[Northkeep] Halloween

[Rene Shepard]

>
> All of these reply's are part of the metamorphosis of the holiday.


Most cultures with a definite seasonal change (remember in the more
temperate areas around the equator are much less extreme in seasons) have
some kind of "circle of life" philosophy that predates writing. Spring
representing birth and renewal, summer fecundity and strength, and
fall..fall is the harbinger of winters sleep or the death of the year.. Also
remember that the year used to change at the beginning of spring.. "April
Fools" day..

Much of our culture is derived out of the Greek and Roman traditions with
the pagan overtones. Tho some will argue the point. The combination of
begging and dressing up in pagan style costumes that were adopted for Mardi
Gras in Euorope is blurred but probably happed around the early 1700's.

Beggars and homeless people took the day to go around begging food and
clothes to get them through the winter. This became wassailing at Christmas
as well.

The Scots and other Celts used large turnips hollowed out and carved as a
candle holder to make this trek through the community.  They found pumpkins
in the new world and they were more convenient.

As with most holidays, All Hallowed's Eve started out as a pagan ritual to
scare away the spirits, fairy, elves..SIDS was as bad then as is now, down
syndrome existed..changlings they were called and Samhain existed as a means
of fighting back against the unknown.

More evidence of the pagan roots are the games played in parlors and barn
dances and harvest festivals. Peeling an apple in one long strip and
throwing over the shoulder to divine the name of ones future spouse,
candling in a dark room to catch a glimpse of a future husband..all kinds of
scrying..most often to see whom one would marry was terribly important.

Another tradition that was lost to Christmas was the making of a "kings
cake" or *báirín breac (Wiki). *it was a ring baked in a fruit cake and the
person who found it would know who they married later in the year. This
became the "bean" at Yule in Weisenfiur's Yule revel, where the finder
becomes the King and Queen of misrule. It's often found now at Mardi Gras
mundanely.

With the advent of social reform the holiday has morphed from a necessary
for beggars to a frivolity for children and is considered bad form for
adults to participate in the begging.

At least this has been some of my understanding of some of the history.

Taffline gwrg Augustus
aka
Rene Shepard.