Halloween
Halloween is my favorite holiday. There’s candy, scary decorations, parties, costumes, make-up, and fun. You can’t beat dressing-up with your family and going door to door for candy! How much better could one night be? Keep reading to find out about this creepy ancient holiday!
Halloween all started in an ancient European colony, with the Celtic people lighting bon fires to celebrate a new year and their harvest festival, or Lemoria/Samhaim, on October, 31. Harvest to them, was a life or death situation, for if their crops failed people starved. They separated their year by light and dark and, on October, 31, they believed that that time and space were permeable; that spirits from the dead, the past, the present, and of other dimensions could wander into or out of our world.
The original date for what we now call Halloween was May, 13 and it was called Lemoria. But the Christian church corrupted Lemoria and changed it to All Saints’ Day. Then, they moved All Saints’ Day or All Hallows Day to November, 1 to drain the life out of Samhain (similar to Lemoria) because it fell on October, 31. So people started calling Samhaim, All Hallows Evening. Then, it shortened to: All Hallows Even., to: Hallows Eve., to: Halloween. The Christian church also invented trick or treating too. Kids and beggars used to go souling (going door to door) for soul cakes (small spiced cakes with raisins on top). For each cake they got they would send a prayer up for requested souls trapped in purgatory (a place between heaven and hell).
Some of the creepy things that were believed to wander into our world are: ghosts (spirit of a dead person), ghouls (evil spirit that feeds on bodies in graves), goblins (evil being that plays cruel tricks on the living), witches (woman with evil magic powers and focuses evil powers mostly on children), warlocks (man with evil magic powers and focuses evil powers mostly on children), vampires (evil person who feeds on blood of living creatures), werewolves (person who transforms into wolf like creature at full moon), zombies (dead people who feed on flesh of living creatures), etc. People celebrate by: trick or treating, costume parties, bobbing for apples (a Halloween game), and carving scary faces into pumpkins then putting candles inside (to make jack-o-lanterns) to ward away evil spirits. These have been our Halloween traditions for years.
Halloween is wonderful! And maybe it could get better, invite friends and family over for a fun filled day! Some costumes may be absolutely terrifying, but its all for fun. There are creepy creatures and terrifying games, tons of blood, and petrifying past. And it always starts with the past and is passed to the new, then, its never forgotten.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. There’s candy, scary decorations, parties, costumes, make-up, and fun. You can’t beat dressing-up with your family and going door to door for candy! How much better could one night be? Keep reading to find out about this creepy ancient holiday!
Halloween all started in an ancient European colony, with the Celtic people lighting bon fires to celebrate a new year and their harvest festival, or Lemoria/Samhaim, on October, 31. Harvest to them, was a life or death situation, for if their crops failed people starved. They separated their year by light and dark and, on October, 31, they believed that that time and space were permeable; that spirits from the dead, the past, the present, and of other dimensions could wander into or out of our world.
The original date for what we now call Halloween was May, 13 and it was called Lemoria. But the Christian church corrupted Lemoria and changed it to All Saints’ Day. Then, they moved All Saints’ Day or All Hallows Day to November, 1 to drain the life out of Samhain (similar to Lemoria) because it fell on October, 31. So people started calling Samhaim, All Hallows Evening. Then, it shortened to: All Hallows Even., to: Hallows Eve., to: Halloween. The Christian church also invented trick or treating too. Kids and beggars used to go souling (going door to door) for soul cakes (small spiced cakes with raisins on top). For each cake they got they would send a prayer up for requested souls trapped in purgatory (a place between heaven and hell).
Some of the creepy things that were believed to wander into our world are: ghosts (spirit of a dead person), ghouls (evil spirit that feeds on bodies in graves), goblins (evil being that plays cruel tricks on the living), witches (woman with evil magic powers and focuses evil powers mostly on children), warlocks (man with evil magic powers and focuses evil powers mostly on children), vampires (evil person who feeds on blood of living creatures), werewolves (person who transforms into wolf like creature at full moon), zombies (dead people who feed on flesh of living creatures), etc. People celebrate by: trick or treating, costume parties, bobbing for apples (a Halloween game), and carving scary faces into pumpkins then putting candles inside (to make jack-o-lanterns) to ward away evil spirits. These have been our Halloween traditions for years.
Halloween is wonderful! And maybe it could get better, invite friends and family over for a fun filled day! Some costumes may be absolutely terrifying, but its all for fun. There are creepy creatures and terrifying games, tons of blood, and petrifying past. And it always starts with the past and is passed to the new, then, its never forgotten.