Halloween History, Facts, Origins, Significance and Other Traditions
Halloween, the time of spookiness just arrived at our door. This festival tradition is said to have originated with an ancient Celtic festival in which people dress like ghosts and lit bonfires to keep off evil spirits. It is always celebrated on 31st October every year.
This festival got its name from Hallows Eve which means holy evening or all saints day. This day is celebrated in a variety of different ways all around the globe. Various people pray for the dead by visiting churches and lighting candles.
As per different historians, it is associated with Samhain which is another Celtic harvest festival. There are different beliefs associated with this day; many believe the dead come back to life and may destroy the crops.
Halloween and Its Diverse Religious Perspectives
This pagan festival invites many religious beliefs. As per American religious beliefs, the first colonial Halloween celebrations included large public parties to commemorate the upcoming harvest, tell ghost stories, sing and dance. But there are different religious viewpoints associated with Halloween celebrations in different countries.
In Europe, there are some different religious concepts, as they have the tradition of trick or treating originated from the Scottish and Irish tradition of “Guising”.
According to the customs, the kids are dressed in old clothes and imitate evil spirits on Halloween. They go from house to house and give offerings for warding off evil. There is another religious belief in Scotland and Ireland to crave rutabaga or turnip instead of Pumpkin. There is some other religious belief in Mexico for Halloween, as it is known by a different name “Dia de Los Muertos”. Mexicans decorate their ancestors’ graves on this day to remember and honour them.
History and Traditions of Halloween
The celebration of this fest features large public parties to celebrate the upcoming harvest, tell ghost stories and sing & dance. This three-day celebration ends with All Souls’ Day. One of this festival’s major attractions is the Jack-O’-Lanterns. The tradition of Jack-O’-Lanterns is brought by immigrants to America and still remains crucial to most Halloween celebrations.
The Halloween holiday is intended to remember and honour the dead. But over the years the Halloween celebration has evolved. At this time of the year, they sell frightening amounts of candy, and Jack-O’-Lanterns to decorate every yard. There are people who spend most of their time creating scary or silly costumes to debut on Halloween itself. Aside from wearing avant-garde costumes, people also enjoy watching horror movies and reading classic gothic novels together. These are some of the most common traditions mentioned below:
Wearing Spooky Costumes
This tradition is one of the best ones related to Halloween. During this festival, you can see people in full-on costumes. You are likely to see different kinds of crazy detailed costumes such as ghosts, zombies, cartoon characters, animals and so many others.
Halloween Costumes: Their Origins
The practice of dressing up on Halloween comes from Scotland in 1585. To get deal with the terror of evil spirits that are roaming the earth during Samhain, the cult disguised themselves to confuse spirits and would be left alone. This has led to today’s eye-popping collection of Halloween costumes, as well as the practice of dressing up in a different costume every Halloween.
Black and Orange Colours
The custom of wearing black and orange colours on Halloween dates back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. For them, black represented the “death” of summer while orange symbolized the “arrival” of the autumn harvest season.
The Tradition of Trick or Treating
There is various speculation associated with the origin of this tradition. One of the big speculations is its relation to the festival of Samhain. During this Celtic festival, the people keep food outside to please the wandering souls and ghosts. With time people began dressing as these supernatural beings to get similar offerings of food and drink.
Going to Haunted Houses
This tradition is quite creepy to comprehend. But what would you do when your neighbourhood is transformed into a maze of terror? These houses especially have scary themes but while passers-by being careful there would be someone hiding out that will jump out to scare you.
Making Jack-O’-Lanterns
A most historic Halloween tradition that you will find on almost every front porch. Making them is considered to be one of my favourite activities. To make the perfect Jack-O’-Lantern you have to first select the perfect pumpkin. Once you pick out the one the real work begins. When you finish carving a spooky face, complete with triangle eyes and a scary smile you are ready to glow on this Halloween.
We suggest you must browse through some interesting Halloween Gifting and Party Celebration ideas to make this Halloween 2022, a memorable one indeed!!
Creepy Stories Associated with Halloween
Halloween ensures a little extra creepiness with a plethora of interesting spooky stories. There are various scary spirit stories and terrifying tales of ghosts, monsters and creepy creatures. One of the most creepy stories in this collection is of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Take the spookiness to the next level and dare to take the creepiness up a notch by telling scary stories while sitting around a bonfire with friends and family. Some of the classic tales related to Halloween are as follows:
Monkey Paw
A classic horror tale associated with Halloween. This tale’s moral of the story is that one should never interfere with fate. And the whole story between the cursed monkey’s paw and the consequences of people wishing on the monkey’s paw. Read it and find where the wishes of people take them to the horrific turns of events.
Frankenstein
A classic Halloween horror tale which is the story of gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein. He succeeds in giving life to a being of his own creation.
The Tell-Tale Heart
A tale of a murderer who pursues the readers of his mental stability while telling the tale of the brutish act.
Halloween Gets Usually Associated with these Characters
Ever since the Halloween festival was commemorated, the witches and wizards that are part of the modern-day celebrations, happen to be an integral part of the original mythological stories too.
The Myth of Black Cats
Black cats are associated with bad fortune. Back in the middle ages, they were thought of as witches in disguise by people. There are various beliefs related to black cats, as they are pets of witches and live in dark places that make people scared.
Spiders
They are two completely different myths related to spiders surrounding Halloween – one pleasant and one scary.
Pleasant
Ancestors believe if you spot a spider on Halloween, it could be an ancestor spirit checking in to see how you’re doing. This is also considered a sign of good luck.
The Scary One
One superstition holds that if a spider gets consumed by a candle flame or otherwise, witches are nearby.
Bats
Bats get associated with Halloween for a variety of reasons –
- They are nocturnal creatures.
- They have a lot of creepy, vampiric connotations.
- Old folk beliefs also exist about them.
- One popular myth floating around is that if a bat is seen flying around anybody’s house three times, it symbolizes that someone in that house might soon pass away.
Roles of Witches in Halloween
As per the saying, walking backward with inside-out clothes on October 31st will allow you to see a witch on Halloween.
The origin of the modern Halloween witch is the pagan goddess named “the crone,” who is known as “the earth mother” and the “old one,” considered to be important in the harvesting season. With time, this ancient goddess merged with other pre-Christian ideas of witches as malevolent or bloodthirsty beings.
How Faries Become a Big Part of Halloween
The Celts believed that on Samhain Eve, fairies emerged from their hiding and walked amongst them. It is, however, advised to stay away from them on this day. Fairies have a tendency to cause nasty weather or kidnap you to fairyland especially when they get enraged or you spoil their mood to that extent. It is believed that, on Samhain Eve, you might encounter fairies dancing with ghosts, playing pranks, and stirring up mischief. There was no wonder that Celts feared the Pooka Fairy most. This enigmatic fairy is said to appear as a yellow-eyed black horse. There is a legend that this notorious fairy uses to scare people, trample their crops, take them on wild rides and spook their farm animals.
The Purpose of Celebrating Halloween
Do you know people all over the world are scared of Halloween?
Those who fear the festival of Halloween are known to be Samhainophobia. Halloween is celebrated in order to lift everyone’s spirits, so that they forget all about evil ghouls and ghosts. Another practice is lighting a fire to pray for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames go out and distributing soul cakes to the needy as a memorial.
Unlike the Day of the Dead, Halloween is a festival that involves partying with the dead rather than commemorating them. It is actually an appreciation of the afterlife and survival after death.
Happy Halloween 2022!!
