HALLOWEEN WHAT IS IT?
Halloween. What is the real reason for a holiday of death and doom? It all started with the Celts culture. They occupied Greta Britain, Ireland, and northern France. The Celts New Year started on Nov.1. This day marked the end of summer and harvest. They believed that on the eve of the New Year that spirits came back to earth to damage there crops and torment the people of the villages with sickness and disease. They would also slaughter the livestock for winter storage. The Celts would start a bonfire in the village to scare away the spirits. They would throw the bones of the slaughtered animals into the fire. They would wear mask and costumes to scare the evil spirits as they danced around the fire. Around the 800’s Christianity had taken over much of the Celts territory. Nov. 1 was then renamed to “ALL SAINTS DAY” which also means “ALL HALLOW”S Day” That made Oct.31 “ALL HALLOW’S EVE”. Then through out the centuries it became known as what is called today “HALLOWEEN”. Some of the superstitions of Halloween are that if you are eating a meal on this day to be silent so the spirits will know they are invited. Another one is if you light a candle in a room on this evening and it goes out then there is a spirit present. There are to many different ones to list. The jack-o-lantern has been a symbol of Halloween for years. It came from the legend of Stingy Jack a greedy, gambling, hard drinking farmer. He was said to play a trick on the Devil one evening. He told the Devil to climb up a tree to get a fruit and when he did Jack carved a cross into the tree so he could not get down. When Jack died God would not take him for messing with the Devil and the Devil would not let him into hell so he sent him wondering the earth at night with a candle in a turnip. Back then people carried candles in turnips. Today since turnips are so small we use pumpkins. This is where the jack-o-lantern got its name. This is just some of the history on Halloween. So everybody be safe this Halloween and wacth out for Jack!!!!
Kenny Barringer
Ref:
Wikipedia.com
Paranormal.lovetoknow.com
In : Ghost Talk
