Hi everyone! Cassie and I have returned to our beloved site<3 I missed it very much! Hopefully, we'll be here to stay for a long long time. And as my first post since our return, I would like to post about the best day ever; HALLOWEEN! Everything about Halloween is amazing because of the costumes, candy, decorations and the history. When you learn about the history of Halloween, it makes it so much better and creepier. And we all love creepier!
As everyone knows, Halloween is celebrated on October 31st every year. The word Halloween is the shortening of All Hallows, also known as All Hallows Eve. Traditionally, most people go trick-or-treating, hold bonfires, do costume parties, visit "haunted houses" and carve jack-o-lanterns. These are all super fun! Interestingly enough, Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of these traditions to North America in the nineteenth century. Halloween's origins come from the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, which was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The festival of Samhain was held to celebrate the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31st, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc, like sickness or damaged crops.In the festival of Samhain, there would frequently be bonfires because it was believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which then attracted bats. They would wear masks and costumes in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.
There is so much that has evolved Halloween to what it is today and the tradition of trick-or-treating is another interesting story. Now, the activity is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and even in part of Europe and even the Middle East! What started this fun and crazy trend? Well, trick-or-treating goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. It resembles the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1st) and got food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2nd). Kind of sad isn't it?
One of the last things I'll address is the carving of pumpkins! I love carving pumpkins, it's so fun and the origin behind it, is awesome. The tradition of carving pumpkins for Halloween decoration originated from the ancient Irish story of “Stingy Jack”, who tricked the devil into promising that he would not take Jack’s soul to hell when he died. Well, jokes on Jack because when he died, Jack wasn't able to enter heaven due to his cruelty and selfishness he led in his life and he couldn't go to hell because of his deal with the devil. Cursed to forever walk in the darkness between heaven and hell, Jack took an ember from hell that the devil gave him and placed it inside a hollowed-out turnip to use as a lamp. And then there was the “Jack-o-Lantern”. I guess over the years, people realized that carving pumpkins was much easier, haha.
So there you have it! I know it was pretty long winded, but wasn't it interesting? I hope it was, I really tried to make it that way! Now, as your putting on your costume and getting your pillow case ready to consume candy, you can thank your Celtic ancestors for creating a day that allows you to eat as much free candy as you possibly want. Anybody else excited for those little baby Kit-Kats? Those are the best~
Happy Halloween, cuties!
- Emalie <3
