What holiday is Halloween?

Halloween, also known as Halloween, is a traditional festival in the west, which is held in 10 every year.

Holiday customs:

The night before Halloween is the most haunted time of the year, and all kinds of monsters, pirates, alien visitors and witches are out in succession. Before the Christian era, the Celts held a ceremony in late summer to thank God and the sun for their kindness. At that time, fortune tellers lit and practiced witchcraft to drive away monsters who were said to be wandering around. Later, the harvest festival celebrated by the Romans with nuts and apples merged with Celtic 10 and 3 1. In the Middle Ages, people put on costumes in the shape of animals and put on terrible masks to drive away ghosts in the dark. Although Christianity later replaced the religious activities of Celts and Romans, the early customs still existed. Children wear all kinds of costumes and masks to attend the Halloween dance with a playful attitude. Witches, black cats, ghosts and bones are often hung on the walls around these dances, and grinning or disgusting pumpkin lanterns are hung on the windows and doors.

On Halloween, children will carry pumpkin lanterns, wear all kinds of strange clothes and ask for candy from house to house, and keep saying "trick or treat" (meaning: "trick or treat." If you refuse to give candy, the children will be very angry and punish you in various ways, such as taking out the garbage in your house until you are willing to give them candy. Traditionally, people dress up as elves and beg for food from door to door. Their belief is to give fairy worship and food to please them, otherwise they will play tricks on them, such as: chimneys are blocked, cattle and sheep are lost, and yellow buds and white flowers are thrown at them. Another way to fool or scare away these evil spirits is to dress up like them, so that they believe that evil spirits will not hurt them.

Since17th century, the tradition of celebrating Halloween has gradually disappeared in southern England, and was replaced by a gunpowder plot held on10.5. But Halloween is still very popular in Scotland, Ireland and northern England. It was not until the beginning of 2 1 century that southern England began to celebrate Halloween again, but the way was completely American.

The most popular game on Halloween is "biting apples". In the game, people let the apples float in a basin filled with water, and then let the children bite the apples with their mouths instead of their hands. Whoever bites first wins.

Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic New Year. At this time, it is also the time to worship the dead. While avoiding the interference of evil spirits, they also worship ancestors and kind gods with food and pray for peace through the severe winter. That night, children will put on makeup clothes and masks and collect candy from house to house.

The origin of the festival:

More than two thousand years ago, Christian churches in Europe designated 1 65438+1October1as "All Hallows' Day". "Saint" means saint. Legend has it that since 500 BC, Celts living in Ireland, Scotland and other places have moved this festival forward by one day, that is, 65438+1October 3 1. They think that this day is the day when summer officially ends, that is, the beginning of the new year and the beginning of the severe winter. At that time, people believed that on this day, the dead souls of the deceased would return to their former homes to look for all beings, so as to be reborn, which was the only hope of being reborn after death. Living people are afraid of the ghost of the dead to take life, so people put out the fire and candlelight on this day, so that the ghost of the dead can't find the living people. They dress up as monsters to scare away the ghost of the dead. After that, they will rekindle bonfires and candlelight and start a new year's life.

Halloween is actually a festival to praise autumn, just as May Day is to praise spring. Druids, priests of ancient Gaul, Britain and Ireland, had a grand festival to praise autumn, which lasted from midnight on1October 3 1 day to the next day. They believe that on that night, their great death shamanism summoned all the ghosts of those who died that year, and these evil spirits would be punished for being born as animals. Of course, as long as the thought of this ghostly party was enough to make those simple-minded fools tremble with fear at that time. So they lit a bonfire and watched these evil spirits closely. That's how the saying that there are witches and ghosts everywhere on Halloween comes from. Until now, in some isolated areas of Europe, there are still people who believe this is true.

The ancient Romans also had a festival in 1 65438+1October1to pay tribute to their goddess Pomona. They roasted nuts and apples in front of the blazing bonfire. Our Halloween seems to be a mixture of ancient Roman festivals and Druidic festivals.

Halloween activities used to be very simple, and most of them were held in churches. But all over Europe, people regard Halloween as a good opportunity to have fun, tell ghost stories and scare each other. So people no longer use this festival to praise autumn, but let it become a festival of monsters.