Sandie
I really like the picures of the Halloween decorations. Does Ken decorate your front yard for the other holidays too?
I really like the picures of the Halloween decorations. Does Ken decorate your front yard for the other holidays too?
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Halloween Again!
- Thread starter nena10
- Start Date
1. Halloween is a uniquely American holiday. It is celebrated in no other country although it traces to ancient customs from various cultures. This annual celebration takes place every year on October 31st. That day is followed by November 1, "All Hallows Day." Originally in Catholic countries, on All Hallows Day, all the saints (hallowed or holy) people who have died are honored. Thus, the day before became known as "All Hallows Eve" -- or "Hallow's E'en." Eventually the name was corrupted and became simply "Halloween." With this change, over time a new name was created, and people no longer remembered the original meaning of the word or the holiday.
2. However, there was another ancient celebration that influenced our modern Halloween traditions. Originally, October 31 had a different meaning for the Celts of Ireland. As early as the 5th century, the official end of summer, the Celtic New Year, was celebrated on Samhain (sow-en), October 31. Throughout the years both European Christian traditions and Celtic pagan traditions became mixed, and resulted in traditions that we still associate with the holiday we now call Halloween.
3. Celtic tradition said that on Samhain, the spirits of all those who had died during the year came back to look for living bodies to possess. People belived that the spirits could take someone's body and control it, even live in it, for the next year. According the Celtic tradition, the disembodied dead, ghosts without physical bodies, could only live after death if they could inhabit another body. On this day, the Celts believed that the natural laws were temporarily suspended, allowing the spirits of the dead to come back to life and walk among the living in search of bodies. Today most people do not believe that the laws of nature can be temporarily stopped -- even on Halloween.
4. Naturally, the people who were still-living did not want their bodies to be possessed by dead spirits, so on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make their homes cold, dark, and uninviting. Then, to deceive any wandering spirits, they would dress up in ghoulish costumes to frighten away the spirits that were looking for bodies to possess. These costumed villagers paraded around their village, making noise and being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away the spirits.
5. Over time, the Romans invaded Celtic Ireland. Eventually, the Celtic rituals became associated with the Roman practices, and the practices began to change over time. People no longer believed in spirit possession; however, the custom of dressing up like ghosts, witches, and other frightening creatures remained.
6. When immigrants from Ireland came to the U.S. in the 1840s, they brought with them their customs. One of those was the custom of Halloween. Every Halloween, men, women, and children dressed up in costumes and played pranks, such as tipping over outhouses and taking fence gates off their hinges. Today we have indoor toilets instead of outhouses, but some young people still play Halloween tricks on people -- stealing mailboxes, setting off firecrackers, or writing on car windows with soap.
7. The tradition of Halloween includes dressing up in costumes and playing pranks, but most of all, trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Celts, but with a ninth-century Christian Europeans. They believed that after death most souls could not enter heaven directly; however, prayers from the living would help them to reach heaven sooner. On November 2, All Souls Day, poor people would go from door to door begging for "soul cakes." People would give them these small cakes, and, in turn, the beggars were supposed to pray for their dead relatives. Today children dressed in costumes go from door to door, saying "Trick or Treat." They are given "treats," usually candy but sometimes money or cookies. The phrase "trick or treat" means "Give us a treat or we will play a trick."
2. However, there was another ancient celebration that influenced our modern Halloween traditions. Originally, October 31 had a different meaning for the Celts of Ireland. As early as the 5th century, the official end of summer, the Celtic New Year, was celebrated on Samhain (sow-en), October 31. Throughout the years both European Christian traditions and Celtic pagan traditions became mixed, and resulted in traditions that we still associate with the holiday we now call Halloween.
3. Celtic tradition said that on Samhain, the spirits of all those who had died during the year came back to look for living bodies to possess. People belived that the spirits could take someone's body and control it, even live in it, for the next year. According the Celtic tradition, the disembodied dead, ghosts without physical bodies, could only live after death if they could inhabit another body. On this day, the Celts believed that the natural laws were temporarily suspended, allowing the spirits of the dead to come back to life and walk among the living in search of bodies. Today most people do not believe that the laws of nature can be temporarily stopped -- even on Halloween.
4. Naturally, the people who were still-living did not want their bodies to be possessed by dead spirits, so on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make their homes cold, dark, and uninviting. Then, to deceive any wandering spirits, they would dress up in ghoulish costumes to frighten away the spirits that were looking for bodies to possess. These costumed villagers paraded around their village, making noise and being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away the spirits.
5. Over time, the Romans invaded Celtic Ireland. Eventually, the Celtic rituals became associated with the Roman practices, and the practices began to change over time. People no longer believed in spirit possession; however, the custom of dressing up like ghosts, witches, and other frightening creatures remained.
6. When immigrants from Ireland came to the U.S. in the 1840s, they brought with them their customs. One of those was the custom of Halloween. Every Halloween, men, women, and children dressed up in costumes and played pranks, such as tipping over outhouses and taking fence gates off their hinges. Today we have indoor toilets instead of outhouses, but some young people still play Halloween tricks on people -- stealing mailboxes, setting off firecrackers, or writing on car windows with soap.
