Hello and Happy Trick or Treating to all you Fabulous Bloganistas!!
How did Halloween Start???
Halloween was started thousands of years ago, by the Europeans. Read on to know more...
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Often, we do things we are supposed to, without knowing why we do them. This commonly happens in case of celebrations, customs and old traditions. This is evident from the fact that many people celebrate this festival without knowing the history and origin of Halloween.
The colours of Halloween are Black and Orange - Black indicating the end of the year or season when the dark days of Winter come in, and Orange for harvesting.
Scottish Halloween Traditions
October is a time when the seasons change. In Scotland it is a time when the nights grow darker and the wind chill rises as its lamenting howls are heard throughout the countryside. Its also the month when the Celtic people of old Scotland marked the end of their calendar year. Halloween, which the Celts called Samhain and which translates as Summers end, is celebrated on October 31st. It signifies the close of the light half of the year and the beginning of the dark part. The months ahead would be cold and harsh, so on that night great feasts were held, and bonfires lit throughout the countryside.
Free the souls of the dead
Like many ancient festivals, Samhain continued with the coming of Christianity. November 1st was henceforth to be All Saints Day. The night before was Eve of All Saints Day, or the Eve of All Hallows. But while the name might have changed, old habits persisted. Halloween was a time when witches and warlocks might walk abroad, engaged in wicked practices. In many parts of Scotland it was customary to leave an empty chair and a plate of food for invisible guests. People believed that it was the night when the souls of the dead were set free to roam. They might come into their houses and eat at their tables. The hour before midnight was the witching hour when the departed returned. Silence was marked as the chimes of midnight rang out.
Its not hard to understand why, in Scotland of all places, Halloween continued to be important. Much of the nations history involves the supernatural. From the witches of Macbeth as imagined by William Shakespeare to the real burning of women, accused of working with the devil, in a rash of satanic trials during the seventeenth century. There is a special atmosphere in many parts of Scotland even to this day where, as daylight fades, the flames of Halloween bonfires show up ancient ramparts of castles and buildings where devilish deeds once may have been done.
From pagans to parties
Robert Burns, Scotland's greatest bard, wrote extensively of how ancient beliefs had survived well into the Christian era, as he twisted stories of witchcraft and the devil with the traditions kept alive during Halloween. What is remarkable is how so much of the pagan past persists to this day. Bonfires, which once were lit to scare away the undead, still illuminate the October sky. Lanterns, which in Scotland were always carved out of turnips (Rutabagas), are fashioned for the same purpose. Until recently trick or treat was unknown in Scotland. Instead children here dressed up in old clothes, blackened their faces or pretended to be evil spirits and went guising (guysing) The custom traces back to a time when it was thought that by disguising children in this way they would blend in with the spirits that went abroad that night. Any such child who approached a house would be given an offering to ward off evil. These days children who knock on their neighbours doors have to sing for their supper. Or tell stories for a gift of sweets or money.
Old customs and the modern world
Children's parties are still an important element of Halloween. One of the most popular games in Scotland is dookin' for apples, where bairns (children) put their hands behind their backs and with their mouths try and grab apples from a basin full of water.
Apple dookin usually follows on from the game of treacle scones. Here again the hands of the children are put behind their backs and sometimes they are also blindfolded. Participants are invited to bite a scone, covered in treacle, hanging from a rope. Messy faces are usually then washed in the apple basin!
As part of the Tweed Valley Forest Festival in November 2008, the town of Peebles set the world record for the most amount of people to dook for apples at one time.
So until next time, keep an eye out for those wee ghouls and goblins - cheerio, toodle pips and all that jazz. "E"
