Tis' The Night for Ghosts and Ghouls!
Ghosties and Ghoulies and long legeddy beasties, and things that go bump in the night…
We all know today is Halloween; a day full of spooky stories, trick or treating and scary pumpkins, but do you know how Halloween became the celebration it is today?
According to Wikipedia, the word “Halloween” first began to be used in the 16th century and comes from the Scottish term “All-Hallows- Even (evening); which is the night before All Hallows Day.
Halloween as we know it comes from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which means “summers end”. It was a way for people to take stock of the past year, and prepare for the cold, winter months ahead. Halloween is also thought to have been heavily influenced by the Christian holy day of All Saints Day (also known as Hallowmas, All Hallows and Hallowtide) and All Soul’s Day which was a time for honouring saints and praying for those who had died but were yet to reach heaven.
In Britain, these rituals came under attack from some religious people in the 17th century, and Halloween quickly became less popular and was overshadowed by Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night as we call it) but some people, like the Irish and Scottish still celebrated it.
The symbols of Halloween, like carving pumpkins, came from an old tradition of carving turnips into lanterns to remember the souls of the dead. Other symbolism's like bats, ghosts and vampires, came from Gothic and horror literature and old classic horror films like Frankenstein and Dracula.
However, Halloween is also a time where some young people like to cause trouble and use the night to scare older people, egg people’s homes and intimated other young people. Halloween is meant to be a fun time, with young and old coming together to enjoy the spooky goings on to let their hair down. Remember, spooking people can be fun, but take it too far and it can actually upset people far more than you may think, especially elderly people and people who may be sensitive to being scared. So have fun tonight, stay safe and remember to think before you spook!
1 Comment – Post a comment
Snow..
Commented 6 months ago - 6th November 2011 - 13:51pm
Aww, I love Halloween - free sweets and horror movies; whoo!
Just a bit of bummer that it was on a school night this year though :/ Hopefully next year it'll be during half term :D