https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=TbwFsnL995M

http://www.halloween-website.com/history.htm

History and origin of Halloween

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays that are celebrated today. It is one of the most popular
parties, only surpassed by Christmas. While millions of people celebrate Halloween without
knowing their origins and myths.

Some people see Halloween as a time to have fun, put on costumes, do a trick or treat and have
themed parties. Others see it as a time of superstitions, ghosts, goblins and evil spirits that should
be avoided at all costs.

As the Christian debate progresses, celebrating Halloween is a preference that is not always
considered an evil party. Halloween is often celebrated without reference to pagan rituals or the
occult.

Halloween's history
Halloween is October 31, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan festival,
honoring the dead. Halloween is known as All Hallows Eve and dates back more than 2000 years
ago.

All Hallows Eve is the night before All Saints' Day, which was created by Christians to convert
pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The catholic church honored the saints on this
appointed day.

Halloween origin

The Halloween culture goes back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Great Britain and
northern Europe. Roots was at Samhain's party, which every year was October 31 to honor the
dead.

Samhain means "end of summers" or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred
bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of a new one. Many of the practices
involved in this celebration were fueled by superstition.

The Celts believed that the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all
spirits were considered friends, gifts and gifts were left to pacify the evil and ensure that next
year's crops are plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.
https://www.livescience.com/40596-history-of-halloween.html

Samhain

Halloween, also known as Halloween, dates back approximately 2,000 years to a pre-Christian
Celtic festival held around November 1 called Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"), which means "end
of summer" in Gaelic.

Because ancient records are scarce and fragmentary, the exact nature of Samhain is not fully
understood, but it was an annual community meeting at the end of the harvest year, a time to
gather resources for the winter months and bring animals from the pastures . It is also believed that
Samhain was a moment of communion with the dead, according to folklorist John Santino.

"There was a belief that it was a day when the spirits of the dead would cross into the next world,"
Santino told Live Science. Similar moments of transition during the year have always been
considered special and supernatural, he added.

Halloween offers a safe way to play with the concept of death, Santino said. People dress like the
living dead, and fake gravestones adorn the front lawn, activities that would not be tolerated at other
times of the year, he said.
But according to Nicholas Rogers, professor of history at the University of York in Toronto and
author of "Halloween: from the pagan ritual to the night party" "there is no conclusive evidence that
Samhain was specifically dedicated to the dead or to the adoration of the ancestors.

"According to the ancient sagas, Samhain was the time when the tribal people paid tribute to their
conquerors and when the sidh [ancient mounds] could reveal the magnificent palaces of the gods of
the underworld," Rogers wrote. Samhain had less to do with death or evil than with changing
seasons and preparing for the latency (and rebirth) of nature as summer turned to winter, he said.

Although a direct connection between Halloween and Samhain has never been demonstrated,
many scholars believe that because All Saints Day and Samhain are so close together in the
calendar that they influenced each other and then merged into the celebration now called
Halloween.

Christian / Irish influence

Some evangelical Christians have expressed concern that Halloween is somehow satanic because
of its roots in pagan ritual. However, the ancient Celts did not worship anything that resembled the
Christian devil and had no concept of it. In fact, the festival of Samhain disappeared a long time ago
when the Catholic Church began to persecute the witches in their search for satanic cabals. And, of
course, black cats do not need to have any association with witchcraft to be considered evil: simply
crossing their path is considered bad luck at any time of the year.

As for modern Halloween, Santino, writing in "American Folklore: noted that" the beliefs and
customs of Halloween were brought to North America with the first Irish immigrants, then by the
great waves of Irish immigrants fleeing from the Famine of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Known on the continent of North America since colonial times, in the mid-twentieth century,
Halloween had largely become a children's party. "Since then, the popularity of vacations increased
dramatically as adults, Communities and institutions (such as schools, campuses and haunted
commercial houses) have adopted the event.

Through the ages, various supernatural entities-including fairies and witches-became associated
with Halloween, and more than a century ago in Ireland, it was said that the event was a time when
the spirits of the dead could return to its ancient haunting grounds. Dressing as ghosts or witches
became fashionable, although the festival became widespread and commercialized (and with the
arrival of mass-produced costumes), the selection of costumes for children and adults was
extended far beyond the monsters to include superheroes even princesses to politicians.
https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2017/10/30/halloween-origin/

The origins of Halloween

Halloween is an increasingly controversial occasion. Devotees say that celebrating is liberating and
romantic: an opportunity to get dressed and have fun. However, critics complain that the festival is
a clear example of the dangers of forced revelry, an excuse for morbid exhibitionism, a grotesque
show that has been shamelessly marketed. Some even consider it as the embodiment of evil.

Halloween is an abbreviated form of All-Hallow-Even: 'In the ancient Celtic calendar, the year
began on November 1, so the last night of October was' the night of the old year', the night of all the
witches , which the Church transformed into the Eve of All Saints. "

It is an occasion related to a Christian festival, but it has a pre-Christian meaning, colored by

mystical witchcraft.

Halloween marked the beginning of the year and it was a moment "when the doors between this
world and the next were open"; it was a time of 'communion with the spirits of the dead, who, like
the wild winds of autumn, could freely roam the earth'.

The medieval Celtic festival held on the first of November was Samhain is a harvest festival, and
also to "the usual games", the libations that are presented to the gods of the sea and other sacrifices.
But these are all modern interpretations (the oldest of them dates from 1888), and the truth is that
we do not know precisely what was involved in the medieval festivities.
That Christian festival has been known by several names, including All-Hallowtide and Hollantide.
It consists on the eve of All Saints, Its place in the religious calendar was established in the eighth
century by Pope Gregory III, and in the following century Gregory IV and the Holy Roman
Emperor Louis the Pious strengthened its position, making it one day sacred of obligation.

Traditionally, the eve of All Saints (October 31) has been a vigil, a time of prayer in preparation for
the holidays that follow. All Saints' Day (November 1) is a time to honor the saints.