Halloween developed from ancient New Year festivals and festivals of the dead. In the A.D. 800's, the Christian church established All Saints' Day on November 1 so that people could continue a festival they had celebrated before becoming Christians. The Mass said on All Saints' Day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before All Saints' Day became known as All Hallows' Eve, or Hallow e'en.
The Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced SOW-wen) is probably the source of the present-day Halloween celebration. The Celts lived more than 2,000 years ago in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northern France. Their new year began on November 1. A festival that began the previous evening honored the Celtic god of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. It naturally became associated with human death. The Celts believed that on Samhain the souls of the dead were allowed to return to their earthly homes for the evening.
On the evening of the festival, the Druids, who were the priests and teachers of the Celts, ordered the people to put out their hearth fires. The Druids built a huge New Year's bonfire of oak branches, which they considered sacred. They burned animals, crops, and possibly even human beings as sacrifices. Then each family relit its hearth fire from the New Year's fire. During the celebration, people sometimes wore costumes made of animal heads and skins. They told fortunes about the coming year by examining the remains of the animals that had been sacrificed.
Druidism, the religion of the Druids, involved the worship of many gods. The Druids regarded mistletoe and oak as sacred. They believed the soul was immortal and entered a new body after death. The Romans, who conquered much of Europe between about 300 B.C. and A.D. 100, tried to stop druidism. The religion died out after the Celts became Christians in the 400's and 500's.
Many of the customs of the Celts survived even after the people became Christians. During the 800's, the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. The people made the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day. The Catholic church later began to honor the dead on November 2. This day became known as All Souls' Day.
Regional Halloween customs developed among various groups of Celts. In Ireland, for example, people begged for food in a parade that honored Muck Olla, a god. The leader of the parade wore a white robe and a mask made from the head of an animal. In Scotland, people paraded through fields and villages carrying torches. They lit huge bonfires on hillsides to drive away evil spirits. In Wales, every person marked a stone and put it into a bonfire. The people believed that if a person's stone was missing the next morning, he or she would die within a year.
During the 1600's, the descendants of the Celts became interested in their Druidic heritage. Today, several groups in Great Britain and Ireland practice what they believe to be ancient Druidism. They hold Druidic festivals at the beginning of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. A major celebration takes place at Stonehenge, a monument near Salisbury, England, that the Druids are said to have used.
In England, Halloween was sometimes called Nutcrack Night or Snap Apple Night. Families sat by the fire and told stories while they ate apples and nuts. On All Souls' Day, poor people went a-souling (begging). They received pastries called soulcakes in exchange for promising to say prayers for the dead, which may well be the origin of trick-or-treating.
Halloween in America
Many early American settlers came from England and other Celtic regions, and they brought various customs with them. But because of the strict religious beliefs of other settlers, Halloween celebrations did not become popular until the 1800's. During that period, large numbers of immigrants arrived from Ireland and Scotland and introduced their Halloween customs.
During the mid-1900's, trick-or-treating became less popular in large cities, where many neighbors did not know one another. Halloween pranks, which had once been harmless, sometimes became rowdy and destructive. Traffic accidents also became a major problem on Halloween. As a result, family parties and large community celebrations gained popularity. Today, many communities sponsor bonfires, costume parades, dances, skits, and other forms of entertainment to celebrate Halloween.
Witches and Halloween
While you may have dressed up as a witch for Halloween, you may not know that the term witch comes from the Old English word wicca, which is derived from the Germanic root wic, meaning to bend or to turn. By using magic, a witch is believed to change or bend events. Today, the word witch can be applied to a man or a woman. In the past, male witches were also called warlocks and wizards. Today, there are people who have tried to reconstruct these ancient customs. They use the word wicca to describe what they practice, and consider it a religion. Wicca is currently recognized by the United States government and, along with Druidism, is considered a legitimate religion by the U.S. armed forces.
Essentially, Wicca is a fertility religion that celebrates the natural world and the seasonal cycles that are central to farming societies. It acknowledges the Goddess as the feminine side of a deity called God. Witches worship both Goddess and God in various personifications, including ancient gods and goddesses. Rites are tied to the cycles of the moon, which is the symbol of the power of the Goddess, and to the seasons of the year. Wiccan religious holidays are called sabbats. There are four major sabbats: Imbolc (February 1), Beltane (April 30), Lughnasadh (or Lammas) (July 31), and Samhain (October 31).
Whether you consider it a religious holiday or a day for costumes and fun, have a safe, happy Halloween!
お迎えをした後は、昔買って使いこなせずにいる回転木馬（カル-セル）に乗るためにParamasu Mallへ。このモールに来るとNannは必ず「お腹減ったぁ！チキンっ！！」とTeriyaki Chikinを要求します。２階にあるFoods courtの韓国人がやってるJapanese foodコーナの照り焼きチキンが好きで毎回よる羽目になります。
昨日の日記にYunnがバス通学していることを書いたがそれについて追加します。
Nannの大好きなお友達Alexaの誕生パーティです。住所を調べるとストリート間の距離が長い（一軒の敷地が広いことを示す）・・・お金持ちのお嬢様だなぁ。NannがPlay date(家に来てもらって一緒に遊ぶこと）したいと言ってるが、うちの小さな家では恥かしいなど言ってる人がいるけど子供はそんなの気にしない（親に報告はするだろうが）はず（＾＾。
で、今日は学校のハロウィン・パレードがありました。午後から休みを３時間取って行ってきました。友人は気合いれて休みを取ったそうですが、仕事先と連絡とる必要あるので休むわけにも行かない私です。
学校を変わる前にお友達だったAnnaが家に遊びにきてくれた。前の学校では一言も喋らなかったYunnだが、AnnaとSarahは仲が良かった。言葉なしでも仲良しになれる子供だけの特権だったように思います。
もうすぐ冬を感じる今日この頃です。隣の家との境界にあるどんぐりの木から実がぼろぼろ落ちるものだから、
道路を車で走るとバリバリと音がしてたのがついこの前だったのに、今は落ち葉がすごい！ ガーデナーが掃除しても
一日で庭が一面落ち葉で埋まってしまいます。道端に落ち葉の山が見られる季節になりました。
久しぶりに予定のない土曜日だったのでモールめぐりをしてしまった。第２のテロが予想されるとFBIがアナウンスしたばかりなので一箇所に留まることは避けて、なおかつＮＹＣは近寄ることなく大手のモールも避けて小型のところを回りました。目的は先日買ったローラブレード用のヘルメットとプロテクタ（掌、肘、膝）の購入と妻のピアスの下見である（のはずだったのだが開けてしまった）。
皆さんご存知のように、マンハッタンの貿易センタービルが破壊されました。ハイジャックされたらしい飛行機が２機突っ込んで２つのビルの両方が煙を上げていたのが９時過ぎ。
今日はレイバーデー。日本に比べると格段に少ない休日の一つです。Big Holidayと呼ばれるだけあって人の移動が多い週末となります。金曜にセントルイスから帰る時に飛行機がキャンセルされたのも、人の移動が多すぎるために北東方面のフライト数を制限するのが目的だったようです。セントルイス−ニューアークだけでなく、ラガーディア、ボストン行など同時刻のフライト全てがキャンセルされてました。
ようやくナイアガラの滝へ到着しました。昨日シラキュウスに夕方ついて寒かったけど、まだ夏だからと思ってフリースも持ってなかったため何か買おうとMarshallsをネットで検索して寄り道してたら13時到着予定が16時に。。。
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