Halloween (English)

Introduction.

Origin of Halloween.

What we now know as Halloween has been celebrated for more than 3000 years, made ​​by the Celts, a culture habiting areas in Ireland, England, Scotland and France. Precisely on October 31, the Celts celebrated the new year with Samhain, a pagan festival.

On the evening of the festival, the Druids, who were the priests and teachers of the Celts, orderedthe people to put out the fire from the chimneys of their houses. The Druids then lifted a huge bonfire made ​​of oak branches, which they considered sacred. They burned animals, crops, and possibly humans as sacrifices. Then each family relit its hearth using the fire.

During the celebration, some people wore costumes made with the head and skin of animals. They read the fortune for the newyear by examining the remains of animals that had been slaughtered.

It also held the "sabbath" or witches party. In it, the witches and wizards gathered to offer sacrifices to Satan, lord of death, through rituals, sexual acts and death. In the Middle Ages, black cats were burned by friends believe them witches.

The Romans began their conquest of the Celts in 43 A.C. and ruled over most ofwhat is now known as the United Kingdom for about 400 years.

By the eighth century, the Christian Church choose the day of November 1 All Saints' Day to honor all the saints who did not have a special day of celebration. Over the years, these festivals were combined, and most called "All hallowmas" (the mass of all the saints) to All Saints Day. The night before was known as "All Hallows Eve"(Eve of All Saints Day). Over time, his name became Halloween.

In the United States the first to celebrate this tradition were the small community of Irish Catholics in the mid-nineteenth century, and then into the twentieth century the tradition spread to the rest of the world.

Origin of the traditions.

Trick or treating.
The idea of trick or treating door to door became popular around1930. It is bnot from the Celtic culture but seems to come from a practice that emerged in Europe during the ninth century called souling, a kind of service to souls.
On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians went from village to village begging for soul cakes, which were pieces of bread with raisins. The more cakes the beggars would receive, the greater the number of sentences that wouldpray for the souls of the dead relatives of their benefactors. At that time it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a period after his death, and that prayer, even by strangers prayed, could accelerate the entry of the soul to heaven.

Pumpkin / Jack -o- lantern.
The custom of hollowing out and carving a pumpkin to make it a bluff called Jack-o-lantern comes from Irish folklore ofeighteenth century.
Jack was a notorious drinker, gambler and loafer who spent his days lying under an oak. Legend says that in one occasion, Satan appeared with intentions to take him to hell. Jack challenged him to climb the oak and, when the devil was in the tree, carved a cross into the wood to prevent him to get down. Then Jack made ​​a deal with the devil: he would let him go if he nevertempted him again with gambling or drinking.
The story goes that when Jack died he was not allowed into heaven for their sins in life, but could not enter hell because he had tricked the devil. To compensate, the devil gave him an ember to light his way in the freezing darkness where he should wander until the Judgment Day. The ember was placed inside a hollowed bucket "called turnip" to burn like alamp for a long time.
The Irish used turnips used to manufacture their "Jack's lanterns", but when the immigrants came to the United States they noticed that pumpkins were more plentiful than turnips. For that reason, the custom of carving pumpkins for Halloween and transform them into lanterns introducing a candle inside was made.
The lantern was not intended to summon evil spirits but keep...