Halloween Written by: Margaret Ikladious

Margaret Ikladious

 Halloween

Written by Margaret Ikladious

All Hallows' Eve

It is an ancient English word called Holy Night or "All Saints' Eve," meaning the night before All Saints' Day in the Western calendar.

The origin of the word "Hallow," which means "holy night" or "holiness," where this term appeared at the first time in Scotland in the year 1556 AD, meaning "the night of all Hallows," meaning.

Day of all Saints"

Which falls on the thirty-first of October is a holiday to celebrate autumn. Halloween coincides with Halloween on the same day, so it is considered a day of global celebration.

Halloween has its roots in Ireland and extends to the Celtic Festival (or Gaelic Samhain Festival).

And it happens that the date of Halloween comes with the celebration of Christians' Day of All Saints' Day.

 The ancient Druids (pious priests in ancient Gaul, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France) adopted a lunar calendar, so the feast of their god Samhain was not fixed, but after the adoption of the Julian Roman calendar, their dinner became fixed on the night of the first of November (November), that is, on the night of All Saints' Day Catholic.

They held a great feast to celebrate autumn, which begins at midnight on the thirty-first of October and extends through the first day of November.

And where they were celebrating (Pomona), the Roman goddess of fruits and crops (symbolized by the apple) at the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of winter...

And where they called it the dark season, they considered that this darkness arises due to the proximity of the distance between the current world and the other world. Therefore there will be an excellent opportunity to transfer the spirits of fairies to this world to help people withstand the winter season..!!!!

 It was a ritual of the autumn celebration of the Druid priests to set fire and provide food and drink to facilitate the transfer of these spirits, and people wore strange costumes and covered their faces with ashes to represent the dead.

And they believed that the great god of death called (Saman) calls on this night all the evil spirits that died during the year and whose punishment was to resume life in the bodies of animals.

 Of course, the mere idea of ​​this gathering was enough to frighten the native people of that time, so they lit a huge flame to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic gods...

They kept a close watch on these evil spirits that stripped trees of leaves and damaged crops and made predictions.

 That is why the use of pumpkins or pumpkins to carve faces on it and add wax to it from the inside with scattered tree leaves as an example of this ancient ritual and to increase the excitement of the celebrations.

That is why it is clear that on that night, only the followers of that religion were roaming the streets and knocking on the doors of the houses, demanding financial return. At the same time, the Christian believers remained in their homes in preparation for celebrating the day of the saints in a manner characterized by righteousness and holiness.

This means that whoever participates in these satanic practices, whether knowingly or ignorantly, is similar to those pagans who mock Christianity and its followers. There are still people in specific isolated areas of Europe who believe that this is true until now..!!!

While other academic scholars assert that Halloween originated independently and has Christian roots.

This tradition began to spread in European countries in the twelfth century AD, where church bells are ringed, and they go out to the street in black clothes and distribute cakes to celebrate the souls of Christians for the safety of their souls.

 This tradition and celebration extended to the United States of America at the end of the eighteenth century AD.

But in Europe, people viewed this occasion as an opportunity to joke, tease, tell ghost stories and frighten each other. It became an occasion devoted to myths, legends, and spirits rather than being dedicated to autumn celebrations.

 In the 19th century, the American lands were flooded with new immigrants from the continent of Aruba. These new immigrants, significantly millions of Irish who escaped from the potato starvation in Ireland in 1846, helped promote the celebration of Halloween nationwide. The Americans took it from the Irish and English traditions...

 Then they started getting dressed and going to their house to ask for food, sweets or money, a practice that eventually became a "trick" tradition..!!!

Young women believed that they could help the goddess name their future husbands during Halloween celebrations by doing tricks with spinning and eating apples or holding mirrors and fortune-tellers. .!!

By the fifties of the last century, the country's leaders had succeeded in limiting sabotage in celebrations..!!

 Halloween developed in the fifties into a holiday directed mainly to the youth category and to educate them. The church encouraged the distribution of cakes and sweets to replace the old practice of leaving food and wine to evil spirits..!!

  It is currently considered one of the celebrations filled with mystery, magic, superstition, and a global celebration that official departments in some Western countries close their doors to celebrate..!!

Halloween activities include trick-or-treaters, dress-up exotics, masks, telling stories about ghosts and witches tours at night, televisions and cinemas showing some horror films about the world of the dead, and decorating streets and homes in the United States with pumpkins and jellyfish.

All the manifestations of black magic, witches, and spider webs are celebrated by all sects, religions, and cultures.

The strange clothes that everyone wears on this holiday are so that evil spirits do not recognize them, as the legend says that on the night of Eid, all souls from the underworld return to the earth and remain there until dawn. Weather prevails in the holiday called or "trick or treat."

 Young kids go from house to house collecting sweets in bags or baskets they carry and asking for sweets by asking the question, "Trick or treat?

Halloween was also associated with some strange old customs, where it was held to steal gates, pieces of furniture, signs, and so on to make people believe that evil spirits stole them.

  One of the popular traditions of this holiday is the prohibition of eating meat in any form, as it is sufficient to eat pancakes stuffed with potatoes and eat apples.

At present, this holiday is celebrated in America because the celebration is a secular celebration only to spread joy and pleasure and does not have a vision or background related to religion...

That is why toy factories, tricks, sweets, and shops are active. The Halloween event achieves commercial activity and an increase in production. This tradition is especially famous in the United States of America more than in Europe itself.

For correspondence: margaretikladious@yahoo.com