History of Halloween
On the night of October 31, Halloween is a holiday celebrated in much of the Western world. Children are out trick-or-treating and the holiday
is associated with pumpkins, jack o'lanterns, witches, black cats,
Halloween costumes, and of course Halloween Parties!
Early history of Halloween are found in the Druid harvest holiday which took place each year on October 31. Following harvesting of the crops,
Druids in Britain would light fires and celebrate. They would dance around the fires, celebrating the passing of the season of the sun. The
following morning, 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 were believed to keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits. A 3 day festival called Samhain (pronounced "sow-en") followed.
Some trace the origins of present day "trick-or-treat" to Samhain. It was believed that spirits of their loved ones would rise out of their graves and
wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Villagers would try to appease these wandering spirits with
gifts of fruit and nuts.
However, they also believed that if the spirits of their loved ones could return that night, so could anything else, human or not. Hence they tried to
protect themselves from these unwelcome spirits by masquerading as one of them and hopefully blend in unnoticed among them.
Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits who might be roaming around.
This is the origin of Halloween masquerading which eventually evolved to Halloween costumes, Halloween parties and trick or treating of today.
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