Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October
31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating,
attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires,
apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks,
telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
History
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.
Snap-Apple Night (1832) by Daniel Maclise.
Depicts apple bobbing and divination games at a Halloween party in
Blarney, Ireland.
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 halgena
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. The turnip has
traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween, but
immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both
readily available and much larger – making them easier to
carve than turnips. The American tradition of carving pumpkins is
recorded in 1837 and was originally associated with harvest time in
general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until
the mid-to-late 19th century.
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). 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. 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. Black and orange are the holiday's traditional
colors
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