Halloween has much evolved over the past 2,000 years. Some All Hallow’s Eve rituals have been sewn throughout the years and have managed to survive over many centuries. A pre-Christian Celtic festival held at the end of summer, Samhain, which means “summers end” in the Gaelic language. Samhain was an annual festival to celebrate the end of the harvest season. A time to gather food for the winter and heard the animals back from the pastures.
Trick or treating can quite possibly be traced back to the act of medieval custom of “souling” performed in Ireland and Britain. Poor people would go door to door on Hallowmas, November 1st, asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead. We weren’t kidding when we said that Halloween rituals had evolved. We wouldn’t exactly call requesting snickers and twix by saying “trick or treat” from door to door.
Tricks can also be traced by many years, however, the art of playing “tricks” on people did not actually make its’ way to the United States until the 1800’s. Back in the “old days” some pranks included leaving farmer’s gates open, tipping over outhouses, and yes, even egging houses. So as you can see, some traditions are still holding strong this many years later.
Of course, marketing has put a brand on Halloween, making it somewhat the one acceptable day of the year to embrace the spooky side. It would most likely frowned upon to have tombstones replicas in your front yard year around. There is no factual evidence of the much publicized haunted houses and other frightening scenarios like you see in the movies having any ties to the actual origin of Halloween.
In fact, most evidence regarding the true nature of Halloween points the arrow away from any type of worship to an evil being. Much of the public have speculated over the years that Halloween was something entirely apart from its’ true heritage.
However, Halloween still serves as a time where the kiddos can play dress up and families can spend time together walking amongst the neighborhood. And a huge bag of goodies doesn’t hurt either. Part of the fun in holidays is participating in them. So from Blindsmax to you and yours, have a Happy and Safe Halloween!
The post Happy Halloween: Circa 2,000 years ago appeared first on Blindsmax.com and was written by Jennifer White.