Halloween

Halloween history

History Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.

Origin of Halloween

While there are many versions of the origins and old customs of Halloween, some remain consistent by all accounts. Different cultures view Halloween somewhat differently but traditional Halloween practices remain the same.Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead.Samhain signifies "summers end" or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition.The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful.

Name's origin

The word Halloween is traditionally defined as a shortened form in the Scottish language of the English expression Allhallow-even first used in the 16th century. Under the form "Hallow-e'en" is attested since 1745 All Hallows 'Even, or also All Hallows' Eve, was the old name in English of the eve of all the Saints, that is, the eve of the party of November 1.

Another origin has recently been claimed: the mesnie or mesnada, army, company or procession of the dead. According to the testimony of Guillermo of Auvergne in the thirteenth century, the procession of the deceased was called Vulgari gallicano Hellequin et vulgari hispanico exercitus antiquus (in Galician Hellequini and in hispanic ancient army or ancient host). The etymology Hallows Eve for Halloween then has to be a scholarly interpretation; name and content link with the folklore of the Wild Hunt, the Holy Companion, the Estantiga. The term Halloween itself would be a derivation of the name given to the captain of this procession of the dead, which in turn would come from ancient traditions of Northern Europe; this name according to this theory ended up also deriving in Harlequin