Halloween time is here at last!! Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I also love Christmas because there are lights everywhere and presents, but the combination of the weather in LA being warm still (no snow) and the religious implications of the holiday make it only my second favorite to Halloween. The holiday began as a Celtic tradition called Samhain, signifying the end of summer and the beginning of cold, dark winter, 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. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today 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 Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.
Isnt that awesome!? I have the best memories of Halloween growing up. We lived in a small coastal town in Northern CA that was HUGE on pumpkins. Pumpkins everywhere. As far as the eye could see...pumpkins. We would always carve them, roast the seeds, and go to the annual pumpkin festival every year, where they would serve pumpkin flavored ice cream and dress up in costumes for the big parade. I'll post some pictures a little later from that.
This year hasn't felt a ton like halloween yet, but I did go to Universal Studio's Haunted Halloween last night with a bunch of ADPi girls. I had a great time, despite having only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before and struggling through 2 midterms! We took public transportation, which is the best place for people-watching. I always want to take pictures of people I see, but I don't think a lot of them would like that. The park was pretty fun. It was a nice combination of scary and not scary. It's a comfort to know that the "ghouls" aren't allowed to touch people, although they did spray some mysterious liquid on me that I'm hoping was water. yikes.
The best part though was when we were waiting for the train home and a bum came up to talk to us. He targeted Erin and told her hoq pretty her hair was and then continued to stroke her hair. Super scary! He eventually went away but the expression on her face was priceless.
