Breve resumo

Celebration of the day of the deceased

Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is a holiday celebrated on October 31. It has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration, but some Christians and Pagans have expressed strong feelings about its religious overtones. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland's Great Famine of 1846.The day is often associated with the colours orange and black, and it is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies.

Halloween was started by the Celts, who celebrated their New Year on November 1st. A festival was held the evening before, October 31st, in honour of their Celtic lord of death, Samhaim. This marked the beginning of a season of cold, darkness and decay. Later it became associated with human death. The Celts believed their "lord of death" would allow dead souls to return to their earthly homes on this day.

Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. They commemorated Jack, a shifty Irish villain so wicked that neither God nor the Devil wanted him. Rejected by both the sacred and profane, he wandered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest. His only warmth was a glittering candle in a rotten turnip.

Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. For instance, Puicíní is a traditional Irish and Scottish form of divining one's future spouse. It consists of carving an apple in one long strip, then tossing the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.

Some typical things of Halloween are :

-The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties.

-The custom of trick or treating probably has several origins. During Samhain, the Druids believed that the dead would play tricks on mankind and cause panic and destruction.An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, breadcake, cheese, eggs, butter, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St. Columb Kill.

-A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home.

-The witch is a central symbol of Halloween. The name comes from the Saxon wica, meaning wise one.

-Orange and black are Halloween colours because orange is associated with the autumn harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.