HAPPY HALLOWEEN

By Christy Ann Navarra

Did you know that the word "HALLOW-EEN" is derived from the word "All Hallows E’en or "Holy Evening"? It was later shortened to "Halloween".
Every November 1st we observe All Saints Day. We also adopted the practice of celebrating Halloween parties (October 31). It is usually associated with eerie, scary and creepy things as children dressed as witch, vampire, werewolf, goblins, banshees, leprechauns and other scary beings.

HOW DID IT START?

Halloween is a combination of holidays of the Celts. They are members of an Indo European people who lived in France and British Isles. They started a night of worship and thanksgiving many years ago by having a festival called Samhain (SAH-win), which marked the end of the summer season. They believed that having a festival on a huge bonfire could scare a ghost and bad spirit away. When the Celts were christianized, they began celebrating All Hallows Day or (All Saints Day). These practices of Samhain were retained in every spooky Halloween celebration, which were started by the Celts.

BEHIND THE PUMPKINS

Jack-O’-Lantern is a smiling pumpkin. According to the Celts, Jack was the spirit of the pumpkins. Jack was a stingy person who couldn’t enter heaven because he was too bad. The devils didn’t want him, either! He started carrying a lantern to look for a place to go. The Celts would have carved out a smiling and happy-looking face on the pumpkin to show Jack as a good spirit and not a nasty one.

THE WEREWOLF

Europeans believed that when the moon is full, there is a monster who is like any other normal being that transforms into an ugly beast and attacks people like a wild animal called werewolf. When the moon, wanes, he goes back to being himself…until the next full moon!

WITTY WITCH

If most people worshipped God, some worship the devil. They called themselves witches. They were the ones who boasted that they could perform witchcrafts or black magic and could fly on broomsticks. The idea of witches started in European countries. On Sabbath, they are gathered around a big fire with big pots where they cooked up magical potions. Stories started that witches used black magic to make brooms fly since there were always brooms near the fire area to clean up the mess.
The Irish, on the other hand believed in monsters called banshees or spirit woman lurking in the woods who are after men who get lost there. Leprechauns however, are little dwarves who are mischievous and could be very nasty playing tricks. They are in green clothes (Irelands color) and they look very old.

A POLTERGEIST

Are you afraid of the dark? How about feeling only their presence? A sofa starts flying or a bed suddenly tossed up in the air? This phenomenon is created by a ghost’s spirit that manifests its presence by noises, footsteps, and knockings called a poltergeist.

DRACULA

Dracula is the most well known vampire. The blood-sucking creature of the night. He used to live in Transylvania, in Europe. He killed so many people that were later claimed that he loved blood and was known as the bloodsucker. An Eastern European folklore goes that a vampire sleeps in a coffin during daytime and wakes up at dusk. He could easily transform himself into other forms such as bats, smoke, shadow or an animal. The blood of maidens keeps him alive. He hates the glare of mirror (he doesn’t even have any reflection). He gets scared of crucifixes and rosaries, he could only be killed by a wooden stick pierced through his heart.
The stories behind these scary beings are mostly created by imaginations and the real essence of Halloween is to scare and drive ghosts and evil spirits away. Just be sure it’s the ghosts who get scared and not you! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com