We all talk about Halloween lately. We decorate, we bake Halloween themed cupcakes, we design our costumes or sort out costumes for the kids online or go in the shop to buy them… But what does Halloween actually mean, what does it stand for and why do we celebrate it?
I found this well explained info-graphic online while browsing for Halloween desktop wallpaper for my laptop.
Halloween is also known as “All Hallows’ Eve”. It is the last day of the Celtic calendar.
We celebrate it every year on the night of the 31st October. It is the oldest holiday.
“All Hallow’s Eve” is the evening before “All Saints Day” which was created by Christians to convert pagans and is celebrated on the 1st November.
Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on 31st October to honor the dead.
Samhain signifies “summers end” or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one.
The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.
Do you celebrate Halloween every year? What do you do for it apart from Trick-Or-Treating?
What a great infographic you found! This post is fascinating 🙂 we had a feeling it was about harvest and crops…Now we can educate all our friends 😉 Thanks for sharing! #HalloweenLinky
How fun to see the long history of Halloween!
We don’t celebrate halloween really, i don’t like the spooky spirity aspect of it but we do do a few fun loosely based halloween crafts like pumpkins and some messy play! 🙂