Halloween

October 30

Do you know why we celebrate Halloween every October 31st?
Do you know where this custome comes from?
Do you know what the word "Halloween" means? 

Let's learn about it!

History and Customs of Halloween

Halloween is celebrated annually. But just how and when did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.

The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, they abandoned any practice of sacrificing of humans in favor of burning effigies.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

Reading Comprehension Questions:

1. Where does the word “Halloween” have its origin?
2. When does summer officially end in Celtic Ireland?
3. How was the Celtic new year called?
4. According to the story, what did the disembodied spirits do?
5. Regarding laws of space and time, what happened on October 31^st  in the Celtic culture?
6. What did Celtic villagers do on October 31^st?
7. Why did Celts dress up with ghoulish costumes?
8. What is a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires on October 31^st?
9. Who abandoned any practice of sacrificing of humans in favor of burning effigies?
10. Who brought the custom of Halloween to America in the 1840's?
11. Why did Irish people go to America?
12. How was the custom of trick-or-treating originated?
13. What are “soul cakes”?
14. What did early Christians do on November 2?

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