Halloween - Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask.

Why Bats n' Cats
n' Witches Brooms say it's Halloween!

Jack-O Lantern • The age old practice of carrying home embers in a hollowed-out turnip burns strong. In an Irish folk tale, a man named Stingy Jack once escaped the devil with a turnip lantern. When the Irish came to America. Jack's turnip was exchanged for the more easily carved pumpkin, and Stingy Jack's name lives on.

Black Cat • Thought to be reincarnated beings since ancient times, black cats were considered "familiars" witches in disguise, in the Middle Ages, which led to a cruel practice of burning them.

Trick-or-Treat • This comes from a medieval practice called "souling" when children begged for cakes on All Souls' Day and recited prayers for the dead relatives of whomever gave them treats.

Witch • Most ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, had myths and folklore about those capable of magic. As Christianity spread, witchcraft got a bad name and was linked to devil worship.

Witch Broom • An old corn dance, a fertility rite usually done during the full moon, involved jumping over a stick or broom. It was an easy leap to connect this dance to witches riding broomsticks across the full moon. Other tales say witches hid wands by disguising them as brooms.

Witch Hat • Some experts say the pointy hat was just the style worn by peasant women - those often accused of witchcraft - in 16th century Europe. For million today the Wicked Witch of the West's headgear has been confirmed as scary witch wear.

Including excerpts from a USA News article by Kenneth C. Davis

Halloween

Times were simpler when Nana was a girl, back in the 1950s. The Halloween party for our church youth group was the most anticipated event on our autumn calendar. We got together in the church basement, stuffed ourselves with candy and cupcakes, bobbed for apples, played games and took the simplicity of our lives completely for granted. We went Trick or Treating - door to door in the neighborhood - wearing homemade costumes. We were in good hands as we greeted our neighbors, eager little beggars, petitioning for more sugary loot. "Halloween" was all very safe, secure and innocent.

Today, Halloween is, first and foremost, a huge retail opportunity second only to Christmas in commercialism - and is in every way so much more complicated! Cities like New York and San Francisco celebrate with major parades where more adults than children throng the streets in full costume. Costuming has become an extravaganza of licensed characters such as Spider Man, Yoda and Sponge Bob. Beer is more widely accepted as a Halloween treat than candy corn. As far as Halloween parties for church youth groups go - many Christians equate the day with witchcraft (the evil kind) and wickedness. It's the last thing they would consider proper entertainment for their children. Trick or treating offers some sick-o the opportunity to slip a drug laced apple or razor blade stuffed candy bar into a child’s hands! "Halloween" is downright dangerous!

So what's the real story? Is Halloween a day of innocent merriment or a celebration of sinister forces? History proves it is, in fact, a little of each.

Born from pagan traditions more than 2,000 years ago, Halloween grew out of a Celtic celebration making the onset of winter's gloom. Called Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sow-een), it combined the Celts' harvest and New Year festivals, held in late October and early November by people in what is now Ireland, Great Britain and throughout Eastern Europe. It was tied to the seasonal cycles of life and death, as the last crops were harvested and livestock was brought in for winter for slaughter.

The Celts saw Samhain as a fearful time, when the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead broke and spirits walked the Earth. Going door-to-door, children collected wood for a sacred bonfire that provided light against the growing darkness. During this fire festival, the Celts wore masks, often made of animal heads and skins, hoping to frighten off spirits. As the celebration ended, families carried home embers from the communal fire to relight their hearth fires.

See any similarities here? It looks as if costumes, trick-or-treating and jack-o'-lanterns all got their start some 2,000 years ago around an Irish bonfire.

Early Christianity took a dim view of these “heathen rites. Attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a church-approved holiday the seventh century Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day to honor saints and martyrs. Then in 1000 A.D. the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, A Day to remember the departed and to pray for their souls. Even still, people continued to celebrate the pagan holy days like Samhain, costumed as angels and devils, with bonfires and parades. Together the three celebrations (All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day) were called Hallowmas, and the night before came to be called All-hallows Evening, eventually shortened to “Halloween”.

Merged with Christianity, these Celtic rituals held sway in Europe for centuries. And when million of Irish and Europeans emigrated to America, they brought along the traditions.

Halloween is deeply rooted in myths – ancient stories explaining the season and the mysteries of life and death. Myths have always been the way people make sense of their world. That’s why even Halloween’s ancient stories live on so vividly in modern movies, language and holidays.