When is the American Ghost Festival?

The American Ghost Festival is Halloween, which takes place on November 1st every year.

In Western countries, there is "Halloween" on October 31st every year, which the Chinese usually call: Halloween night. Halloween is a traditional Western festival, and it is also the most "haunted" night of the year, so it is also called "Ghost Festival". Foreigners can always go crazy and make the streets "haunted"; in China, although there is no crazy party pretending to be ghosts , but there are always some fun little details that can make people laugh. Golden Eagle Xinjiekou Store and Golden Eagle World also create a strong "Ghost Festival" atmosphere. In Nanjing, we will also experience it because of pumpkin lanterns and ghost face masks. to some fun in ordinary life.

However, the highlight of Halloween is still at the dining table. You must prepare delicious food to entertain the "little ghosts" who come to cause trouble, and you must also decorate your dining table for this special holiday. Don't let your guests underestimate you!

On the most "haunted" night of the year, all kinds of monsters, pirates, alien visitors and witches are out in force. Before the Christian era, the Celts held ceremonies at the end of summer to thank God and the sun for their blessings. The soothsayers of that time lit and performed witchcraft to drive away the monsters and monsters that were said to be wandering around. Later, the harvest festival celebrated by the Romans with nuts and apples merged with the Celtic October 31st. In the Middle Ages, people put on animal-shaped costumes and scary masks to drive away ghosts in the night on Halloween. Although later replaced Celtic and Roman religious practices, early customs survived. Nowadays, children wear various costumes and masks to participate in Halloween dances with a joking mentality. Paper witches, black cats, ghosts and corpses are often hung on the walls around these dances, and teeth are hung in front of windows and doorways. A jack-o'-lantern with a slit mouth or a hideous appearance. Children also often try to bite the hanging apples.

The origin of Halloween

As for the origin of Halloween, the most legendary version believes that it originated from the ancient Western European countries before the birth of Christ, mainly including Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places were called Druids. The Druids' New Year is on November 1st. On New Year's Eve, the Druids ask young people to gather in groups, wearing various weird masks and carrying carved carrot lanterns (pumpkin lanterns are a later custom in ancient Western Europe). There were no pumpkins at first) and they wandered among the villages. At that time, it was actually an autumn harvest celebration; it was also said to be the "Ghost Festival". Legend has it that the souls of people who died in that year would visit the world on the eve of Halloween. It is said that people should let the visiting ghosts see the perfect harvest and present it to the ghosts. Give a hearty treat. All bonfires and lights are there to scare away ghosts, but also to light the way for ghosts to guide them back.

In Central Europe in the Middle Ages, there was a history of Christianity destroying Yi Christians. However, the sacrificial celebrations before New Year's Eve have never really been eliminated, but appear in the form of witchcraft. This is why our current Halloween still has traces of witches' brooms, black cats, spells and so on.

The origin of the word Halloween

Many ethnic groups have celebration parties on Halloween, which is also called "AllHallowEen", "TheEveofAllHallows", "Halloween", or "TheeveofAllSaintasDay". Eventually the convention evolved into "Halloween", which was translated into Chinese as Halloween night.

The legend of "Trickortreat"

The custom of children dressing up and going door to door asking for candy is said to have originated in Ireland. Irish believers in ancient Western Europe believed that ghosts would gather near their homes on Halloween and receive banquets. Therefore, after the "banquet" is over, the villagers dress up as ghosts and elves and wander outside the village to guide the ghosts away and avoid evil spirits and disasters. At the same time, the villagers also pay attention to placing fruits and other foods in the front and back yards of their houses to feed the ghosts enough so that they will not harm humans and animals or plunder other harvests. Later, this custom continued and became a joke for children to make fun of ungenerous families.

As for the pumpkin lantern, there are at least two opinions. One theory is that people hollowed out pumpkins, carved ghost faces and lit candles to drive away ghosts; the other theory is that ghosts lighted candles in an attempt to trick people into following the ghosts, so people would put candles on the surface of pumpkins. Carve a mocking face to tease the ghost: Hum! Only fools will be fooled by you. Legend has it that the first person to use pumpkins was Jack, an Irishman, so people also called Jack-O-Lanterns with grimaces.

Halloween now

Halloween has been spread to this day and has completely lost its religious superstition. It has become a children's program and a masquerade party for young people.

The society has also been giving positive guidance to festival activities: adults are required to educate children not to do threatening pranks, and adults are also required to take their children out together (usually adults park their cars on the roadside, Children knock on the door to ask for sweets). Adults should ask their children to only go to homes with festive decorations and lights at the door, otherwise they should not disturb them. In addition, those who ask for sweets must stand at the gate and wait at all times, and are not allowed to enter the house. The sweets returned must be inspected by an adult before they are allowed to be eaten.

Families hosting children are also asked not to give home-made food or unpackaged food.

Festival decorations on public occasions and around the home are voluntary. Jack-o'-lanterns with ghost faces, black spiders with white webs, etc. are all festive decorations, and they are no longer scary and spooky. Some female students will buy a pair of pumpkin or ghost skull earrings to wear at this time. If any company's arrangements are too scary, they will be stopped by relevant parties, and the media will expose them and make the public blame them.

Halloween costumes are also versatile, not just big ghosts and little ghosts. There are many channels out there teaching people how to make Halloween costumes. For example, to make the simplest ghost costume, just put a white sheet on your head, and don't forget to button two holes for eyes; if you want to play a magician, wear black clothes, black pants, and a black top hat. , and hid a stuffed bunny between the top hat and the top of the head; adults were also taught how to dress up children as little angels, wearing white clothes and white trousers, and how to tie a flashlight to the head from behind; they were also taught how to dress up children as them Favorite cartoon image. Of course, businessmen in the clothing and props industry have more to do.

School is not closed on Halloween. Sometimes the school organizes parties, and sometimes students who are not willing to be lonely will host small parties themselves. It has become a popular custom every October to send greeting cards to friends and family members to wish them a happy Halloween. Nowadays, the development of the Internet has made it more convenient and economical to send Halloween cards. Some websites have even designed various Halloween cards with sound and animation effects.

In short, Halloween has become a very common seasonal festival for Westerners. Many people see this as the end of autumn and the arrival of winter. As soon as Halloween is over, people begin to look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year.