Samhain It's that time of year again. The weather gets colder. The leaves turn shades of orange and burgundy. This tells you that one of our prized holidays is coming up. Now it doesn't involve a turkey, but you could dress up like one. It's Halloween!
There many things that you can learn about Halloween that you might not have known. For example: Did you know that Halloween originated in Ireland? Here are other little tidbits you might not have known about:
~ Halloween's original name was Samhain which means "end of Summer." It also marked the Celtic New year. This period lasted from October 31 through November2. It was a time of no time, because the people believed that in such a structured society, they should be given a period of time where they could live in disorder for three days.
~ Celts believed that during Samhain the ghosts of the dead came to Earth. They lit great bonfires and dressed up in ghoulish outfits thinking that this would deter the spirits away from them.
~ When the Romans came to Britain, they started bringing gifts of apples and nuts, This tradition has carried on to present day.
~ When Christianity took the place of the Druid and Roman religion. The Christian church created a day to honor all saints. This was called "All Hallows" or "All Saints Day." So the eve of this day was called "All Hallow's Eve," which was later shortened to "Halloween."
~ The Jack-O-Lantern was created because of an old blacksmith named Jack that was known as a trickster throughout the village. One night, he tricked Satan into climbing a tree and then carved a cross in the tree, so the devil couldn’t get down. When Jack died, he was denied entrance into Heaven for his evil ways, and also from Hell for his trickery with the Devil. The Devil gave him a single turnip with an ember of light to guide him throughout the village. The Irish then took on this tradition to help guide Jack on that night. When they came to America, it was changed to a pumpkin because they were more plentiful.
~ On every Halloween night, children dress up in the same kinds of scary costumes that helped ward away evil and they go Trick-or-Treating. This dates back to when early Christians would go "Souling". They would walk through villages begging for "soul cakes", which were tiny pieces of bread with currants. The more they got, the more prayers they would say for the deceased.
~ Holy water was sometimes anointed on the farm animals to keep them safe during the night. If the animals were showing any illness on All Hallow's Eve then they would spat on to ward off the evil spirits.