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Halloween Lore and Legends
Front-Ranger:
What is this holiday known as Halloween anyway? According to History.com, it "originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween."
Wikipedia says, it has "origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".[1] The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and Celts in the British Isles which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".[1][2][3]
However, according to the Oxford Dictionary of English folk lore: "Certainly Samhain was a time for festive gatherings, and medieval Irish texts and later Irish, Welsh, and Scottish folklore use it as a setting for supernatural encounters, but there is no evidence that it was connected with the dead in pre-Christian times, or that pagan religious ceremonies were held." [4]
The Irish myths which mention Samhain were written in the 10th and 11th centuries by Christian monks. This is around 200 years after the Catholic church inaugurated All Saints Day and at least 400 year after Ireland became Christian."
CellarDweller:
What I find interesting now is the number of Catholics who don't want their kids to participate in the holiday because of the "evil" origins or connotations to it.
When I was little, and went to Catholic school, there was never any mention of this, all the kids celebrated Halloween, and the school always had a costume parade, and several of the nuns would participate, and wear costumes.
Front-Ranger:
I think it is part of the growing Puritanism of America, Chuck.
It's interesting...Halloween's origins are in the Celtic nature rituals for sure. What people would call "the Pagans". But, the Celts grew to embrace Christianity just a hundred years or so after it started spreading in the Mediterranean. Then, in the 7th century, Pope Gregory the Great decreed that there would be a meeting, or synod, between the Celtic Christians and the Roman Christians ostensibly to decide when Easter would be celebrated. But it turned out that the Roman Christians pretty much took over and forced the Celtic Christians to disband. Ironically, Easter is celebrated according to the Celtic tradition, which means that they won the battle but lost the war. Also, very few people understand how to set the date of Easter each year (and why should the date of Christ's resurection be different from year to year? That's a whole 'nother story!)
Front-Ranger:
I'm a little sad that my new grandson won't be able to know the joys of celebrating Halloween. My daughter's family is Messianic Jewish, and though they celebrate a lot of holidays, Halloween is not one of them. They celebrate the Jewish holidays religiously and the Christian holidays in a subdued way. But they shun the holidays of other religions and especially those that have pagan roots. Today, my daughter, grandson and I ate at a Tibetan restaurant and as we were leaving I started to spin a prayer wheel. My grandson was in my arms and reached up to spin the wheel too, but my daughter blocked his reach. Shame on me for corrupting my grandson, hehe!!
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on October 25, 2011, 03:03:52 pm ---What I find interesting now is the number of Catholics who don't want their kids to participate in the holiday because of the "evil" origins or connotations to it.
When I was little, and went to Catholic school, there was never any mention of this, all the kids celebrated Halloween, and the school always had a costume parade, and several of the nuns would participate, and wear costumes.
--- End quote ---
I know what you're talking about, but don't get the impression that it's specifically Catholic. If anything, fundamentalist Protestents seem to be more paranoid about the holiday.
Interestingly, at least one right-wing radio talk show host veddy, veddy much disapproves of Halloween. Check out the audio at the link below -- it starts out quite sane; an elementary school principal was concerned about the school's Halloween celebration getting too time-consuming. She was also concerned about "safety issues", which she wasn't specific about. Instead, the school had a Halloween party in the evening to which parents were invited.
After the principal mentions that there would be trick-or-treating in the classrooms, the interview descends into pure lunacy. (Not on the principal's part; she was pretty much left holding the phone.)
http://www.trn1.com/102511-laura-ingraham-halloween-in-school
I would have loved to have seen nuns in costumes! ;D
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