BLOG-A-WEEN; HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN.

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It's the season of Spooks and Halloween, as such Today is the start of Blog-A-Ween and Today's blog is on The History of Halloween.

Halloween... the 31^st of October is a celebration observed in several countries across the globe. The word Halloween or Hallowe,en is a contradiction of Hallows' even or Hallows evening, Halloween is also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve. With Halloween being the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows Day', it begins the three day observance of Allhallowtide. The time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (Hallows), the faithfully departed and Martyrs.

Halloween is also known as Saimhain (Pronounced Sowen) due tot he belief that Halloween is tied to the ancient Celtic and Gaelic harvest festivals with pagan ties and that Saimhain was Christianised by the early catholic church. It is believed by some however that Halloween and Saimhain are completely separate and that Halloween began solely as a Christian Holiday.

Today's customs tied to Halloween have been thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Gaelic-speaking countries of which are believed to have Pagan roots. A folklorist by the name of Jack Santino write “There was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between the customs and beliefs associated by Christianity and those whose religions were far older and were there before Christianity arrived”. Historian Nicholas Rogers when exploring the origins of Halloween noted “Some Folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona the goddess of fruits and seeds, or In the festival of the dead called parentalia, it's more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Saimhain which comes from the old Irish for 'summers end'”.

Saimhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, like Beltaine/Calan Mai with the end of winter and the start of spring. IT was seen as a liminal time when the boundaries of this world and the otherworld are at their thinnest. At Saimhain the Aos Si (the spirits and faeries) came through more easily and were particularly active, The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the dead returned home for one night of the year and must be appeased somehow is found to have ancient origins and found through many cultures around and throughout the world. In ancient Ireland candles would be lit and prayers were formally offered before the eating, drinking and games would begin.

Today's Halloween customs are thought to be derived from Christian dogma and practices. With Halloween being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' day on November 1^st and All Souls' Day on November 2^nd, giving the full holiday the name of All Hallows eve. The feast of All hallows on its current date in the western church could be traced to Pope Gregory the 3^rd (731-741) and the founding of an Oratory in ST Peter's for the relics “of the holy apostles and of all the saints, martyrs and confessors”. In 835 Pope Gregory the 4^th had all Hallows day moved to November 1^st. This move had suggested Celtic and Germanic influence tied to it.

By the end of the 12^th century Halloween had become holy days of obligation across Europe with several traditions such as the ringing of bells for the souls in Purgatory. It was also customary for criers (also called a bellman - is an officer of a royal court or public authority) dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls.

"Souling", the custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls, has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating. The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century and was found in parts of England, Flanders, Germany and Austria. Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives. Soul cakes would also be offered for the souls themselves to eat, or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, Allhallowtide soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating that they were baked as alms. Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593). On the custom of wearing costumes, Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh wrote: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities".

It is claimed that in the Middle Ages, churches that were too poor to display the relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead. Some Christians continue to observe this custom at Halloween today. Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom. While souling, Christians would carry with them "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips". It has been suggested that the carved jack-o'-lantern, a popular symbol of Halloween, originally represented the souls of the dead. On Halloween, in medieval Europe, fires served a dual purpose, being lit to guide returning souls to the homes of their families, as well as to deflect demons from haunting sincere Christian folk. Households in Austria, England and Ireland often had "candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes". These were known as "soul lights". Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which has often been depicted in church decoration. Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that "Christians were moved by the sight of the Infant Jesus playing on his mother's knee; their hearts were touched by the Pietà; and patron saints reassured them by their presence. But, all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all earthly things." This danse macabre was enacted at village pageants and at court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and may have been the origin of modern-day Halloween costume parties.

• Halloween Wiki

In parts of Britain these customs came under attack during the reformation as some protestants thought purgatory as a popish doctrine incompatible with their notion of Predestination. The theology of All Hallows Eve was redefined without the doctrine of Purgatory, the ghosts of dead loved ones warped into those of evil spirits. In the 19^th century several families would gather on a hillside around bonfires or thatch/straw being burned on a pitchfork and prey for those who passed. As November 5^th – Guy Fawkes day/night gained popularity the bonfires were appropriated for that holiday instead. Halloween travelled over to North America with the Anglican colonists who recognised the holiday in their church calenders. Although the puritans maintained strong opposition to the holiday. Almanacs of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries gave no indication that Halloween was celebrated in North America. It took the mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19^th century that Halloween became a major holiday in North America.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling. John Pymm writes that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church." These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday. Mumming practised in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence". In England, from the medieval period, up until the 1930s, people practised the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic, going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends. In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluwa and is practised on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas. People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.

In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a traditional Halloween custom, and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money. The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going "guising" around the neighbourhood.

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America". In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".

While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald Alberta, Canada.

The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930's, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.

A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tail gaiting), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot. In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each auto mobile is decorated with a certain theme, such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles. Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".

• Halloween Wiki

The importance of Halloween and its traditions vary greatly to those who observe it. In Scotland and Ireland traditional Halloween customs happen with a mix of lighting bonfires and firework displays. In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting lit candles in graveyards to frighten visitors. In North America and Canada Halloween has become popular and is considered a very commercial enterprise which has spread across the world to places such as Chile, New Zealand and Japan. In the Philippines during Halloween people return to heir home towns and buy candles and flowers. In Mexico and Latin America Halloween is known as “DIA DE MUERTOS” or “THE DAY OF THE DEAD”, those with Latin heritages would construct alters in their homes to honor their deceased relatives.

Halloween is my favorite time of year. I love the ghost stories, the parties the food, being able to scare people the tricks and treats and being able to dress up. pretty much what I try to do all year is perfectly acceptable for a day on October 31st.

WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

And there you have it, we'll be leaving this here for today. Please be considerate when you leave a comment. Share with others if you want or not so please stick around. OH and one more thing, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! and to all of those heading out for parties or Trick-Or-Treating, Stay Spooky and Stay Safe. 

THIS IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...