacrifice was practiced. The Celts did not believe in sin, nor in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls. The Celts also did not practice human sacrifice, with the exception of the execution of criminals, which we still practice in America today.
Halloween in America is now a completely secular holiday. Though it still maintains some of its harvest festival roots, there is no longer any religious or spiritual significance to the practices of bobbing for apples, trick or treating, and dressing up in costume.
Samhain, however, is still observed by Wiccans and other Pagans for its spiritual significance in the Wheel of the Year, the cycle of holidays that mark transition points in the natural solar cycle.
[1] Because Samhain represented the transition between years, it could not belong to one year or the next. Since time did not technically exist during this period, other societal rules were suspended as well, creating the necessary atmosphere to allow people to vent frustrations, often by playing practical jokes on each other. This may be the precursor to the pranks practiced at Halloween today.
[2] A lot of the associations of Halloween, from black cats to dressing up in costumes, to witches, are more associated with Germanic tradition and Walpurgisnacht, which is associated with May Day, rather than the Celtic tradition or Samhain.
[3] A couple of sources list Gwynn ap Nudd as a British god of the dead, and Arawn as a Welsh god of the dead, but there is no Irish equivalent.
***
For Part II of this article, “A Subtle Samhain Celebration -or-What to Do If You Don’t Live Alone” visit www.careandfeedingofspirits.com. Part II provides instructions for how to take advantage of this season to contact deceased loved ones on the other side of the veil of death, as well as other subtle ways to mark the holiday. But hurry! It will only be available through October 31, 2008. After that it will go back into the vaults.
Have a blessed Samhain, and a happy Halloween!
BB,
Vivienne
Bibliography
Isaac Bonewitz, “The Real Origins of Halloween,” version 4.5, © 1997 and 2002, http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-origins-text.html, downloaded 9/19/03.
“Halloween Errors and Lies, or What Fundamentalist Christians Don’t Want You to Know,” version 4.4, © 1997, 2002; http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-lies.html, 9/19/03.
B.A. Robinson, “the Myth of Samhain, Celtic God of the Dead,” © 1998-2001 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, last updated 10/19/01,
Halloween costumes are the best way to represent the spirit of others while dressing up differently. These costumes bring out the kid in all of us as we want to present the more hidden part of our personalities. A person can dress up in any costume of his or her choice such as the harlot, the nun, the knight or the homicidal maniac. The most interesting part of wearing the Halloween costumes is that while you’re wearing it, you’re someone else.
Halloween Costumes: Time to Unmask Your Embarrassment
This festival of celebrating the spirits of the Celts gives a golden opportunity for all to enjoy the best time of their life. Especially for women, Halloween costumes offer a rare chance to flaunt what they have always dreamt of. A woman with great physique just cannot wear any short clothes due to considerable reasons, but dressing up as a Naughty Nurse Nancy on Halloween can add spice into the party. In addition to it, lots of costumes can be chosen to reflect the true identities of the personality of wearers. All you have to do is to choose the most comfortable and attractive one for your needs.
Halloween has a special meaning for males too. They can use Halloween costume to flaunt their attractiveness. Men can choose different attires to represent their style statement. Choose anything from cowboys dress to rugged construction workers so as to celebrate your time. However, these days, men use costumes to indulge a fantasy personality, such as a superhero, a knight, a secret agent or a pro athlete.
Costume Defines Style
Whatever the cloth a person chooses, he needs to carry it with grace and sophistication. Many people like to dress in the humorous ones. Apply the imagination to convert a plain looking dress into something flashy and really different.
Halloween Invitation and Halloween Invitations For Spooky Halloween Party
Designed Halloween invitations today all contain pictures and such of creepy crawlies, monsters and horror filled creatures. Halloween Invitations, http://www.invitations-shoppe.com/halloween-invitations/ benefit greatly from these imprinted images, but do we really know how the images got their start? In reality, were any of these scary images shown to portray real life creatures. If so, that would be ideal for party guests to learn from their host, how these Halloween party invitations got their strange beginning.
