Halloween is upon us again. As I write this there
are fireworks going off all over the place. One of the ladies on the tour we were on said
something about how awful it was that this ‘American’ tradition has taken root
here in the UK. She was surprised when I said that actually it is a religious
celebration. OK, I do agree with her that is has become very American and
therefore commercial. The shops are full of Halloween paraphernalia, masks and
pumpkins to be carved, ghosts and goblins outfits. Special candies and cakes
decorated with ghoulish themes.
Talk about commercialism. In the supermarket this
afternoon The Man overheard a chap, who was obviously shop management, say to
one of his underlings. ‘We did well with that product; we bought them for fifty-five
pence. The Price the items were being sold for was £5. How’s that for
profiteering
Halloween
has its origins in the pagan Celtic festival of the dead called Samhain
(pronounced ‘sow-in’) which took place on the 1st November and
marked the end of the “season of the sun” (Summer) and the beginning of “the
season of darkness and cold” (Winter).
The Celts
believed that that evil spirits came with the long hours of winter darkness and
so 31st October became known as the night when witches, ghosts and
fairies became active and crossed over from the spirit world to roam the earth.
The
church took this ancient pagan festival over for itself somewhere around the 16th
century Halloween is a shortened form of All Hallows Eve, which is the night
before All Hallows Day (also known as All Saints Day) which also takes place on
1st November. All Hallows Day is a traditional Christian feast day
to remember and honour saints throughout history and worshippers would prepare
themselves on Halloween with prayers and fasting before the celebrations began
the following day.
Now we
celebrate Halloween with jack-o-lanterns, apple bobbing, trick or treat,
Halloween costumes and bonfire parties.
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