Home | Family | Holidays
Halloween stems from the ancient history of the area that is now known to be Ireland, the UK and the northern part of France. Nearly 2000 years back, the Samhain Celtic festival was held to celebrate the coming of the New Year, which was for them declared to be November 1st. This celebration stood to represent the end of harvesting and the start of the dark and cold winters. Also during this historically hard time, it was known that those without proper preparation or others suffering from illness may not last through the harsh conditions of the winter and so the association of death accompanied the meaning of the festivities.Likewise, it was thought that on the evening of October 31st, ghosts would prophesize to the Celt’s priests known as Druids, and give insight to the next year’s events regarding crops and weather. This vital information was of utmost importance to the survival of the Samhain as they depended on the land and weather for survival. Building sacrificial bond fires, the people of this time often wore animal skins and heads as costumes to tell the future of others and so is derived the essence behind our Halloween customs.The idea of sacrificing animals for fortune-telling prophesy from ghosts is a highly non-Christian practice. Around the time of the 800’s Pope Boniface IV declared November 1st to be All Saint’s Day, a day of honoring Saints. It is believed that his intent was to replace the Celt’s Festival with a more Christian-friendly practice without removing a long tradition of the Samhain culture. Later, November 2nd would also be declared a holiday to celebrate the lives of those that had passed, named All Soul’s Day. The name of Halloween comes from the combination of these new Christian holidays as the term alholowmesse means All Saint’s Day and collectively Hallowmas was meant to refer to the eve of All Saint’s Day, All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Mrs. Party Gail Leino takes a common sense approach to planning and organizing events, celebrations and holiday parties with unique ideas for birthday party supplies and fun free educational party games. She explains proper etiquette and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Hut has lots of party ideas with hundreds of free coloring sheets, printable games, and free birthday party activities. Halloween Party Games, party planning tips, decorations, costume ideas, recipes, printable activities and free coloring pages.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
