Halloween is just around the corner. These days, pumpkins, witches, ghosts, cobwebs, and other Halloween symbols invade homes, venues, and storefronts. The most terrifying characters prepare to take to the streets on the night of October 31 asking for treats in exchange for not doing any mischief.
Many people think that Halloween is a fad imported from the United States and perhaps, in some respects, it is. However, its origin dates back to ancient times. Would you like to be able to tell your children about it? Well, read on and find out what it is the true origin of Halloween.
Samhain, the true origin of Halloween
The roots of Halloween they date back to the ancient Celts that inhabited, about 3000 years ago, in England, France and Northern Spain.
On the night of October 31, the Celts celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark season with a festival called Samhain which also marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
According to their beliefs, that night the witches and shamans enjoyed greater vitality and the dead could return from beyond to seize the body of the living. To avoid this, the Celtic peoples littered their homes and decorated them with carved vegetables and used as lanterns, bones, skulls and other sinister objects so that the dead could guide themselves through them to the afterlife. They also put sweets and food on the doors of their houses with the aim of satisfying the spirits and that they passed by. Some people disguised themselves with animal skins and masks in order to be even more terrifying than spirits and thus drive them away. Hence, the tradition of decorating houses with sinister motifs and dressing up on Halloween night.
How did Samhain become on Halloween?
With the expansion of the Roman Empire, two more were added to the Celtic customs: Feralia dedicated to peace and the rest of the dead and the cult Pomona goddess of the harvest and fruits.
But the thing does not stop here, but centuries later, with the arrival of Christianity, everything changed again. Surely you've always heard that Halloween is a party that supplants All Saints' Day. However, the reality is that Catholicism, tried to eliminate all traces of pagan rites and declared November 1 as All Saints' Day. On the eve of this day he was called all hallows eve and hence, by contraction of the expression, the word Halloween.
In the middle of the XNUMXth century, Irish emigrants began to arrive in America. With them come their culture, folklore and traditions, including Halloween that mixed with other traditions of Indian origin and gave rise to the festival as we know it today.
As you see, the origins of Halloween are much older and its meaning much deeper than we believe. Now, apart from spending a terrifyingly fun night, you can tell your children why this celebration and its true meaning.
Happy Halloween!