Page 58 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2015

58 Weird Hallowe’en Traditions
Weird Hallowe'en
traditions around the
world
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In Czechoslovakia,
chairs for each dead family member’s spirit are
placed by the fireside on Hallowe'en night
alongside chairs for each living family member.
GERMANY: Meanwhile in Germany, people
hide away their knives, so as to make sure none
of the returning spirits are harmed – or seek to
harm them!
JAPAN: The city of Kawasaki in Japan holds
an annual Hallowe'en costume parade. More
100,000 people watched the parade this year on
October 25 and some 2,500 people took part.
Besides the Western-style celebration of
Hallowe'en in October, the Japanese celebrate
the Obon Festival in July or August each year.
Similar to Hallowe'en, it is dedicated to the
spirits of ancestors. Red lanterns are hung up
and set afloat on rivers and seas and a fire is lit
every night to show the dead where their living
family can be found. Food offerings and
welcome fires are lit for the spirits.
PHILIPPINES: In Manila in the Philippines,
pets get in on the action too. The annual Scaredy
Cats and Dogs Hallowe'en costume aims to
raise funds for animal welfare groups. Owners
like to get creative and there are around 100
entrants each year
CHINA: The Chinese celebrate the "Hungry
Ghost Festival" in mid-July, when it is
customary to float river lanterns to remember
those who have died. Ghosts and spirits are
believed to visit the living during the festival as
the realms of both Heaven and Hell are open.
Taoists and Buddhists perform rituals to ease
the sufferings of the deceased. They also offer
up food and incense as part of the tradition of
worshipping their ancestors.
AUSTRIA: In Austria on Hallowe'en night
some people leave bread, water and a lighted
lamp on the table before going to bed. It’s
believed that this will welcome dead souls back
to earth.
IRELAND: In Ireland, a traditional food eaten
on Hallowe'en is barnbrack, a fruitcake, which
is used as part of a fortune telling game. A
muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake
that, it is said, can foretell the eater's future. If a Purgatory. The observances began the previous
ring is found, it means that the person will soon
be wed; a piece of straw means that a
prosperous year is on its way. If there is a pea,
the person will not marry that year, a stick
means an unhappy marriage or dispute, a coin
represents good fortune and a cloth or rag
means bad luck.
LATIN AMERICA: In Latin America,
Hallowe'en is known as "El Dia de los
Muertos,” the days of the dead. The three
celebration is a joyous and happy holiday that
begins on the evening of October 31 and
culminates on November 2. In the belief that the
dead return to their homes at this time of year,
families construct an altar and decorate it with
sweets, flowers and photographs. They also
gather at their ancestors’ graves to tidy them,
have a picnic and reminisce.
Halloween History
The tangled origins of the
October 31 holiday
Halloween is known and loved today as a time
to wear costumes, go door to door asking for
candy, and watch monster movies. But the
holiday's origins go back centuries to the
enactment of All Saints' Day, a Christian
holiday. Along the way, it has also picked up
traditions from Samhain, a Celtic festival
celebrating the start of winter.
All Saints' Day
The name "Halloween" began as "All Hallows
Eve." This became "All Hallow E'en," leading
to "Hallowe'en," or Halloween. It was the
evening before All Hallows Day, which was
later called All Saints' Day. (In this case,
"hallows" meant "saints.")
All Saints' Day, a feast for all martyrs
and saints, was celebrated on November 1st for
the first time during the 8th century, but customs been intermingled in the popular imagination
varied regarding its observance. This date was
officially established for all Catholic churches
in 837 by Pope Gregory IV.
Starting in the 10th century, this feast
was the eve of All Souls' Day, which soon came
to overshadow it.
All Souls' Day
Taking place on November 2, All Souls' Day
was a day of prayer for the dead. It was believed
that the prayers of those still living could
comfort dead souls, or elevate them from
evening with prayers and the ringing of church
bells.
When England moved from Catholicism
to Protestantism, the All Souls' Day bell-ringing
was prohibited and no official services were
conducted. Individuals and groups continued to
find ways of observing the day, perhaps out of a
feeling of obligation to their dead loved ones;
reports dating to the 16th century refer to people origins, or to what they see as its celebration of
praying in the fields by the light of torches or
bonfires.
Another observance involved "soul
cakes." These (and alms) were given to the poor,
in return for which the poor would offer a prayer
for the dead. The poor and their children in
some areas would go "souling," going to the
homes of the wealthy and asking for soul cakes,
fruit, and alms, a practice mentioned by
Shakespeare in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
("You have learned... to speak puling
[whiningly], like a beggar at Hallowmas.")
Samhain
November 1st also marks an ancient Celtic
festival named Samhain (pronounced sah-win),
or "summer's end." While little is known for
certain about its original observances, it appears
to have been a pagan calendar feast on the
opposite side of the year from Beltane. (Some
otherwise reputable sources claim that Samhain
is the name for a Celtic god of the dead. This is
unquestionably false.)
There has been much speculation about
the relationship between the Halloween–All
Saints–All Souls holidays and Samhain. Some
believe that the Christian observances were
deliberately moved to November in order to
take over the pagan holiday. There is, however,
no evidence for this. Others suggest that the
pagan celebration may have gained its
associations with the dead from the Christian
holidays, but this is also speculation at best.
Midway Through Autumn
A more likely explanation may be that
the turn of autumn—with the harvest finished,
the days getting colder, the nights getting
longer, and everybody getting ready to face the
winter—naturally leads to thoughts of death and
the unknowable. Much as many different
cultures mark the start of spring with light-
hearted holidays and celebrations of fertility and
renewal, autumn may attract holidays in which
people focus on the other side of the life cycle.
On the other hand, it hardly matters
whether the Christian and pagan holidays were
originally related to one another; the two have
for a long time.
Coming to America
The modern observances of Halloween
are more recent than one might expect. The
holiday had a rebirth in North America between
the late 19th and early 20th centuries, probably
through an influx of Irish immigrants. They
brought with them traditions that combined
features of the Celtic and Christian holidays,
and celebrated with feasting, divinations, and
mischief making.
Jack-o'-lanterns and trick-or-treating in
costume both became Halloween fixtures in
North America, and have since been exported
back to Europe.
Backlash
There has been a backlash against
Halloween by several groups in recent years.
Some Christians object to its allegedly pagan
witches and other "evil powers." Some neo-
pagans object to the alleged Christian takeover
of their holiday, or to what they see as a
distorted, negative view of witches and magic.
And some simply don't think it's safe for
children to go out after dark taking candy from
strangers. (The last of those groups often
proposes safer celebrations.)
Still, as long as there are cold autumn
nights, a steady supply of candy corn, and radio
stations to play "The Monster Mash," there
seems no danger of Halloween going away. []