Why do Americans celebrate Halloween?
- Locked due to inactivity on Aug 4, '16 4:35pm
Thread Topic: Why do Americans celebrate Halloween?
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Why do you teach children to accept candy from strangers?
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idk i do halloween cuz it let us dress up and express yourself and have fun
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Vladimir: I don't know the exact reason or the answer for your question. Ages ago people thought that on a day every sould comes from their graves. (And I think there are many other reasons). So the people celebrate that day as Halloween.
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Soul* not sould
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Dress up and have fun? Unless vodka is involved I do not see how fun.
So... ghost party? Sorry, it just seems silly to me. -
yea that how halloween got started to make the souls that came out on that day not to haunt them then it changed over the ears
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years *
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Why do people dress up if this is ghost holiday?
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Here's your exact answer:
Halloween is celebrated on the evening of
October 31st, which is the evening before
the Christian feast of All Saints Day.
Halloweens history goes back to the
ancient religion of the Celtic tribes (circa
500 B.C.) from whom came the Britons,
Scots and the Irish. Present day Britains,
Scots, Welsh and Irish are all descendants
from these ancient Celtic tribes.
The Celts worshipped nature and believed
in the spirit world. They worshipped over
300 gods. Their chief god was the sun and
they celebrated two festivals revolving
around the sun: Beltane, to mark the
beginning of summer and Samhain or
Saman to mark the start of winter.
The Celts believed that at the end of
summer, Samhain, the lord of death
becomes powerful and overpowers the
sun god. On October 31, Samhain
assembles all the evil spirits who had died
the previous year and allows them to
return home to visit the living.
On October 31, after the harvest, the
druids would meet under an oak grove or
near large stone circles where they
performed sacrifices. Some believe that the
Stonehenge in England is one such druid
circle. The priests would light great fires
and offer sacrifices to Samhain to ensure
that the sun returned after the winter.
During the night all fires except the
sacrificial one to Samhain were
extinguished. The Vigil of Samhain, as it
was called, would keep the sacrificial fire
on through the night and the next day
embers from this fire would be used to
light the fire in each household.
Villagers would try to appease goblins and
demons with offerings of food and nuts.
They would leave little treats that the
household had to offer, to satisfy the
hunger of these demons. If the demon
was satisfied with the treat, it was believed
it would not trick the person or cast an evil
spell. Therein lies the origin of the present
day trick or treat.
Legend has it that people would also wear
masks or other disguises and blacken their
faces to try and pass unnoticed by the
spirits. This stemmed from the belief that
ghosts or spirits cannot see their own
reflection. Hence, if a goblin or demon saw
another creature looking suitably horrible,
they would run away in terror.
After the Romans conquered Britian in 61
A.D., they brought with them their own
harvest festival held on November 1, to
honor Pomona, goddess of the fruits of
trees. Over the years, the two festivals got
mixed up and became one long holiday.
In 834 A.D., Pope Gregory III shifted the
festival of All Saints Day, then celebrated on
May 13 to November 1. The new day was
called All Saints Day or Hallowmas. Thus, the
evening and night before it became All
Hallows eve and later Halloween.
The Celtic concept of ghosts and witches
became blended with Roman and later
Christian customs. In Ireland and Britain,
Halloween was also celebrated as Mischief
Night when villagers were allowed to play
pranks on each other.
Traces of the Roman Pomona festival such
as ducking for apples in a tub of water still
survive. Another is the use of hollowed-out
pumpkins lit by candles in the belief that it
would ward off evil spirits.
Today, Halloween is a festival of fun for
kids. An occasion to dress up as little
monsters, ghosts or witches. Over time the
custom of adults dressing up as demons
changed and the children took over. As
they went from house to house they
would knock at each house and cry trick
or treat. People would then give the
children apples or buns and later candy to
keep from being tricked. -
idk im never been a big fan of halloween anyway i still dress up tho
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So basically it's a pagan worship holiday. Well I'm glad nothing like that has spread to Mother Russia.
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ok
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And to your first question in the first post of this thread, Vladimir, that's not taught by parents, I mean, the children goes house-by-house and the people not to be tricked, gives away, buns then apples and now candies.
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I guess, Halloween is not actually a festival. It is like a festival, but a celebration, or like fun-day for kids and young adults.
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And if anybody asks me "trick of treat" I should prabably choose "trick".
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