Halloween by The Thomas Ranch
Pumpkins, Candy, Scary Sounds, Skeletons, Ghosts, Goblins, Good Guys and Bad Guys, Princesses, Movie Stars, Apple Cider, Donuts, Cinnamon, Black and Orange are all thoughts of one of the ‘Greatest Holidays on the Face of the Earth’. “One more house, just one more.” How many times have we said that, or heard it? Where did Halloween come from?
Halloween or Samhain had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.
Samhain is the word for November in the Gaelic languages. The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic Culture, and is generally regarded as 'The Celtic New Year’. The same word was used for a month in the ancient Celtic Calender, in particular the first three nights of this month, with the festival marking the end of the summer season and the end of harvest. A modernized version of this festival continues today in some of the traditions of the Catholic All Souls Day the secular Halloween, and in folk practices of Samhain itself in the Celtic Nations.
Popular and scholarly literature over the last century has given birth to the near-universal assumption that Samhain was the 'Celtic New Year'. Some historians have begun to question this belief. In his study of the folk calendar of the British Isles, Stations of the Sun, Although it may be correct to refer to Samhain as 'Summer's End', this point of descent into the year's darkness may need better proof for us to cite this 'end' as also being a definitive 'beginning'. Whether or not the ancient Celts saw Samhain as the beginning of the year, or just one turning point among others in the cycle of the seasons, Samhain is still largely regarded as the Celtic New Year in the living Celtic cultures, both in the Six Celtic Nations and the diaspora. For instance, the contemporary calendars produced by the Celtic Leage begin and end at Samhain.
Today we intermingal Halloween and Samhain as American we usually call it Halloween or Hallowe’en. We send our kids out to ‘Trick or Treat’ for candy and all sorts of goodies. Now-a-days we are so scared, and duliey noted, that we try to create parties or have home celebrations. I believe this is the reason why a lot of people are looking backwards to the beginning of All Hallows Eve. Instead of the Commercialized American version we have today. Bobbing for Apples and Bondfires are great Halloween party favors. In the past people gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread. Today no sane person would sacrifice an animal for this but sharing the stories of ghosts and fairies is wildly accepted.
Be careful on All Hallows eve for ghosts and goblins, you never know when one can sneak up on you.
Halloween
