The
STORY of HALLOWEEN
Halloween
is one of the oldest holidays with
origins
going back thousands of years.
The
holiday we know as Halloween has
had
many influences
from
many cultures
over
the centuries.
From
the Romans Pomona
Day, to the Celtic festival of
Samhain,
to the Christian holidays
of
All Saints and All Souls Days.
Hundreds
of years ago in what is now Great
Britain
and Northern France, lived the Celts.
The
Celts worshipped nature and had many gods,
with
the sun god as their favorite.
It
was "he" who commanded their work and their rest times,
and
who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.
The
Celts celebrated their New Year on
November
1st. It was celebrated every year
with
a festival and marked the end of the "season
of the sun"
and
the beginning
of
"the season of darkness and cold.
The
Celts believed, that during the winter,
the
sun god was taken prisoner by Samhain,
the
Lord of the Dead and Prince of Darkness.
On
the eve before their new year (October 31),
it
was believed that Samhain called together
all
the dead people.
The
dead would take different forms,
with
the bad spirits taking the form of animals.
The
most evil taking the form of cats.
On
October 31st after the crops were all
harvested
and stored for the long winter
the
cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished.
The
Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in
the
hilltop in the dark oak forest
(oak
trees were considered sacred).
The
Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals.
As
they danced around the the fires,
the
season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.
When
the morning arrived the Druids would
give
an ember from their fires to each family
who
would then take them home to start new cooking fires.
These
fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.
The
November 1st festival was named after
Samhain
and honored both the sun god and Samhain.
The
festival would last for 3 days.
Many
people would parade in costumes
made
from the skins and heads of their animals.
This
festival would become the first Halloween.
During
the first century the Romans invaded Britain.
They
brought with them many of their festivals and customs.
One
of these was the festival know as Pomona Day,
named
for
their goddess of fruits and gardens.
It
was also celebrated around the 1st of November.
After
hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs
of
the Celtic's Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day
mixed
becoming 1 major fall holiday.
The
next influence came with the spread of the
new
Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain.
In
the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church
would
make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints.
This
day was called All Saint's Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows.
Years
later the Church would make November 2nd a holy day.
It
was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead.
It
was celebrated with big bonfires, parades,
and
people dressing up as saints, angels and devils.
But
the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early
customs.
On
the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued
to
celebrate the festival ofSamhain and Pomona Day.
Over
the years the customs from all these holidays mixed.
October
31st became known as All Hallow Even,
eventually
All Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en, and then - Halloween.
The
Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences,
Pomona
Day's apples, nuts, and harvest,
the
Festival of Samhain's black cats, magic,
evil
spirits and death, and the ghosts,
skeletons
and skulls from All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.
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