What kind of holiday is Halloween?

In western countries, there is a Halloween every year on1October 3 1 day, which is interpreted as "Halloween" in the dictionary and translated into Chinese as: Halloween night.

People have a certain perceptual knowledge about Halloween: I know that during Halloween, many public places and even the yard at home will be covered with many decorations, such as various ghosts, pumpkin lanterns, black cats, witches' brooms, etc. Every year, children wear different Halloween costumes and go door to door begging for candy with baskets of pumpkin lanterns, saying it is "trick or treat". Besides, do you want to know more? Here we briefly introduce the origin and customs of Halloween.

First, the origin of Halloween:

Regarding the origin of Halloween, the most legendary version holds that it originated in ancient western European countries before the birth of Christ, mainly including Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places were called Drouth people. The New Year in Drouth is 1 1 month 1 day, New Year's Eve. People in Drouth let young people wander among villages in groups, wearing all kinds of weird masks and carrying carved radish lanterns (pumpkin lanterns are a late custom, and there were no pumpkins in ancient Western Europe). It was actually celebrating the autumn harvest; Some people say it is "Ghost Festival". It is said that the souls of those who died that year will visit the world on Halloween. It is said that people should let visiting ghosts see the harvest and show rich enthusiasm to them. All the bonfires and lights, in order to scare away ghosts, also illuminate the route for ghosts and guide them back.

In medieval Central Europe, there was a history of Christianity destroying pagans. However, the sacrificial ceremony before New Year's Eve never really disappeared, but appeared in the form of witchcraft. That's why we have traces of witches' brooms, black cats, spells and so on on Halloween.

Second, the generation 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.

Third, the legend of "trick or treat":

It is said that the custom of children dressing up and asking for candy from door to door today originated in Ireland. Irish pagans in ancient western Europe believed that on Halloween, ghosts would gather near their homes and receive banquets. So, after the "banquet", the villagers dressed up as ghosts and wandered outside the village to guide the ghosts away to avoid evil spirits and disasters. At the same time, the villagers also pay attention to some fruits and other foods in the front yard and backyard, and feed the ghosts to prevent them from hurting people and animals or plundering other crops. Later, this custom continued and became a joke for children to make fun of this ungrateful family.

As for the jack-o'-lantern, there are at least two versions. One is that people hollowed out pumpkins to carve faces and lit candles to disperse ghosts; The other is that the ghost lit a candle to trick people into following the ghost, so people carved a mocking face on the surface of the pumpkin to tease the ghost: Hum! Only a fool will be fooled by you. Legend has it that Jack, an Irishman, was the first person to use pumpkins, so people also call Jack-o-lantern a grimace pumpkin lantern.

Fourth, it's Halloween.

Today, Halloween has completely lost its religious superstition. It became a children's program, a young people's masquerade program.

Society has always given positive guidance to festival activities: adults are required to educate their children not to do threatening pranks, and adults are also required to take their children out together (generally, adults park their cars on the side of the road and children knock on the door for candy). Adults should let their children only go to houses with holiday decorations and lights at the door, otherwise they will not be disturbed. In addition, in the process of begging for sugar, you must always stand at the gate and wait, and you are not allowed to enter the house. The sugar you get back must be inspected by Jiaotong University before you can eat it. Families receiving children are also required not to provide homemade food or unpackaged food.

Holiday arrangements in public places and at home are voluntary. Face pumpkin lantern, white net black spider, etc. They are all holiday decorations, and there is no scary ghost color at all. Some lesbians learn to buy a pair of pumpkin or ghost skull earrings to wear at this time. If the layout of any house is too horrible, it will be stopped by the relevant parties, and the media will also be exposed for the public to blame.

Halloween costumes are also full of people, not monotonous children in GREAT GHOST. There are many channels to teach people how to make Halloween costumes. For example, make the simplest ghost clothes and cover your head with a white sheet. Don't forget to buckle two holes for your eyes. If you want to play a magician, put on black pants and a black hat, and hide a fluffy rabbit between the hat and the top of your head. Also teach adults how to dress up their children as angels, white clothes and trousers, and then how to tie a flashlight to their heads from behind; They also teach children how to dress up as their favorite cartoon characters. Of course, businessmen in the clothing and props industries have more articles to do.

There is no holiday at school on Halloween. Sometimes schools come forward to organize parties, and sometimes students who are unwilling to be lonely will hold small parties themselves; Every October, friends and family send cards to wish each other a happy Halloween, which is a popular custom. Now the development of Internet makes it more convenient and economical to send Halloween cards. Some websites have designed various Halloween cards with sound animation effects, such as www.cardmaster.com, for free use.

