Halloween is one of those morphed holidays, like Christmas, that started with the Celts.
The celts celebrated it as Samhain (sow-in). Originally it was just a gaelic festival celebrating end of harvest and winters start. They beleived the curtain between the living and the dead blurred on this night. They lit huge bonfires and wore masks to disguise themselves from evil spirits free roaming.
The Christians had other uses for the date. November 1st became All Saints Day, where saints and martyrs were honored. Later on, November 2 became All Souls Day, to include the dead in the mix. The night before All Saints Day became All Hallow's Eve, when Christians prayed and fasted. All Hallows' Eve, once a time of prayer and fasting, among Christians, and a time of masks and bonfires, to hide out from evil spirits by the Celts, became Halloween.
Trick or treating came from the medieval tradition of souling, where the poor went door to door, to receive food in exchange for prayers.
People initially carved faces that held hot coals in turnips and potatoes to ward off evil spirits. Now we carve faces into pumpkins and mostly we're hoping gangs of badly parented teens will stay away. Now some wear masks to scare people but the Celts wore them to disguise themselves from evil spirits. I think evil spirits would sprint not just run from some of today's costumes, like the dinosaurs and kids in banana suits that make me laugh out loud to see.
Whatever its history, today's Halloween is fun for kids of all ages. If we got to trick or treat at all, as kids, once home, we could choose one piece of candy collected only, to eat. The rest my parents would take and claim it was for later and put it into the locked basement freezer. We never would see it again. We also sometimes wondered what else might be in that locked basement freezer. Halloween was not fun in our house.
This year, not many houses I've passed have decorations up. I figure its the tight economy. Nobody has extra money these days around here. Not anyone I know at least. Even Halloween candy is very expensive at the stores. I got a small mixed bag of candy last night, in case kids come by, to hand out, and if too many come by, I'll shut out the lights once what I have is gone.
I saw a story about this broom maker business down in Eugene. They make functioning brooms and also brooms for witches and warlocks or anyone that would like or needs a real broom. It was such a Eugene story. Eugenians like their oddities and are good at supporting local businesses.
Check out Eugene's broom makers.
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