what is the story of the halloween day

[lili student]

I know every one around the world celeberates the halloween day.

(in the western culture)

what is the story about it?

when it begins?

why do you celeberate it?

give me your answers.;) ;) :)

[Granny5]

Halloween is a contraction for All Hallowed Eve...the night before All Saints Day.

From Wikiedia:
Many European cultural traditions, in particular Celtic cultures, hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe).
The modern holiday of Halloween has its origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced /ˈsˠaunʲ/ from the Old Irish samain). The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is erroneously regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The Ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them. When the Romans occupied Celtic territory, several Roman traditions were also incorporated into the festivals. Feralia, a day celebrated in late October by the Romans for the passing of the dead as well as a festival which celebrated the Roman Goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit were incorporated into the celebrations. The symbol of Pomona was an apple, which is a proposed origin for the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

[manolia]

[COLOR="Purple"]I know every one around the world celeberates the halloween day.

(in the western culture)


Not everywhere ;)

[lili student]

when I read the report of the halloween day, it is a kind of a ritual.

thank so much granny5 for this information.

manolia what you usualy celeberate in your country?

[Niamh]

Halloween was once a very important time of year here in Ireland (too comercialised now). Its the night of the year when the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnist. In Celtic mythology it is the night that the spirits of the dead from the last year are finally released and go to the afterlife, and on the 1st of november people celebrated this release by visiting the resting places of the dead. This, like many other things, was adopted by the christian church, hence why it has survived today. Up until the last millenia people in Ireland would not leave their homes on all hallow eve in fear that they will be kidnapped by the faey.
The gift thing was a tradition for hundreds of years where families would give gifts to their neighbours to celebrate the spirits of the dead.( I think)

[Shalot]

Tomorrow is a Holy Day of Obligation for all you Catholics. It's all saints day. better get to mass and eat only fish sticks and black coffee and toast without butter.

[manolia]

when I read the report of the halloween day, it is a kind of a ritual.

thank so much granny5 for this information.

manolia what you usualy celeberate in your country?

Apart from Christmas and Easter and our national days (3 of them) we celebrate various fetes of christianity (the vast majority -over 90%-of greek people are christian orthodox). The only holliday we have that is a little bit close to your halloween, is the carnival (which is somewhere on February and it is usually prior to the fast before Easter).