bear with me here, please. Another Halloween question.....?

Question

I was under the impression that Halloween originated from something bad, but the responses that I read to other questions don't quite sound familiar. Was there some sort of ritual or something where officials would come into town dressed up to scare and harm the people living in the towns? Maybe it was a religious thing, I am not sure. I am sorry I do not have more information. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

help??

Answer 2

You can find the TRUTH here:

http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Lies.html

Supposedly, Druids would go around in costume, ritualistically 'begging'. If the offering of the person in the home were acceptable, then the Druids would leave a jack o' lantern with a burning candle made of human fat outside the door to protect the inhabitants from the demons of this night. If the treat was not pleasing, the Druids dragged a virgin out of the home to be sacrificed...........

You will find out from this page, however, that these are lies made up by people who want to scare everyone about those of us who are Pagan.

Answer 3

To be more precise, originated from Celts and other than Christianity. Not bad, not good. So what really is being celebrated anymore than? Good question.....

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, this of course is not very Christian.

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.

Keep in mind that I've just covered some pretty large gaps of time where Christian's are rounded and killed for sport in the Roman Coliseum's then hundreds of years later and with a few changes in government they are the "Church" of the world. "Upon this rock (Italy) I will build my church" something Jesus stated to Peter which the Italians took out of context for political power and built what we have today as the holy roman church. Fast forward after the political battles between All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve, the world goes through some pretty bad times, plagues, billions die and then Europe, Asia, and America begin to build, the bungled and the botched need a good night of partying, hey remember those old days we celebrated as holidays to drink? A slow emergence of Holidays appear throughout the world Halloween being one of them. Church strictly enforces it's belief that it's a pagan holiday from the past and non-Christian, non-Islamic and non-Hassidic say hey yeah lets have a drink and wear some masks and scare the bejesus out of each other with haunted tales of terror.

Yes I am oversimplifying it but you get the drift (trying to keep this short, not doing a very good job) Fast forward.....

In the United States, the first official citywide Halloween celebration occurred in Anoka, Minn., in 1921. Over the years, Halloween customs and rituals have changed dramatically. Today, many of the young and "young-at-heart" take a more light-spirited approach. They don scary disguises or ones that may bring on smiles when they go door-to-door for treats or attend or host a Halloween party. Commericialism wins and we have a dumbed down Billion dollar Holiday that continues to have Religious and non-Religious folks fight over.

I believe there is still quite a following however that Celts dance and drink and perform pagan rituals to this day on Halloween.

Answer 4

It has too do with olden times when they would dress up to confuse bad spirits. Then it just became a fun thing too do. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
P.S.-BOO!!