The Mummy & the Free Halloween Invitations Cards, http://www.cardsshoppe.com/holiday-invitations/halloween-invitations-cards.htm
Mummies are not as popular as they once were, but are still found as decorations on some unique Halloween invitations sometimes. They have their basing on Egypt and the Egyptian practices. In Egypt, mummification was once a very common practice and hence the fear was born. Some studies sparked the fear of being buried while still alive. The early 20′s, King Tut’s grave was located and inspired many fears of mummification. Directors and Hollywood producers used the ideal in their movies, therefore spreading the fear of mummies. Although a Halloween invite depicting a mummy may not be as scary, you can still find them printed on them many times and also as Halloween costumes.
Halloween Invitations, http://www.holiday-invitations.com/halloween-invitations/ & Ghosts
Ghosts are probably the most common spooky creature associate with printable Halloween invitations and the holiday itself. Originally, the holiday was celebrated by the Celts who viewed it as a time when the barriers between the worlds of the living and of the dead became easier to cross. The dead re-entered the living world either to torment or to visit with the living. But ghosts preceded the creation of free printable Halloween invitations by many centuries. One of the first recorded mentions of ghosts was in ancient China. After King Hsuan, who ruled until 783 BC, wrongfully had his minister executed, the ghost returned to get revenge and killed the leader with a bow and arrow. Today, millions of people around the world believe ghosts do exist in one form or another. Belief or non-belief, however, doesn’t change their popularity as great Halloween invitations ideas.
A Vampire for the Halloween Invitation
Vampires are one of the most popular of all the scary monsters that supposedly lurk in the night. Adding one to invitations for Halloween gatherings might just increase the attendance at the party, especially with the ladies. Like ghosts, vampires have been a popular legend for centuries. Even the earliest human civilizations in the world supposedly believed in the existence of creatures similar to those of the vampire. But most of the scary Halloween invitations feature the vampire of Eastern European origins whose stories date back to at least the early 18th century. But the vampire didn’t become the enticing gentleman popularized in Western culture until 1819′s “The Vampyre” and 1897′s Dracula. The latter was also influenced by the stories about Vlad the Impaler, a real Transylvanian ruler who did many unspeakable things to those he felt had wronged him.
Halloween Party Invitations for the Living Dead
Zombie images are not usually the right image to use for kids Halloween invitations because they are so scary. They are very popular with us though, due to George Romero. He made the early 60′s movie, Night of the Living Dead and hence zombies were popular. Studies have been actually conducted on them. Most Halloween inspired creatures are more fictional than zombies and are ideal also for Halloween invitation ideas. Zombies were a very real part of many acts of voodoo. The dead would rise and walk about on the earth at night. The studies show that zombies may have been real due to the fact of practices of powerful dual drugs that caused a person to behave as if dead. The person would rise up out of the grave, when the drugs effects had disappeared. They usually always suffered permanent damage.
Halloween Party Invitation for the Witch
Like ghosts, witches are very commonly associated with Halloween ideas, including costumes. Witches, like ghosts and vampires, have a long history with the human race, even pre-dating the ancient celebrations of this holiday. Witches are a complex subject because the term can refer to the people wrongly accused of the crime then tortured or killed during witch hunts like the ones in Salem and all over the world, to folk medicine practitioners who used herbal medicine to heal people as if by magic, to pagan nature worshippers, or to people who use magic and spells to control people, the environment, and the world. Although witches have been depicted in many ways throughout different cultures, the modern Western view likely to appear on free Halloween invitations was probably shaped by the appearance of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz film from 1939.
Sarah Porter has written several articles about Free Halloween Invitations, Printable Halloween Invitation Cards, Scary Halloween Party Invitations, Unique Halloween Party Invitation, Printable Halloween Invitations, Spooky Invitations Halloween, Photo Halloween Invites for Kids, Costume Invitations for Halloween and many more for http://www.cardsshoppe.com http://www.holiday-invitations.com and http://www.invitations-shoppe.com
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