pumpkins harvest vegetables autumn
Wilstar—Halloween is both a secular and religious holiday. It is celebrated on October 31. Although countries all over the world celebrate Halloween or a form of it. Churches may celebrate All Hallows Day or All Saints Day. The secular celebration is marked by dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating and carnival style events characterized by spooky elements such as ghosts.
The original source of Halloween is of pagan tradition, although many believe the Christian celebrations came first. These festivals often honored gods of fruits, such as the Roman Pomona. Others, like the festival of Parentalia, may have honored the deceased.
The Celtic festival of Samhain is of major influence, which marked the end of summer and the harvest. Bonfires were lit, often to provide light for those bringing in livestock from the fields or mountains to be slaughtered for winter. On this day, the Celts believe that the door to the underworld was opened, letting in spirits. They would hold a feast, setting a place for any deceased relatives, as they were believed to visit home on this day. Mean spirits entered the earthly realm as well. People would dress in costume in order to confuse these spirits. This evolved into the custom of visiting houses to collect food for the feast while in costume, a precursor to trick-or-treating.
There were several legends associated with Samhain due to the believed opening of the underworld: The body parts of those who had died since the last Halloween would become animated and possess the living. This is why many observers would extinguish fire inside of their house and purposely make it very cold so that spirits would not be drawn there.
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Hi Mike – I never really got into Halloween or pumpkins … I used to have pumpkins when I was in South Africa … take care – Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher recently posted…Interlude … Tamarisk, Old Man’s Beard … last of the summer …
The most we have for Halloween is decorations. Living out in the country, we don’t get kids dropping by for “trick or treat,” except for one little girl who is our son-in-law’s grand-niece — his older siblings were a LOT older than he so his niece is only a few years younger and her daughter is more like the age his kids would be, if Mel and he had kids.
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