HALLOWEEN

DATE: October 31

ORIGINS
In 835 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church declared November 1 a religious holiday to honor all saints. The name Halloween is a short way of saying All Hallow's Eve , the night before All Saints' Day . Hallow means holy or sacred. But although Halloween gets its name from a Christian festival, its customs are of pagan origin. They come from two different sources: an ancient Celtic festival in honor of Samhain, lord of death, and a Roman festival in honor of Pomona, goddess of gardens and orchards.

The "spooky" part of Halloween comes from the Celts, who worshipped gods of nature. They feared the coming of winter, associating it with death and evil spirits. Every year on October 31, the last day of the year on the old pagan calendar, the Druids (Celtic priests and teachers) built huge bonfires to scare away the demons of evil and death. They threw animal sacrifices and crops from the harvest into the fire as gifts to bribe the evil spirits. They dressed in ugly and frightening costumes so that the demons would think that they were one of them and do them no harm. Supposedly, during this evening, ghosts arose from their graves and witches rode through the air on broomsticks or black cats. Also, the souls of dead relatives and friends were expected to return to earth for a visit.

From the Druid religion, then, come the custom of masquerading and the symbols of Halloween: ghosts, skeletons, devils, witches, bats, black cats, and owls.

Halloween, which began in ancient times as an evening of terror, is now an occasion of great fun. It is certainly one of the favorite American holidays.

CELEBRATION IN THE U.S.

American children love to dress like witches and ghosts and go "trick or treating." They go to the houses around where they live, often in small groups, holding bags and shouting, "Trick or treat?" If an adult refuses to give them a treat - candy, cookies, or fruit - they may play a trick. Typical Halloween pranks are soaping windows, writing on doors with crayons, and sticking pins into the doorbells to keep them ringing.

People often put up decorations for Halloween parties and play games. The decorations are usually black (for dark nights and death) and orange (for the autumn vegetables - harvest time).

One Halloween party game is called "bobbing for apples." In this game, apples float in a big bowl. Each player tries to catch an apple in his mouth without using his hands to hold it.

Another popular tradition is to cut the shape of a face in a pumpkin, put a candle inside it, then put it by the window. This pumpkin is called Jack-o'-lantern and it is of Celtic origin. It is said that in the past, turnips instead of pumpkins were used by the Irish to scare evil spirits away from the house.