7. The tradition of Halloween includes dressing up in costumes and playing pranks, but most of all, trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Celts, but with a ninth-century Christian Europeans. They believed that after death most souls could not enter heaven directly; however, prayers from the living would help them to reach heaven sooner. On November 2, All Souls Day, poor people would go from door to door begging for "soul cakes." People would give them these small cakes, and, in turn, the beggars were supposed to pray for their dead relatives. Today children dressed in costumes go from door to door, saying "Trick or Treat." They are given "treats," usually candy but sometimes money or cookies. The phrase "trick or treat" means "Give us a treat or we will play a trick."
I LOVE the holidays! At Halloween I like to dress up the front door with a black light, cobwebs,plastic spiders, skeletons, and of course, lighted jack-o-lanterns and haunted music!I am a kid at heart. This year I will dress up as a witch for Halloween.(although there are those who think I am a witch year-round) I have a pretty good witch laugh and voice, if I do say so myself. I am not a very outgoing person...but put a mask on me and you change my identity! I become much less inhibited! One year we had 175 kids come to our door.
Once we went on a haunted hay ride in Vermont. It really wasn`t scarey, but we had a good time. Last year we went to Salem MA a few days before Halloween. They had several haunted areas to tour. Again, we had a good time.
Once we went on a haunted hay ride in Vermont. It really wasn`t scarey, but we had a good time. Last year we went to Salem MA a few days before Halloween. They had several haunted areas to tour. Again, we had a good time.
My best friend "Mike" and I did a costume together last year and we'll probably do it again this year, but go to Miami since we did this locally...we made out quite well in two nites taking first and most original.
Mike and I are both carpenters and we took a shopping cart (borrowed...:laughing2:laughing2 from Home Depot. We fixed it to where I could sit in the cart quite comfortably and we framed a "hood". We dressed the cart up with satin bows and lace too. I'm sure you know what a baby carriage looks like. I dressed Mike up as a lady. His dress, shoes, and accessories matched so perfectly...:laughing2 I put this really large hump in his back and to make that stay put I used a very tight shirt and filled the area with batting material. I made his face up like a ghoul of some sort and he was ready to roll (so to speak) :laughing2
Then it came time for me...Well, the purpose of the cart was to show that there was a baby in it. My body is too big to be a baby of course, so I made a baby's body out of batting material and put little socks and shoes on the bottom of the little dress. I went to a baby consignment shop and got all my stuff there...even the little cute hat for my head...Thank goodness it was one of those little hats and not one of those kind that tie under your neck...I probably would've choked to death :laughing2...Of course I had to look like my Mommy, so I did my makeup the same way...I'll try to get a picture up here. Anyway, the only thing that was "me" sticking out through the top of that thing was my head! So, it looked like I had a regular sized persons head and this little baby body....not to mention, I was puffin on a cigar using the little baby hands of the doll. When someone looked into the carriage, they freaked!...it was a long nite!!! :laughing2 but it was really worth it when people were having so much fun and being shocked by the site.
That was the first time in years that I can remember going as anything but a cat! We'll be hitting Miami this year for sure...I hope no one in Miami is reading this!
Mike and I are both carpenters and we took a shopping cart (borrowed...:laughing2:laughing2 from Home Depot. We fixed it to where I could sit in the cart quite comfortably and we framed a "hood". We dressed the cart up with satin bows and lace too. I'm sure you know what a baby carriage looks like. I dressed Mike up as a lady. His dress, shoes, and accessories matched so perfectly...:laughing2 I put this really large hump in his back and to make that stay put I used a very tight shirt and filled the area with batting material. I made his face up like a ghoul of some sort and he was ready to roll (so to speak) :laughing2
Then it came time for me...Well, the purpose of the cart was to show that there was a baby in it. My body is too big to be a baby of course, so I made a baby's body out of batting material and put little socks and shoes on the bottom of the little dress. I went to a baby consignment shop and got all my stuff there...even the little cute hat for my head...Thank goodness it was one of those little hats and not one of those kind that tie under your neck...I probably would've choked to death :laughing2...Of course I had to look like my Mommy, so I did my makeup the same way...I'll try to get a picture up here. Anyway, the only thing that was "me" sticking out through the top of that thing was my head! So, it looked like I had a regular sized persons head and this little baby body....not to mention, I was puffin on a cigar using the little baby hands of the doll. When someone looked into the carriage, they freaked!...it was a long nite!!! :laughing2 but it was really worth it when people were having so much fun and being shocked by the site.
That was the first time in years that I can remember going as anything but a cat! We'll be hitting Miami this year for sure...I hope no one in Miami is reading this!
Just thought I'd let you know that people in the UK celebrate Halloween too, - just the same way! Costumes and trick or treating etc! I don't personally celebrate it but I like to watch what goes on!
Once we had a halloween party at my friend Nan`s house. We didn`t dress up, but everyone had to bring their favorite scarey movie, and we spent the whole night being spooked by videos.
