Oct 31, 2007 04:39 PM Halloween Party ! OOOOOOOOOOHHH ! posted by Anirban

On  October  31st,  dozens  of  children  dressed  in  costumes  knock  on  their  neighbors'  doors  and  yell,  "Trick  or  Treat"  when  the  door  opens.  Pirates  and  princesses,  ghosts  and  popular  heroes  of  the  day  all  hold  bags  open  to  catch  the  candy  or  other  goodies  that  the  neighbors  drop  in.  As  they  give  each  child  a  treat  the  neighbors  exclaim  over  the  costumes  and  try  to  guess  who  is  under  the  masks.

Since  the  80's,  November  1st  is  a  religious  holiday  known  as  All  Saints'  Day.  The  Mass  that  was  said  on  this  day  was  called  Allhallowmas.  The  evening  before  became  known  as  All  Hakkiwe'en,  or  Halloween.  Like  some  other  American  celebrations,  its  origins  lie  in  both  pre-Christian  and  Christian  customs.

October  31  st  was  the  eve  of  the  Celtic  new  year.  The  Celts  were  the  ancestors  of  the  present-day  Irish,  Welsh  and  Scottish  people.  On  this  day  ghosts  walked  and  mingled  with  the  living,  or  so  the  Celts  thought.  The  townspeople  baked  food  all  that  day  and  when  night  fell  they  dressed  up  and  tried  to  resemble  the  souls  of  the  dead.  Hoping  that  the  ghosts  would  leave  peacefully  before  midnight  of  the  new  year  the  people  carried  the  food  to  the  edge  of  town  and  left  it  for  them.

Much  later,  when  Christianity  spread  throughout  Ireland  and  October  31  was  no  longer  the  last  day  of  the  year,  Halloween  became  a  celebration  mostly  for  children.  "Ghosts"  went  from  door  to  door  asking  for  treats,  or  else  a  trick  would  be  played  on  the  owners  of  the  house.  When  millions  of  Irish  people  immigrated  to  the  United  States  in  the  1840s  the  tradition  came  with  them.

Today'  school  dances  and  neighborhood  parties  called  "block  parties"  are  popular  among  young  and  old  alike.  More  and  more  adults  celebrate  Halloween.  They  dress  up  like  historical  or  political  figures  and  go  to  masquerade  parties.  In  larger  cities,  costumed  children  and  their  parents  gather  at  shopping  malls  early  in  the  evening.  Stores  and  businesses  give  parties  with  games  and  treats  for  the  children.  Teenagers  enjoy  costume  dances  at  their  schools  and  the  more  outrageous  the  costume  the  better!

Certain  pranks  such  as  soaping  car  windows  and  tipping  over  garbage  cans  are  expected..  But  partying  and  pranks  are  not  the  only  things  that  Halloweeners  enjoy  doing.  Some  collect  money  to  buy  food  and  medicine  for  needy  children  around  the  world.

At  Halloween  parties  children  play  traditional  games.  One  of  the  most  popular  is  called  pin-  the-tail-on-the-donkey:  One  child  is  blindfolded  and  spun  slowly  so  that  he  or  she  will  become  dizzy.  Then  the  child  must  find  a  paper  donkey  hanging  on  the  wall  and  try  to  pin  a  tail  onto  the  back.  Another  game  is  bobbing  for  apples.  One  child  at  a  time  has  to  get  apples  from  a  tub  of  water  without  using  hands!  How?  By  sinking  his  or  her  face  into  the  water  and  biting  the  apple!


Symbols  of  Halloween
Halloween  originated  as  a  celebration  connected  with  evil  spirits.  Witches  flying  on  broomsticks  with  black  cats,  ghosts,  goblins  and  skeletons  have  all  evolved  as  symbols  of  Halloween.  They  are  popular  trick-or-treat  costumes  and  decorations  for  greeting  cards  and  windows.  Black  is  one  of  the  traditional  Halloween  colors,  probably  because  Halloween  festivals  and  traditions  took  place  at  night.  In  the  weeks  before  October  31,  Americans  decorate  windows  of  houses  and  schools  with  silhouettes  of  witches  and  black  cats.

Pumpkins  are  also  a  symbol  of  Halloween.  The  pumpkin  is  an  orange-colored  squash,  and  orange  has  become  the  other  traditional  Halloween  color.  Carving  pumpkins  into  jack-  o'lanterns  is  a  Halloween  custom  also  dating  back  to  Ireland.  A  legend  grew  up  about  a  man  named  Jack  who  was  so  stingy  that  he  was  not  allowed  into  heaven  when  he  died,  because  he  was  a  miser.  He  couldn't  enter  hell  either  because  he  had  played  jokes  on  the  devil.  As  a  result,  Jack  had  to  walk  the  earth  with  his  lantern  until  Judgement  Day.  The  Irish  people  carved  scary  faces  out  of  turnips,  beets  or  potatoes  representing  "Jack  of  the  Lantern,"  or  Jack-o'lantern.  When  the  Irish  brought  their  customs  to  the  United  States,  they  carved  faces  on  pumpkins  because  in  the  autumn  they  were  more  plentiful  than  turnips.  Today  jack-o'-lanterns  in  the  windows  of  a  house  on  Halloween  night  let  costumed  children  know  that  there  are  goodies  waiting  if  they  knock  and  say  "Trick  or  Treat!"  

What  Do  You  Come  For?

