This cute globe is on loan to me by my friend, Shell.
It's that time of year again. The ghosts and goblins will be out in search of those goodies.
Would you like to know how this came about? Why we have all those little masked faces coming to our doors? Well read on.......But first, some halloween wishes from a few friends.
BOOOOO I hope you like my ghost.
As near as I can figure out, Halloween is a "spinoff" of a Celtic festival called "Samhain", which means summer's end. It goes back about 2000 years. This festival is a celebration of the time when winter and the new year start together.
Druids, the priests of the Celtic people, performed magic rites and offered sacrifices to the gods so that life and new growth would return in the spring.
At Samhain, it was believed the doors between the underworld and this world were opened, thus allowing the spirits of the dead (humans) to return to their homes. It also let the gods and strangers from the underworld roam the earth.
Samhain lasted for two days. It began on Oct. 31st, and ended on Nov. 2.
The festival began with huge bonfires. These were lit to drive away evil spirits, honour the sun, and to thank the gods for the crops that had been gathered.
The fires also lit the way for the souls of the dead that were returning from the underworld.
Now as Christianity grew, the church leaders were not able to think of a good way to incorporate this pagan festival as they had others by renaming them. Even though the magic rites and ceremonies of the Druids were long gone, the belief that this was a time when the ghosts and spirits roamed about, and dark forces were at work was not forgotten. So in AD837 the Catholic Church decided to make Nov. 1st the day to remember all the saints that had gone to heaven and called it All Hallow's Day. Now that day took care of the ones in heaven. And not to leave out the souls that revisited their earthly homes at this time, the church named Nov. 2nd, as a day to pray for their loved ones who had passed on. They called this All Souls' Day.
People today are still superstitious, which may account for the reason this particular holiday still exists. And I might add that we like to be scared or frightened...why else would we have movies and characters like Frankenstein and Dracula?
Following are some explanations of the traditions that go along with Halloween.
