Halloween, is it a festival or a cult practice?
While many pray, meditate, spiritual cleanse their homes to ward away the bad luck, evil, or bad aura.. on the other end, during the halloween season, some hang monsters, witches, skeletons, blood and many scary stuffs in their houses which seems like welcoming these scary things into their homes. Although I’m never against the idea of fun but these kind of fun is scary.. hahahaha..
These days people celebrate everything.. yeah. All we need is a holiday to gather with friends and family and any festival a good time for it. In Singapore, St Patrick’s day, Beer Feast, Valentine’s day and Halloween are the best times for these hang outs… (maybe not for valentine’s day).. lol. Most of the time we don’t have much idea about the history of these days.. as long as friends and booze are present.. any day is a festival day.. By the way, here is some information I extracted for the web.. enjoying reading it..
Halloween History
Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.
All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.
Origin of Halloween
While there are many versions of the origins and old customs of Halloween, some remain consistent by all accounts. Different cultures view Halloween somewhat differently but traditional Halloween practices remain the same.
Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead.
Samhain signifies “summers end” or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition.
The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.
Happy Halloween