Halloween
THE
HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN
It
is a mixture of ancient Irish, Catholic, Roman, and European traditions that blended
together to create a fun, spooky, awesome, super-duperstylicious
holiday. Halloween straddles the line between fall and winter, plenty and
nothing, life and death. It has long been thought of as a day when the dead can
return to the earth. Ancient Celts lit bonfires and wore costumes witches and
ghouls to ward off roaming ghosts, and rampant evil spirits if you can believe
it.
43 BC: Later on
down the road the Romans conquered the majority of Celtic territory, and for
the next four hundred years they ruled the Celtics. The Romans meshed two
festivals to the Celtic traditions. The first was Feralia, a day in late
October when they commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to
honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple
and the incarnation of this celebration explains the tradition of
"bobbing" for apples in a tub of water.
10 BC:
Halloween's origins go back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain
(pronounced sow-in). The Celts lived in the area that is now known as Ireland
and England. They celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked: The
end of summer and harvest time: Also the beginning of the dark, cold winter a
time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on
the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living
and the dead became blurred. It was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned
to earth, causing trouble and damaging crops as was stated above. They believed
that the presence of worldly spirits made it easier for the priest to make
predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile
natural world, these prophesy were an important source of comfort and direction
during the long dark winter. To commemorate the event priests built huge
bonfires. The people would burn crops and sacrifice animals to please the gods.
During the celebration the Celts wore costumes consisting of animal heads and
skins, and would tell each other's fortunes. When the horrific month long
celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they and had
extinguished earlier that evening to help protect them during the coming
winter.
800 AD: The
influence of Christianity the Catholic Church stuck their hands in it. Pope
Boniface designated November first "All Saint" Day, a time to honor
saints and martyrs. It is generally believed that the pope was attempting to
replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church sanctioned
holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-Hallowmas (from
Middle English Alolowmesse meaning All Saints Day, and the night before it, the
night of Samhain, began to be called all-hallows Eve and eventually Halloween.
1000 AD: The
Roman church made November 2nd All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was
celebrated, with big bonfires, parades, the wearing of costumes such as saints,
angels and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints',
all Saints, and All Souls' were called Hallowmas.
1900 AD:
Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, gradually becoming a
community based children’s holiday. As the superstitions and beliefs
surrounding Halloween evolved, people looked forward to parades, costumes and
treats to usher in the winter season.
2013 AD: Pumpkins
and humans too get into Halloween after coming back from summer vacations. It
takes a while to get back into the normal routine after Labor Day. Studies of
the end-of-summer malaise, often report an increase in people, pumpkins, and
crows especially, seeking help. Change is always hard.The days before Halloween both nature,
countryside, wild life are changing.
A big
component is Post Vacation Syndrome (PVS). Characterized by a combination of
irritability, anxiety, and lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating and a
feeling of emptiness which lasts up to a few week. Some get a mild version of
PVS on Sunday night after having a fun weekend off work. 47% of workers in
Alabama, where many business close for the month of August suffer from PVS End
of summer melancholy can signal serous depression. Some adults who get through
summer and post Labor Day blues because they've had a taste of life outside the
hamster cage. They've done things they love and it reminds them of what is
truly important in their lives. When fall comes they feel like they are missing
a part of themselves. It happens all the time, even the best jobs don't compare
well to the carefree days at the beach
If dread of the work place keeps up it
could be a sign that plants, animals, even insects are be in the wrong
job. They should try to pinpoint the
source of unease, but make no rash changes, especially crows. Instead, they
should wait awhile and see if the feeling subsides. If the blues cross the line and interfere
with sleep, appetite, weight change, lack of personal hygiene, or disinterest
in sex they should seek professional help.
Make Halloween healthy. Teach your kid’s sirs ok to have candy but
you need to be consuming it in moderation. Trick –or-treating is kind of a
free-for all then after that like two or three pieces a day. Throw away some of
the youngest kids’ stuff, the tuff they might eat and choke on... A good idea
as a way to keep a child healthy this Halloween season is to make healthy food
fun. For instance have the kids make a veggie plate look like a jack-old-lantern
face using carrots as the pumpkin and greens for the mouth and eyes.
US Grant’s advice for all is,
"Celebrate
what you do, in small moments, like a night on the town, a game of kick the can,
or a pumpkin carving contest. So-lo smashing
leave the pumpkin guts and seeds splattered all over your front door steps. Out of your gourd yes, but a little bit of fun
gets your energy back for handling the normal routine."
DR.KARL WALLACE .D.S.
To read more Dr. Wallace short stories go to:
Karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com
