Halloween is celebrated on 31 October every year. It is the modern name of an ancient Celtic holiday, ÔÇÿSamhain. People celebrate this day as the spiritual beginning of new year.
In ancient Britain & Ireland, the Celtic festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day & the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies & demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favourable time for divination concerning marriage, luck, health & death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.
Celebration: Halloween is usually celebrated amongst family, friends and, sometimes, co-workers. However, some areas hold large community events. Parties and other events may be planned on October 31 . Adults may celebrate by watching horror films, holding costume parties or creating haunted houses or graveyards. Many children dress up in fancy costumes and visit other homes in the neighbourhood. At each house, they demand sweets, snacks or a small gift. If they do not get this, they threaten to do some harm to the inhabitants of the house. This is known as playing ‘trick-or-treat’ and is supposed to happen in a friendly spirit, with no nasty or mean tricks being carried out. Some families carve lanterns with ‘scary’ faces out of pumpkins or other vegetables or decorate their homes and gardens in Halloween style. These were traditionally intended to ward off evil spirits.
Symbols: There are various symbols associated with Halloween. These include the spooks, ghosts and walking skeletons that represent the contact between the spiritual and physical world and between the living and the dead. Human figures that are often represented on Halloween are witches and wizards,bats, black cats and spiders.These animals are associated with the night and darkness. There are also a range of objects associated with Halloween. These include blood, fire, gravestones, pumpkins, bones and skulls. They all have connections with death, the spirit world or protecting property from evil spirits.
Foods: Bonfire toffee, candy apples, candy corns, candy pumpkins, peanuts, soul cakes, roasted pumpkin seeds etc. are the foods associated with Halloween.
