Halloween has been celebrated for hundreds of years, but what are the reasons or reasons behind this celebration. In order to find out just why this day is celebrated each year, let’s start with where Halloween came from and who started these celebrations of Halloween.
It is to be said that Halloween began by the Celtics during the 5th century. It was started by these ancient people as a means of celebrating the New Year which started on November 1. The night before the New Year began, October 31, was considered a sacred night because it was said the dead and the alive could cross boundaries into each other’s world. This holiday was named Samhain, also called the new year of the Celtics. This holiday officially declared the end of the summer season and the harvest season. This also marked the beginning of winter, which was viewed as the start of hard and dangerous weather.
The priests for the Celtics called Druids were responsible for holding ceremonies that made sacrificial offerings to the deities for purposes of keeping the bad weather to a minimum. During these celebratory celebrations, the Druid priest would start large bonfires and offer up sacrifices of animals in order to assure themselves of pleasing the gods and having good weather. During this period of celebrating people would dress out in costumes made from animal skins and heads. People would use this time to become fortune tellers and try to predict the future of those who sought to know. While these ceremonies were religious in nature, people still took on the superstitious traditions that followed along with these ceremonies.
Over the course of years, Halloween has come under the influence of many more cultures that added their own identity to this day. When the Romans came into power they took this holiday of the Celtics and incorporated two of their own festivals into this one. These two festivals known as Feral is and Pomona were held in October and became infused into the already traditions of the Celts. Pomona the goddess of fruit and trees was one of the gods to whom the Romans prayed for bountiful fruit and trees. It is said that the symbol for Pomona is the apple and the tradition of bobbing for apples was started because of this. The Catholics also added their own infusion into this day of festivities and sacrifice. This day called “All Saints Day” or “All Hollows Day” was in November! and is said to honor the Catholic saints. There are many influences from different cultures that brought us to what Halloween is today.
Today people still celebrate Halloween by wearing costumes and having parties with games like bobbing for apples and having the best costume contest. Halloween does not have the same ritualistic religious ceremony that it started as those many years ago.
“Sudhir Memorial Institute Liluah” best school in Howrah celebrates Halloween among students widely and wishes may all the bad things could make over good things. Although the reasons have changed today, the reason has to be because people enjoy dressing up in scary costumes and partying this ghoulish night away.
