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Leisure > HalloweenNow that the nights are drawing in and we’re facing the long hard slog to Christmas, why not arrange for yourself a tiny, weeny, little impromptu Halloween houlie to help the autumn go with a bang? What better way to spend a mild October night than with a gaggle of girlie ghouls and ghosties? Read on for all things Halloween!History lesson The last time you found out anything about Halloween was probably back in junior school and if you’re anything like us – the memory’s not what it used to be! So, to fill in the blurry bits, here’s a few interesting titbits of Halloween History to impress your girlfriend with! Did you know for instance that Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in the  world – dating back to the Celts of Britain over 2000 years ago? Way back when, the Celts used to celebrate the official end of summer on October 31 and the start of a New Year on November 1. The holiday to celebrate such an auspicious time of the year was called Samhain (pronounced sow-en). Rumour has it that on this night the Celts believed that the laws of space and time were suspended and that the spirit world was able to intermingle with the living world. So, in order to frighten off any spirits that might be wandering the earth on that night the Celts built bonfires because light, it was thought would have power over darkness. Along came the Romans and as invaders are wont to do, they assimilated the original Samhain celebrations into their own customs. The Romans already celebrated Poloma – a harvest festival, and Feralia – a celebration for the dead in October. November 1 became All Saints Day and October 31 became the vigil of All Saints or All Hallows Eve, Hallowe’en and eventually Halloween. But the roots of many of the customs and traditions that occur on Halloween, even now, can be traced back to these early times and the ensuing evolution through the centuries. Halloween Happenings Ever wondered why we do what we do on Halloween? We’ve been doing some digging for the reasons behind our favourite Halloween Happenings, and here’s what we’ve found out … Dressing up – now what could possibly prompt a style conscious Sapphy to dress up as a ghost or skeleton on October 31? Well, remember the Celts – the blurring of the spirit and the living worlds? Well, should an evil spirit happen to be wandering around the earth looking for a living person to possess on Halloween night, what better way to confuse it than to be dressed just like it? Yes, it’s a disguise! Said evil spirit won’t possibly possess you because it thinks you’re a spirit too! Inspired! Of course, now that we don’t tend to believe in spirit possession so much, it’s just an excuse to act like a big kid! Apple bobbing – I’m assured that people still do this, as well as the hang the apple on a string and try to eat it without using your hands trick. Why? Nothing to do with the Celts this time – it’s the Romans’ fault and their harvest festival Poloma. Now Poloma is a holiday in honour of the Roman goddess Pomona, the goddess of trees and fruits – trees, fruits, apples … see where we’re going with this? Hazelnuts are also apparently high on the Halloween agenda (see our superstitions/traditions list below) and again this is linked back to Pomona.  Jack-o-lanterns – maybe not so much the Celts this time, but definitely a tradition tracing back to Irish folklore. According to Irish legend Jack was a bit of a lad who managed to trick Satan into climbing a tree whereupon he (Jack) carved a cross into the trunk of the tree thereby trapping Satan above it. He then struck a deal – he would let Satan down from the tree if Satan promised to never tempt him again. Done deal. Now Jack – for whatever reason – failed to think ahead, because the tale goes that when he died he wasn’t allowed into heaven because of his bad-boy past, and the devil wouldn’t let him into hell because … well, quite simply Satan bore a grudge! Instead Satan gave him a single ember to light his way through the perpetual darkness that Jack now found himself in. The ember was placed inside a carved out turnip so it would last longer. So there we have it, the Irish used turnips as ‘Jack’s Lanterns’ originally and when they found refuge on American shores from the potato famine found pumpkins far more plentiful in supply so began to use those instead to carry on the tradition. Fire – this was the light that overpowered the dark in Celtic times and original customs saw bonfires being lit to ward off the evil spirits that were afoot on Halloween. Fires and candles became important ingredients for a safe Halloween and became assimilated into other customs too for instance, candles burning inside Jack-o-lanterns and being placed outside homes to ward off witches and ghosts. Trick or treating – this one seems to be an amalgamation of a 9th century Christian tradition called souling and an old English tradition called Mischief Night. Souling was the ritual of begging ‘soul cakes’ from people. The more ‘soul cakes’ a beggar received, the more prayers they would say on behalf of the donors’ dead relatives. The prayers would aid the souls of the dead relatives’ get to heaven. Mischief Night saw children playing practical jokes on their neighbours and later, dressing up as ghosts and ghouls in order to frighten nervous householders into giving them food or money. Any neighbour failing to give them something would have a practical joke played on them. Halloween Superstitions We’ve found some brilliant superstitions, many of which are all about a girl finding out things about her future husband. For our bisexual readers this may well be of interest for you … but for the rest of you we’ve decided that these types of rituals also apply to same sex desires! Why? Well, because we can! So, remember on Halloween …
If that doesn’t work try this one:
Okay, we’re getting desperate now – apples again:
So, there you have it, a host of Halloween must-knows. You are now equipped to not only find out who your future loved one will be, but when you find her, to be in a position to blind her with your brilliance. Not everyone will know these things! |
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