There  was  an  old  woman  who  lived  all  by  herself,  and  she  was  very  lonely.  Sitting  in  the  kitchen  one  night,  she  said,  "Oh,  I  wish  I  had  some  company."

No  sooner  had  she  spoken  than  down  the  chimney  tumbled  two  feet  from  which  the  flesh  had  rotted.  The  old  woman's  eyes  bulged  with  terror.

Then  two  legs  dropped  to  the  hearth  and  attached  themselves  to  the  feet.

Then  a  body  tumbled  down,  then  two  arms,  and  a  man's  head.

As  the  old  woman  watched,  the  parts  came  together  into  a  great,  tall  man.  The  man  danced  around  and  around  the  room.  Faster  and  faster  he  went.  Then  he  stopped,  and  he  looked  into  her  eyes.

"What  do  you  come  for?  she  asked  in  a  small  voice  that  shivered  and  shook.

"What  do  I  come  for?"  he  said.  "I  come  for  YOU!"

The  narrator  shouts  and  jumps  at  the  person  near  him!  

The  Story  of  Halloween

Halloween  is  one  of  the  oldest  holidays  with  origins  going  back  thousands  of  years.  The  holiday  we  know  as  Halloween  has  had  many  influences  from  many  cultures  over  the  centuries.  From  the  Roman's  Pomona  Day,  to  the  Celtic  festival  of  Samhain,  to  the  Christian  holidays  of  All  Saints  and  All  Souls  Days.  

Hundreds  of  years  ago  in  what  is  now  Great  Britain  and  Northern  France,  lived  the  Celts.  The  Celts  worshipped  nature  and  had  many  gods,  with  the  sun  god  as  their  favorite.  It  was  "he"  who  commanded  their  work  and  their  rest  times,  and  who  made  the  earth  beautiful  and  the  crops  grow.

The  Celts  celebrated  their  New  Year  on  November  1st.  It  was  celebrated  every  year  with  a  festival  and  marked  the  end  of  the  "season  of  the  sun"  and  the  beginning  of  "the  season  of  darkness  and  cold."

The  Celts  believed,  that  during  the  winter,  the  sun  god  was  taken  prisoner  by  Samhain,  the  Lord  of  the  Dead  and  Prince  of  Darkness.  *  

On  the  eve  before  their  new  year  (October  31),  it  was  believed  that  Samhain  called  together  all  the  dead  people.  The  dead  would  take  different  forms,  with  the  bad  spirits  taking  the  form  of  animals.  The  most  evil  taking  the  form  of  cats.

On  October  31st  after  the  crops  were  all  harvested  and  stored  for  the  long  winter  the  cooking  fires  in  the  homes  would  be  extinguished.  The  Druids,  the  Celtic  priests,  would  meet  in  the  hilltop  in  the  dark  oak  forest  (oak  trees  were  considered  sacred).  The  Druids  would  light  new  fires  and  offer  sacrifices  of  crops  and  animals.  As  they  danced  around  the  the  fires,  the  season  of  the  sun  passed  and  the  season  of  darkness  would  begin.

When  the  morning  arrived  the  Druids  would  give  an  ember  from  their  fires  to  each  family  who  would  then  take  them  home  to  start  new  cooking  fires.  These  fires  would  keep  the  homes  warm  and  free  from  evil  spirits.

The  November  1st  festival  was  named  after  Samhain  and  honored  both  the  sun  god  and  Samhain.  The  festival  would  last  for  3  days.  Many  people  would  parade  in  costumes  made  from  the  skins  and  heads  of  their  animals.  This  festival  would  become  the  first  Halloween.

During  the  first  century  the  Romans  invaded  Britain.  They  brought  with  them  many  of  their  festivals  and  customs.  One  of  these  was  the  festival  know  as  Pomona  Day,  named  for  their  goddess  of  fruits  and  gardens.  It  was  also  celebrated  around  the  1st  of  November.  After  hundreds  of  years  of  Roman  rule  the  customs  of  the  Celtic's  Samhain  festival  and  the  Roman  Pomona  Day  mixed  becoming  1  major  fall  holiday.

The  next  influence  came  with  the  spread  of  the  new  Christian  religion  throughout  Europe  and  Britain.  In  the  year  835  AD  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  would  make  November  1st  a  church  holiday  to  honor  all  the  saints.  This  day  was  called  All  Saint's  Day,  or  Hallowmas,  or  All  Hallows.  Years  later  the  Church  would  make  November  2nd  a  holy  day.  It  was  called  All  Souls  Day  and  was  to  honor  the  dead.  It  was  celebrated  with  big  bonfires,  parades,  and  people  dressing  up  as  saints,  angels  and  devils.

But  the  spread  of  Christianity  did  not  make  people  forget  their  early  customs.  On  the  eve  of  All  Hallows,  Oct.  31,  people  continued  to  celebrate  the  festival  of  Samhain  and  Pomona  Day.  Over  the  years  the  customs  from  all  these  holidays  mixed.  October  31st  became  known  as  All  Hallow  Even,  eventually  All  Hallow's  Eve,  Hallowe'en,  and  then  -  Halloween.

The  Halloween  we  celebrate  today  includes  all  of  these  influences,  Pomona  Day's  apples,  nuts,  and  harvest,  the  Festival  of  Samhain's  black  cats,  magic,  evil  spirits  and  death,  and  the  ghosts,  skeletons  and  skulls  from  All  Saint's  Day  and  All  Soul's  Day.