Many say that no one forces you to celebrate Halloween, but it is presented and recommended in schools and kindergartens, traders of all kinds, becoming, over time and in Romania a business, with a pronounced religious character, being considered the biggest holiday satanic.
It’s hard to guess what the truth is and what it is, practically beyond the curtain. It is a different vaccine, it is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended. However, after the Christmas holiday, Halloween is considered by historians to be the oldest and most popular secular holiday. It is celebrated by millions of people around the world. It is said that on this night the souls of the dead visit the world of the living. In order to drive away their spirits, the living resort to different rituals: they wear masks, make noises, light fires, heat up the game, etc.
Although there are several versions of the roots and cultural traditions of Halloween, the most credible is that it comes from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain or Samuin. The name comes from Old Irish and means “end of summer”.
According to folklore, Halloween symbolizes the moment of opening the gates that separate the spirits of the dead from the world of the living. It is also said that on this night the spirits of the deceased relatives visit us and as such, we must leave them gifts at the front door to improve them and ensure the prosperity of the coming year.
Also on this day, the Celts celebrated the harvest day by organizing markets with agricultural products, by lighting sacred fires to ensure the protection of the home, by telling ghost stories, by using the skins of different animals as clothing, predicting the future, by playing different games, songs and dances, accompanied by the practice of pagan rituals. Over time, the blending of local cultures, beliefs, customs, and traditions with those of various ethnic groups resulted in a distinct American version of the holiday.
The American version of the holiday began with so-called “play parties”, public events to honor the harvests, which told stories about the dead, sang and danced. The famine of 1846 caused the whole of America to be invaded by immigrants, especially the Irish. On Halloween, they used to dig turnips, gourds, potatoes and beets to make lanterns to protect them from evil spirits. Through their culture and customs, the Irish make a significant contribution to shaping and popularizing the autumn festival, starting with the so-called “trick-or-treat” organization.
This gives rise to a new American tradition of continuous development and export. Nearly $ 6 billion is spent annually on Halloween. Trick-or-treat is nothing more than a take on an old custom of giving alms to the poor in exchange for the promise of a prayer for the souls of the dead. Then followed the parties with games, feasts and costumes, gradually transforming the celebration into a spectrum of superstitions with pronounced social and economic components. Halloween, a business like any other.
Among the symbols of Halloween can be listed: potato, beet, turnip, apple. In the 1800s, when several waves of immigrants stepped on American soil, they quickly realized that pumpkins were easier to use and process, adopting them as a symbol over turnips. Jack o’Lantern was born, the “lighted pumpkin” and sculpted in all sorts of faces in all corners of the world. what black is associated with death, darkness and evil.
The supreme symbol of the holiday, however, remains the lighted pumpkin, which has an interesting legend. The legend of Stingy Jack comes from Irish folklore. Jack tricked the devil into climbing an apple tree. To prevent him from taking revenge and thus taking his soul, he drew the sign of the cross on the trunk of the tree. The devil, furious, to avenge himself on cursing old Jack to roam the earth forever, without ever being able to enter hell or heaven. The only thing the devil allowed was to carry a lantern with him to light his way.
Until the ninth century, the Christian religion replaced the old rituals in Celtic territory, in fact trying to adapt the ancestral holidays to the Christian religious background. November 2 becomes Soul Day, also celebrated with huge fires, parades and masks of angels or devils.
All Saints’ Day was also called All-hallows or all-hallowmans, and finally Halloween. The night before All Saints became “all hallows eve” – Halloween. So the sleeping ones came to give birth in the living either fear or ridicule – creating carnival characters.
In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize Christian traditions on the Feast of All Saints, while Protestants consider holidays such as Reformation Day, a day of remembrance and prayers for unity.
The Roman Catholic Church believes that Halloween has something to do with Christianity. Most Catholic Christians do not consider that the tradition has satanic roots in origin or practice and that it does not pose any threat to the spiritual life of children: education about death and mortality, as well as the customs of Celtic ancestors is, in fact, a life lesson. valuable and part of the heritage of their parishioners.
The Orthodox Church disapproves of the celebration of Halloween. It celebrates All Saints’ Day on the first Sunday after Pentecost, where all the saints are commemorated, but also those who have fallen asleep from generation to generation. Also, in the popular belief of the Romanians, we have another night of fear, the one from November 29 to 30, known as the Night of Saint Andrew, when the living try to protect themselves from the undead by anointing the doors and windows with garlic.
In other news, the modern “Father” of the “satan’s church”, Anton Szandor LaVey, considers Halloween to be one of the biggest holidays in the satanic calendar.
However, there are voices that say that Halloween is not a danger to Christianity, it is more of a life lesson and that it would be part of the heritage of religious beliefs and religions, other specialists, Orthodox theologians, on the contrary, say that he is anti-Christian, that it is another way of attacking Christianity, being a challenge to the Orthodox faith. There are also specialists among sociologists and psychologists who say that Halloween is nothing more than a way of socializing and entertaining people, developing social and organizational skills, knowing some foreign folk elements.
So Halloween, little known 25 years ago, is now a “gold mine” for traders in most Eastern European and Eastern states. The shops sell many sweets and all kinds of gift products, and the restaurants, bars, clubs and discos offer special programs and menus for this occasion.
