Halloween and What's what 🎃👻

So it's that time of year again. It's Halloween and I'm at home, sitting, waiting for trick-or-treaters to reject as they come to the door of my home.

Several people, shops and even Google recognise the day and many people participate by dressing up, trick-or-treating, having parties or egging civilians in the street. Others hate the day, detest it in the name of God, or just have no reason to like it.  But as I sit here, waiting to reject the little children coming to my door, I think to myself "What is Halloween, what are people actually celebrating or detesting?"

Google ad many doodles for today. Love Google. And I love their Doodles too.

So my research began and I found out a few things about what Halloween really is.*1

• It's actually "All Hallows' Eve", All Hallows' being all saints day celebrated by Christians (particularly Catholics I think) tomorrow. So, technically the day has religious sentiment. With Eastenders behind me*2 at the moment, Dot even says its a "day to pray for the souls that have departed ". This is probably where the ghost/graveyard/death imagery comes from.

• Although some may disagree, the day seems to have come from a pagan holiday celebrated by Gaelic people called Samhain, which was the end of harvest season and the beginning of the darker half of the year.

• The Christians that celebrate the day tended to abstain from meat on this day, so popular food included cider, potato pancakes and apples, which is probably where the toffee apples and apple-bobbing come from. 

Jack-o'lanterns were originally carried by people called guisers who asked for food in return for prayers for the dead. The lantern was supposed to ward off evil spirits that were supposed to be lurking about on the eve.

• Trick or treaters/guisers as I've previously mentioned were also originally known to collect food for the Halloween party, probably a party for the next day.

•  The guisers also used to go around in costumes, which is where the costuming comes from. The first use of costumes and guiding is found in Scotland and Ireland in the late 19th century. Rev.Dr.Eddie J Smith in his book 'Halloween, hallowed be thy name', suggests that the costumes allow people to make fun of Satan (the devil), by dressing up as things that once made people scared hence the ghouls, witches, and vampires. This quickly turned into dressing up as anything, and so many people don't dress up as scary things, but anything that they have an idea of.

Cruella DeVille; Iggy has stylishly embodied the character.
Even has the dalmatian at hand.

The car really completes the look. Well done Iggy

 Having not read the book I don't fully understand what the significance of the devil is, but here lies a somewhat link as to why people associate the day with the devil. However, seeing as I've only briefly researched this briefly I see quite an opposite. The devil's birthday is actually not so, me actually the day seems to be quite 'holy' in its original essence.

Now, I don't really like or celebrate Halloween, seeing as I'm not Christian, or one to celebrate commercialised holidays no matter how big they are.I'm with the belief that if I'm to celebrate something, I have to believe in it, or agree with it, and with Halloween I find nothing to go by in both of these cases. I also really dislike the commercialisation of this day. It's a shame to see another religious event *3 stripped of its true meaning, dressed up as something new and publicised as a way to make money from consumers.

Side Notes and Comments

Its been a while since I've done these.

*1 So when i say research, I mean wikipedia search. As bad as it can be it can be really quick and informative. This also means that if i got anything wrong, I;m sorry, this is what I read from wikipedia, however, I have heard this from my primary school, so I think everything i have typed is hopefully true.

*2 I don't watch Eastenders.It got boring ages ago. I also didn't like how everyone is on a situation or problematic. It's not everyday xyz's baby/ xyz had an affair/ xyz got murdered, as they say.

*3 The others being Easter and Christmas. Christmas is that holiday that I forever get questioned about. "You don't celebrate Christmas?!" I get often at this time of year, if not, whilst someone has bought up Christmas and maybe how excited they are for it they say "Oh wait...you don't celebrate Christmas...oh.". Seeing so many people in their Halloween costumes, made me remember Christmas in particular, because everyone celebrates it and not as many people believe in it. As fun as it may be, I try to remain true to myself. If I don't believe in Christ's birth being on that day, or won't being doing anything about Christ's-mass then why should I celebrate it?

All in all, I hope I've shone a little light on Halloween and what's what.

🎃👻