Halloween

You only went halfway back. It was originally the pagan holiday Samhain denoting the last day of the harvest ( anything left unharvested after Samhain was left to the fey )& the night when the gate between the physical & spiritual world was the most open. Adults used to dress up & go Wassailing ( you might be familar with the term from the Christmas song though its actually ment for halloween ) & go door to door having appetizers & an alcaholic drink ( called wassail from which the activity gets its name ) while throwing sticks & stones into the trees & shadows to scare the evil spirits away. In later years the kids took over the task as the parents stayed home.

Was it not around the time Martin Luther nailed up the 95 theses? I remember reading about that when I was doing my church's bulletin, and I included that in it because some Christians talk about the wrongness of Halloween. But there is a deeper aspect to it when you go back to Martin Luther who kind of sparked the Protestant Reformation.

Yes I believe that the tradition that people believe during halloween continues and will continue for a very long time. Every kids in our place believe that during halloween there would be a ghost that would appear, or some of that kind. I cant help but smile because I was once a victim of this belief. I guess its because kids easily believe and like on believing that.

I live in a small town where they decided to celebrate Halloween on Oct 27th since it was a weekend ,so is good I had candies to give the kids.

I've really enjoyed reading this discussion. It is interesting to learn about the history of different traditions. It would be interesting to know how many young ones know anything about what Halloween is about. They get so into dressing up, going out to get candy. Have they been told anything about its beginnings? Do their parents know anything about its beginnings? It seems that some holidays we get so into celebrating that we forget where it came from.

In our country,maybe many people don't know Halloween. But in schools many students know it,especilly in English training schools. Every year we watch some scary movies and make some masks,just like this.We love Christmas better than Halloween.

yeah, I knew that

I suppose there are always stories behind special days of the year, but thanks for that insight. Coming from Australia we don't really celebrate Halloween over there, but being in London everyone was out on Saturday night all dressed up and looking remarkably horrid! I'm wondering why these northern traditions weren't continued in newer countries such as Australia?

It seems to me that many religious holidays have a 'party' day on the eve. Maybe these are planned to make it easier to deal with the coming restrictions? People with their ya-ya's out could make for more pious and dedicated celebrants the next day. It shows me that there is a balance in many aspects of life, even religion!