Pumpkins, the symbol of Halloween
The recurrence of Halloween just passed it made me want to do a little research on this festival that does not belong to our tradition, but has also been "landed" by us for some years.
Here's what I found.
The Halloween party was born in Celtic Ireland thousands of years ago by settling on an ancient pagan ritual called Samhain , which officially sanctioned the end of summer and the beginning of the long winter months, which it then effectively replaced.
The cold season at the time presented many difficulties for the northern European peoples, who hoped to propitiate the favor and benevolence of the deities through the celebration of these liturgies.
The Celts also considered the night between October 31st and November 1st to be magical , a moment of the year when the world of the living and the afterlife met interacting with each other and the souls of the dead were free to roam undisturbed on Earth.
Hence the other name of "witches night" , while the term Halloween comes from the Scottish word “ all hallows eve “, The meaning of which is “ All Saints' Eve ”.
When in the second half of the 19th century many Irish people went to America in search of fortune, they also brought with them, as always happens in such circumstances, their own traditions, which ended up spreading and establishing themselves on the social fabric of the geographical destination of transfer; for this reason, Halloween is currently very popular overseas, in the United States and Canada, as well as in Ireland and Great Britain.
The theme of the party is definitely horror, as shown by the typical symbols and colors of the event, orange and black, the first representing the autumn harvest, the second associated with the death of summer.
It is customary for everyone, young and old, to wear masks and costumes in "bright colors" on Halloween, while only the children have the task of knocking from house to house saying the fateful phrase "trick or treat ( trick or treat) ? ”, Which is why every house, on the evening of October 31st, is provided with at least one bowl full of sweets, chocolates and biscuits.
It goes without saying that today Halloween has almost completely lost its sacred value, turning into a purely commercial event.