In a word, Halloween has become a very common seasonal festival in the West. Many people regard this as the end of autumn and the arrival of winter. After Halloween, people began to look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and even the New Year. Edit this paragraph 1. Western festivals

Halloween (Halloween Mass)

"Halloween

The pumpkin lantern looks lovely and the method is extremely simple. Hollow out the pumpkin, then carve smiling eyes and a big mouth on the outside, then put a candle in the pumpkin and light it, so that people can see this innocent smiling face from far away. This is the children's favorite toy. However, the highlight of Halloween is still at the dinner table. You should not only prepare delicious food to entertain those "children" who make trouble, but also decorate your dining table on this special festival. Don't let your guests underestimate you! This night is the most "haunted" time of the year, and all kinds of monsters, pirates, whispers 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. Now, children wear all kinds of costumes and masks to attend Halloween dances. Witches, black cats, ghosts and paper-pasted bones are often hung on the walls around these dances, while grinning or ugly pumpkin lanterns are hung on the windows and doorways. On Halloween, children will carry pumpkin lanterns, wear all kinds of strange clothes and go door to door to ask for candy, and keep saying "trick or treat". 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.

Halloween (Halloween)

It means "holy night". However, due to various reasons, Halloween has become one of the most popular festivals in a year, and many players celebrate it 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, 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, 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.

Edit the origin of this festival

The first statement

There are many versions of the legend about the origin of Halloween, the most common one is the origin of Ji Wansheng.

The ancient western European countries before the governor was born mainly included Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places were called Celts. Celtic New Year is on 1 1 month 1 day, New Year's Eve. The Celts brought young people together, wearing all kinds of weird masks and carrying carved radish lanterns (pumpkin lanterns are a late custom, and there were no pumpkins in ancient Western Europe). They wandered around the village. It was actually celebrating the autumn harvest; Some people say it is "Ghost Festival". It is said that the souls of those who died that year will visit the world on Halloween. It is said that people should let visiting ghosts see the harvest and show rich enthusiasm to them. All the bonfires and lights, in order to scare away ghosts, also illuminate the route for ghosts and guide them back. In medieval Central Europe, there was a history of Christianity destroying pagans. However, the sacrificial ceremony before New Year's Eve never really disappeared, but appeared in the form of witchcraft. That's why we have traces of witches' brooms, black cats, spells and so on on Halloween.

The second statement

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 third statement

The Celts believed that the sun god helped them grow crops. However, the sun god is attacked by an evil force called Samhain every year and imprisoned for six months. Samhain, also known as "Lord of Death" and "Prince of Darkness", came to Celtic land with cold and dark winter. The Celts were very afraid of the night of June 3 1 because they thought there were a group of evil spirits lurking anywhere. They make a fire at home to let the evil spirits leave their home. They believe that Samhain summons the dead, and they also believe that Samhain will turn the dead into something else, such as a cat. The Celts will put on terrible camouflage to drive away those evil souls. (This is the prototype of Halloween) After Rome occupied Celtic land, Roman festivals were combined with Celtic Samhain Festival on June 10 and June 3 1 day, which became the present Halloween.

Edit this holiday custom

65438+1October 3 1 is the western Halloween, and wonderful live performances, stage magic and lifelike zombie Halloween can be seen everywhere in the streets of the United States.

There are ghosts and all kinds of horror movies. In the evening, I quickly put up spider silk to help the actors who are responsible for scaring people make up. The contents of haunted houses are mostly related to movie themes, such as legends of ghosts and gods, interstellar legends, ghost stories ... The layout, makeup techniques and costumes of these scenes are all like real situations, which will definitely make people scream if they are not careful. The origin of this carnival is in 500 BC. People living in Ireland, Scotland and other places believe that the deceased will return to their former residence on 10, 3 1 to find life among the living and get a chance of rebirth. Because local residents are worried that ghosts will take their lives, when June 3 1 comes, they will turn off all the lights so that ghosts can't find the living and dress up as monsters to scare them away. With the passage of time, the meaning of Halloween has gradually become festive. So the monsters and pictures symbolizing Halloween have become lovely and quaint, such as pumpkin monsters and witches. Creative Americans dress up as ghosts as much as possible on this day, making Halloween much more interesting. 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 candles in the pumpkin to 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 "Don't be evil on Halloween! "

Play or treat ","give money or give food ". 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.