Introduction to Halloween monsters

In western countries, there is a "Halloween" on June 3 1 every year, which is interpreted as "Halloween" in the dictionary and "Halloween night" in Chinese translation. Halloween is a traditional festival in western countries. This night is the most haunted night of the year, so it is also called "Ghost Festival".

More than two thousand years ago, the Catholic Church in Europe designated 1 65438+1October1as "Halloween". "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 dead souls to take life, so people put out fire and candlelight on this day, so that dead souls can't find living people and dress up as monsters to scare away dead souls. After that, they will rekindle the candlelight and start a new year's life. Legend has it that Celtic tribes also had the custom of killing the living to commemorate the dead on June 3 10.

By the 1 century, the Romans who occupied the territory of Celtic tribes gradually accepted the custom of Halloween, but the barbaric practice of burning the living to sacrifice the dead was abolished. Roman festivals celebrating harvest were combined with Celtic rituals, wearing terrible masks and dressed as animals or ghosts to drive away demons wandering around them. This is why most people in the world celebrate Halloween with strange costumes today. With the passage of time, the meaning of Halloween has gradually changed, becoming active, joyful and festive. The idea of the deceased seeking the reincarnation of body double was gradually abandoned and forgotten. Today, most images and pictures symbolizing Halloween, such as witches and black cats, have friendly, lovely and interesting faces.

The origin of Halloween

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 Romans with nuts and apples merged with Celtic's 10+3 1 to form Halloween.

Tales of Halloween

Halloween means "holy night". However, due to various reasons, Halloween has become one of the most popular and popular festivals in a year, and many players celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm.

Halloween on June 3 1 is actually a festival to praise autumn, just as May Day is a festival to praise spring. Druids, priests of ancient Gaul, Britain and Ireland, had a grand festival to praise autumn, which started at midnight on June 3 1 and lasted all day 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, just thinking of such a ghostly party was enough to make those simple-minded fools at that time tremble with fear and can't believe it. 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, some people in some isolated areas of Europe still 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 Jin Xiong's bonfire. Our own 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 Qiu Guang, but turn it into a festival for elves, witches and ghosts.

Facial makeup is a traditional Halloween program.

The emergence of the word "Halloween"

Many ethnic groups hold a celebration party on Halloween, which is also called Halloween, Halloween, Halloween or Halloween. Finally, the agreement evolved into "Halloween" and the Chinese translation became Halloween night.

Halloween custom-trick or treat.

An interesting content of Halloween is "trick or treat", but this custom did not originate from Ireland, but from the Christian church in Europe in the ninth century. At that time,165438+1October 2nd was called "All Souls Day" by Christians. On this day, believers trudged in the backcountry, begging from door to door for "soul bread" made of flour and raisins. It is said that people who donate cakes believe in the prayers of church monks, hoping to get God's protection and let their dead relatives enter heaven as soon as possible. This tradition of begging from door to door has evolved into a game, with children begging for candy from door to door with pumpkin lanterns. When they met, the children dressed as ghosts threatened to make trouble without inviting them to dinner, but the host naturally dared not neglect and repeatedly said, "Please eat! Please eat! " At the same time, put the candy into the big pocket that the child carries with him.

There is also a story about pumpkins carved into lanterns. This comes from ancient Ireland. The story is about a man named Jack. He is drunk and likes playing practical jokes. One day, Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and then carved a cross on the stump, threatening the devil not to come down. Then Jack made an agreement with the devil to let him come down from the tree on the condition that the devil promised to cast a spell so that Jack would never commit a crime. After Jack died, his soul could neither go to heaven nor go to hell, so his ghost had to wander between heaven and earth with a small candle.

In the ancient Irish legend, this small candle was placed in a hollowed-out radish, which was called "Jack's lantern", while the ancient radish lantern evolved to today, and it was made of pumpkin lantern. It is said that soon after the Irish arrived in America, they found that pumpkins were superior to radishes in source and carving, so pumpkins became Halloween pets.

Children's favorite festival

Halloween is a good time for children to have fun. In the eyes of children, this is a festival full of mystery. As night falls, the children can't wait to put on colorful costumes, strange masks and a "Jack-o-lantern" and run out to play. "Jack-o 'lantern" looks very cute. The way is to hollow out the pumpkin, carve smiling eyes and a big mouth on the outside, and then put a candle in the pumpkin and light it, so that people can see this innocent smiling face from far away.

After packing, groups of children dressed as monsters ran to the neighbor's door with "pumpkin lanterns" in their hands, threatening to shout "trick or treat" and "want money or eat" If adults don't give candy or change, those naughty children will do as they say: OK, I'll play a trick on you if you don't give it. Sometimes they soap other people's doorknobs and sometimes color other people's cats. These little pranks often make adults laugh and cry. Of course, most families are happy to entertain these naive little guests. Therefore, on Halloween, children are always full and have bulging pockets.

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.

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Religion, culture, festivals, customs, history