What exactly is Halloween and like why don't some people celebrate it?

Answer 1

Celebrating holidays is fun. People should lighten up and enjoy. I love to travel and experience other holidays and festivals.

Answer 2

History of Halloween!

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Answer 3

Halloween originated as a very different holiday than it currently is. Today it is about dressing up in costumes (some scary, some not scary), going around to houses and asking for candy (trick or treat... so hopefully you get a treat, otherwise some kids will throw eggs at or throw toilet paper over the houses that don't give them candy), and about parties.

In the US, most people go to Halloween parties or trick or treat in groups. Sometimes there are costume contests, some places throw parades where people come in crazy costumes and throw candy around. We carve pumpkins to look like Jack-O-Lanterns and watch horror movies. Some people make haunted houses and decorate their lawns like a cemetery. It is really fun.

Some people in the US don't celebrate Halloween because of their personal or religious beliefs. I think they are making a whole big deal out of nothing. Just because you dress up and ask for candy doesn't mean you worship the devil, as some religious nuts would like you to believe.

Answer 4

It would take forever to explain and why listen to people off of yahoo answers, they might explain it wrong. Just look up on a search engine "History of Halloween". I watched a documentary on the history of Halloween last night on the History Channel. Here are the basics: Originated in Ireland, Pagans worshiped Gods and the earth, carved jackolanters to protect from evil spirits. The Catholic church gave it the name Halloween (originally called all saints day), The catholics instead of trying to take away pagans beliefs, tried replacing their holidays with ones directed toward Christ. I know my explanation doesn't help much but believe me, just go to google and search history of halloween and you find what you are looking for.

Answer 5

certainly, the theory that Halloween became a pagan holiday that became stolen via Christians isn't extremely appropriate. all of it began as Catholic, with All Saints Eve (All Hallows Eve), and whilst it got here to eire it mixed with the Gaelic observance of Samhain, ultimately evolving into the secular Halloween in eire and Scotland. The Irish and Scots then introduced it to united statesa., the place it replaced lots and grew to alter into what that's on the instant. a super form of what's written approximately Samhain and Halloween, particularly on the cyber web, is all incorrect, yet those fake recommendations are starting to be so properly-known that no-one even cares to income their accuracy. Halloween became not at all Satanic or evil, Samhain became no longer a ceremonial dinner of the lifeless or the call of a god, the classic Celts did no longer placed on costumes or contain black cats of their observance of Samhain, etc and on and on.... till the loopy extremist marketing campaign, all in accordance with lies, began interior the Nineteen Seventies Halloween became broadly celebrated. It became prevalent for church buildings to hold Halloween events - I bear in mind attending Halloween events at church!

Answer 6

Here is a history of halloween website and hope it helps. It is a good time for people to get together with their kids and family. There are good parties . It is a good time for people. Happy Halloween

Answer 7

It's a pagan holiday, but I forget how it originated. Some people don't celebrate it either because they don't want to or because their religion prohibits the celebration of holidays... like... I think (but I'm not sure) that Jehovah's Witnesses can't celebrate.

Answer 8

Halloween is the day before the mexican holiday Dia de los muertos(day of the souls). Some people are just supersticious and dont like oter cultures...

Answer 9

Have you heard about guy fox? I know he tried to blow up the government or set it on fire. Anyway, the moral is that we are celebrating kaos, the dead, or something like that. The religious people ,who are rather conservative, take this as a bad thing. It is worth talking about. Don't you think?

Answer 10

Aeirlys, it IS Satanic. It is a sacred holiday for them and they sacrifice innocent children. Many Christians don't celebrate it, and they shouldn't...

Look this up in Google:
Halloween: Trick or Treat?