Halloween ...

I find it strange that there are kids in our neighbourhood running around trick or treating tonight. They have have very little if any clue at all about Halloween. We all know it is an American celebration more than anything else and due to the fact that they do it, hence the 'We should' mentality, it seems to have taken on here. There are tonight no costumes, no make up, no involvement at all excepting knocking on doors or standing in the street shouting "trick or treat?"

So I thought I would brush up on my history and find out what it is all about and was surprised to find that it is not an American historical tradition after all, but rather an Celtic (Irish) tradition. It has its origins in the a festival known to the Celtic folk as "Samhain" which was a celebration of the end of the season harvest. It was originally that time of the year to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for their winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October the 31st the boundary between 'alive' and 'dead' dissolved, and that the dead became dangerous for the living by causing such problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would often include bonfires, into which the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were often worn to mimic the evil spirits and in so doing hope to placate them.

The name Halloween is in actual fact a shortened version of "All Hallows' Even" (both even and eve being abbreviations of evening) Originally October the 1st was a celebration of two holidays namely "All Hallows Even" (Halloween) and "All Saints Day" which is now celebrated one day after Halloween. "All Saints Day" was a celebration based on the old 'Pagan' belief in the North European communities.

So there we are a very short and insightfull visit into the history of Halloween. I would so love to educate the kids today that it has far deeper meaning and tradition than just shouting "trick or treat?" to get a handfull of sweets.

The trick or treating relates to the fact that the kids dress up in these 'evil' costumes and shout trick or treat to the home owners, and by so doing challenging him or her to either treat them with sweets (or money) or be tricked in some manner or form.

And that dear folks ends tonight lecture, tune in tomorrow evening for an advanced course on "Nuclear Physics" and its effect on the "Shell shaped slugs in the Outer Mongolian rain forests" ...lol...