THIS IS HALLOWEEN
Whenever I hear someone talking about Halloween, I feel like thousands of pictures are hitting my mind at once. For example, I think of children, dressed up in cute costumes, going from door to door and asking for Sweets, or I think of all those pumpinks looking like ghosts infornt of the doors, and last but not least I think of one of my favourite movies "Nightmare before Christmas" and start singing the theme song. :-)
Although not really an Austrian holiday, due to the rising influence of the American lifestyle on our daily lives, Halloween becomes more and more popular and while some of us are deadly against bringing a new tradition to our counrty, I simply wish to be eight years old again and dress up as a ghost, asking for Sweets.
No matter if people like Halloween or not, it is a fact that only a few of us are aware of the historical background, which is also quite an interesting one.
While most of us consider Halloween to be an American holiday, it actually has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival, which was called "Samhain". "Samhain" was a festival where Celtic people celebrated the end of autum and believed that, on this day, the season of life meets the season of death. They wore masks or costumes in order to appease the evil spirits.
The Christian Church named the 1st of november " All Saints Day", also know as "All Hallows Day". On this specific day they honored their Saints and the night before was called "Hallows Eve", which is already close to Halloween.
When we think of the Halloween, we think of a typical American holiday, but acutally immigrants brought this tradition to the USA in the nineteenth centruy and there it developed to be Halloween as we know it now- one of the most commercial holidays, only Christmas comes first.
Maybe not refered to as "Halloween", but all over the world the night between the 31st of october and the 1st of november is somehow special. In Spain and Latinamerica, for example, inhabitants usually celebrate this day for 3 days and its know as " El Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead). They celabrate in order to honor the souls of their dead relatives. Therefore they construct an altar and bake a tratidional bread which looks like their dead relatives and is eaten on the 3rd of november, when the whole family has a picnic together.
To me, Halloween is one the best holidays all over the year, apart from Christmas. Now, after being informed about the historical background, I consider it to be even a bit more interesting and worth celabrating. :-)
Here is the link to the theme song of "Nightmare before Christmas". Hope you enjoy. :-)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvdAJYvofI
No comments:
Post a Comment