Happy Halloween! :)
Just a glimpse of how Halloween first began -
Halloween was first established by the Celts, people from Ireland and Britain. They decided to have a festival on October 31st, but it was entirely different from the Halloween we know today.
Celts
The Celts and their priests, the Druids, celebrated Samhain, a festival that marked the eve of the Celtic New Year, which began November 1st. They thought that during Samhain the wall separating the dead from the living was at it's thinnest, and that the evening of October 31st, evil spirits and souls of the dead would come through that "wall" where they would visit their used-to-be homes. They believed the souls and spirits would hurt the living, kill crops, steal babies, and kill live stock.
They believed that on this night, they would be able to communicate to the spirits. The Devil would usually be feared, but on this night, he seemed to be welcomed.
Druids
Druids were charged with appeasing the goblins and preventing harm to people. Huge Samhain bonfires were set to guide the spirits. Sacrifices - sometimes even human - were performed to assure a good year.
It's believed that, like many pagan cultures around the world, the Celts left food out for the spirits, hoping that a "treat" would prevent an evil "trick".
Hundreds of years later, the descendants of the Celts continued to observe the Samhain festival and would dress up as evil spirits going from house to house demanding food in exchange for the spirits leaving the house and the people there unharmed. Some carved demon faces in hollow turnips and lit them with candles.
When Christianity began to spread through Europe in the third and fourth centuries, the pagan temples were torn down, but the pagan worship never completely disappeared, and the Samhain festival continued to be celebrated.
Belief in spirits may have gone down, but the festival was still being celebrated - especially by children. Mostly in Ireland, children dressed as spirits going from house to house demanding a treat if they didn't get a treat they would perform a trick. Which is how the name "trick-or-treat" began.
In the 700s Churches decided to combat this festival by replacing it with a celebration of the Lord of Life - Jesus. Instead of honoring evil spirits, the church chose to honor the saints - or hallowed ones - who had lived godly lives. So November 1st, the day after Halloween, was All Saints Day. But, the pagan festival still continued.
Today, Halloween is much different. We've modernized it to pretty much a night for children to get some candy and have fun, but, still, in some areas, witchcraft and sorcery are still practiced. But, to children, it's simply just a fun night.
To some Christians, they may think it's bad to celebrate Halloween, and to some extent, I agree. We can still do some things, but we just have to remember how it started. :)
I hope you guys have a great night! :)
And if anybody reading this is going trick-or-treating tonight, please remember to be careful! :)
Katie ♥
P.S. If you guys want to know more about Halloween or how it first began please let me know because I have a lot more information about it. :)
