Hello my fine feathered friends of the Woo…. Tonight is supposed to be the Big WOOOoooo wooooo Night of nights… But just where does the word Halloweeeeeeen come from..
It comes from All Hallow Even. The night before All Hallows Day. Therefore, Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day. It is said that from 1066 to 1485, there was no evidence that the 31st of October was anything other than the eve of All Saints Day.
‘Halloween’ dear feathery family, was kind of highjacked from the Celtic Feast of Samhain, which is pronounced “ sow-in “. This feast marked the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter. It was a time when they turned to their Goddesses and Gods, seeking to understand the cycles of life and death.
So why have we now got this scary modern-day tradition? Like most things in this world it’s been inverted, and altered adding a little more fear, instead of a celebration of a harvest and the passing from the old earth as Winter approaches, leaves die on trees, and the colder dark nights enshroud us. and so, from around the 19th Century it has been associated with ghostly ghoulish things.
Due to the facts that many people died in the winter months, and the people were so dependent on the natural rhythms of the Earth, they believed that this day the boundary between the living world and the dead, which opened up gateways/portals. On this day the dead could invade the world of the living and priests would be able to predict the future and talk to the dead more easily.
So, to pay homage to these ‘Gods’ and ‘Goddesses’ they would light bonfires sacrificing the weakest animals, which were culled, so in the Spring their herds would only be of good stock, so they dressed up in their costumes of animal skins and heads. Yes folks! And so we now dress up in our costumes too..
And we still Cull herds in our modern world, though we give it pretty names, like ‘reduce the numbers’ or ‘selected breeding programmes’ it is still killing animals to create the best breed within herds of many four legged.
I hear you Two legged species are under threat too .. Thank goodness I am only an Owl.🦉😊
These Celtic rituals was a time when the Druids and Soothsayers would gather predicting what kind of harvest would be predicted for the following year. And whereby Kings in their castles and nobility, in such places like Ireland, held feasts that lasted a week for this very purpose, where predictions would be forecast of farming patterns, hunting, and Storms and the energies of Moons eclipses. And whether the Kings lands would be free from plotting invaders.
The Celts believed that evil spirits came in the long winter months of darkness and that at night the vale between worlds of the living and those in spirit, were at their weakest. And so therefore would be most likely to be seen on earth.
So, they built bonfires to frighten the spirits away, and they danced and celebrated around these fires. The fires were supposed to bring comfort to those souls who were in purgatory and people prayed for them as they burned the piles of straw left over from the harvest of corn and wheat.
Those in Scotland and Ireland where the Celtic influence was more pronounced kept the strongest traditions of burning fires. So, in the seventh century, after Christianity had spread into the Celtic lands, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day, a day to honour saints and martyrs.
The celebrations were called All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas and the night before became All-Hallows Eve, eventually becoming our Halloween. And it is not hard to see that ALL SOULS Day, now practiced on November 2nd is a continuation of the pagan beliefs of Samhain.
Interestingly in 1605 in England, the fires were moved to November the 5th ( Bonfire Night ) where the anniversary of the ( Gunpowder plot) was celebrated from the foiled attempt of Guy Fawkes to blow up the houses of parliament. ( I wonder what would have happened had he succeeded?) So Halloween and Bonfire night have a common origin, from pagan times when evil spirits had to be driven away by fire and noise..
In fact on Nov 5th, bonfire night, are we still celebrating our ancestor’s pagan Samhain? As we burn the old wood and leaves, and make much noise as we set our fireworks off.?
Despite it being depicted as a celebration of the saving of the houses of parliament from a foiled Terrorists Plot, I.e. Guy Fawkes. There are many merged traditions including those of the Native American traditions where they celebrate harvests and honour their dead..
At the turn of the century, 1900, we were encouraged by the media of the day to have more of a celebration, and less of the ghoulish and frightening aspects of Halloween.
Parades and festivities were encouraged. Sometime between 1920 and 1950 the tradition of trick or treating was revived, as a way for the whole community to share the holiday traditions. The tradition of pumpkin carving and Pumpkin Pie came from Native Americans.
The Native Americans had a staple food before the first settlers arrived in America, the pumpkin. They got this plant from South and Central America, where seeds have been found dating back thousands of years. The immigrants who arrived soon used the pumpkin in many dishes including one that they would scoop out the seeds and gunk from inside and bake it with milk honey and spices and then eat it, thus the pumpkin pie is born. Along with the tradition of the Halloween lantern, carved from the pumpkin..
So dear my dear fine friends, enJOY your Pumpkin Pie and ADD your LIGHT to that Samhain Lantern, For the world on this Eve needs all of your Wonderful Light to shine into those darkened places
🎃🦉 Lots of WOOOooooooosssss your way.. Love Cyril 🦉🎃
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