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The History of HALLOWEEN aka: All Hallows Eve
All
Hallows Eve - "Hallow" is
an old word meaning "holy & "e'en" is Scottish for evening.
Holy Evening. Halloween has it's origins in the British Isles, & with the
Celts who lived there. They celebrated a fall festival called Samhain (SAW-win).
This festival not only celebrated the end of summer's growing season, it also
marked the beginning of the cold, hard, lean months to come.
The
Celtic clans took their ancestry very seriously & it was important to start
such a time with the support of their entire clan both living, dead & those
yet to be born. Those who had died were celebrated by the large feasts. Death
was commonplace & never far away, but always to be highly honored. During
this night the great shield of ‘Skathach’ was lowered, allowing the spirits
of their clan to enter their world to celebrate their family’s renewed
strength. This was a time to respectfully remember the dead who wandered about
freely this night.
"Souling"
took place on November 2nd in the 800's, the begging for soul cakes, or
offerings, especially blessings of prosperity and protection against bad luck.
Those who begged the soul cakes were asking for prayers for the deceased.
Practical jokes and pranks were played upon the houses that did not participate.
The visitation of fairies occurred as well, treats were left on the porch in
order to gain favor with the "wee folk" & to avoid similar fates
to a household.
In
the 9th century, the Catholic Church named November 1 " All Saint's Day
". The night before, October 31, was known as All Hollow's Eve. The people
believed the souls of the dead came to visit their former home on this night.
Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the seasons changed. On
April 30 - the eve of May Day & on October 31 - All Hallow's Eve.
The witches arrived on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. Superstitions told of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people. They changed themselves into different forms & caused magical mischief.
"Witch" comes from the word 'Wicca' meaning 'wise one'. If you wanted to meet a witch, you had to put your clothes on wrong side out & you had to walk backwards on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch. The black cat has long been associated with witches. It was believed that witches could change into cats. Some people also believed that cats were the spirits of the dead. Black cats became a Halloween symbol as it was believed spirits could return in the body of an animal. It's been said that witches used the black cat for her spirit companion, or familiar.
