HALLOWEEN

HALLOWEEN

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)". The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and celts in the British Isles which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".
However, according to the Oxford Dictionary of English folk lore: "Certainly Samhain was a time for festive gatherings, and medieval Irish texts and later Irish, Welsh, and Scottish folklore use it as a setting for supernatural encounters, but there is no evidence that it was connected with the dead in pre-Christian times, or that pagan religious ceremonies were held."
The Irish myths which mention Samhain were written in the 10th and 11th centuries by Christian monks. This is around 200 years after the Catholic church inaugurated All Saints Day and at least 400 year after Ireland became Christian.

Origin of name

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

Symbols

Jack-o'-lanterns in Kobe, Japan

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. For instance, the carving of jack-o'-lanterns springs from the souling custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory.^[6] The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween,^[7][8] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips.^[7] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837^[9] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.^[10]
The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy).^[11] Among the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne in 1780, who made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "Bogies" (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns' Halloween 1785.^[12] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.
Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, or mythical monsters.^[13] Black and orange are the holiday's traditional colors.

Costumes

Main article: Halloween costume

People dressing in Halloween Costumes in Dublin.

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.

Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland at Halloween by the late 19th century.^[8] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.

Halloween costume parties generally fall on, or around, 31 October, often falling on the Friday or Saturday prior to Halloween.

Games and other activities

In this Halloween greeting card from 1904, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband.

There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties. One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face.
Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.^[28] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards^[29] from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Another game/superstition that was enjoyed in the early 1900s involved walnut shells. People would write fortunes in milk on white paper. After drying, the paper was folded and placed in walnut shells. When the shell was warmed, milk would turn brown therefore the writing would appear on what looked like blank paper. Folks would also play fortune teller. In order to play this game, symbols were cut out of paper and placed on a platter. Someone would enter a dark room and was ordered to put her hand on a piece of ice then lay it on a platter. Her "fortune" would stick to the hand. Paper symbols included: dollar sign-wealth, button-bachelorhood, thimble-spinsterhood, clothespin- poverty, rice-wedding, umbrella- journey, caldron-trouble, 4-leaf clover- good luck, penny-fortune, ring-early marriage, and key-fame.^[30]
The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere.

Há vários jogos tradicionalmente associados com festas de Halloween. Um jogo comum é dunking ou maçã balançando, em que as maçãs flutuam em uma banheira ou uma grande bacia de água e os participantes devem usar os dentes para remover uma maçã da bacia. Uma variante do dunking envolve ajoelhado em uma cadeira, segurando um garfo entre os dentes e tentando largar o garfo em uma maçã. Outro jogo comum envolve desligar melado ou xarope revestido scones por cordas, estes devem ser ingeridos sem usar as mãos enquanto eles continuam ligados à corda, uma atividade que leva inevitavelmente a um rosto muito pegajosa.

Alguns jogos tradicionalmente desempenhado no Halloween são as formas de adivinhação. A forma tradicional escocesa de adivinhação futura esposa de alguém é a esculpir uma maçã em uma longa faixa, em seguida, atirar a casca sobre o próprio ombro. A casca é acreditado para a terra na forma da primeira letra do nome do futuro cônjuge é. [28] As mulheres solteiras foi dito que se eles se sentaram em uma sala escura e olhou em um espelho, na noite de Halloween, o rosto de seu futuro marido aparecem no espelho. No entanto, se eles estavam destinados a morrer antes do casamento, um crânio iria aparecer. O costume se espalhou o suficiente para ser comemorado em cartões [29] a partir do final do século 19 e início do século 20.

Outro jogo / superstição que foi apreciado no início de 1900 envolvidos cascas de nozes. As pessoas iriam escrever fortunas em leite em papel branco. Após a secagem, o papel foi dobrado e colocado em cascas de nozes. Quando o reservatório foi aquecido, o leite seria girar o marrom, portanto, a escrita iria aparecer no que parecia ser papel em branco. Folks também jogar cartomante. , A fim de jogar este jogo, símbolos foram cortadas de papel e colocados em uma bandeja. Alguém iria entrar em uma sala escura e foi ordenado a colocar a mão em um pedaço de gelo, em seguida, coloque-o sobre um prato. Sua "fortuna" iria ficar na mão. Símbolos de papel inclui: sinal de dólar de riqueza, botão de solteiro, dedal solteirona, clothespin pobreza, arroz-casamento, guarda-chuva da viagem, caldeirão de problemas, de 4 folhas trevo-sorte bom, moeda de um centavo fortuna, de anel no início do casamento, e chave-fama. [30]

A narração de histórias de fantasmas e visualização de filmes de terror são os dispositivos elétricos comuns de festas de Halloween. Episódios de séries de televisão e Halloween-themed especiais (com as promoções normalmente destinada às crianças) são comumente exibido em ou antes do feriado, enquanto novos filmes de terror são frequentemente lançado nos cinemas antes do feriado para aproveitar a atmosfera.