In Western countries, there is Halloween on October 31st every year. The dictionary explains it as "The eve of All Saints' Day", and the Chinese translation is: Halloween night.
People have more or less perceptual knowledge about Halloween: they know that during Halloween, many public places and even home courtyards will be decorated with many decorations, such as various ghosts and monsters. , jack-o'-lanterns, black cats, witch's brooms, etc.; children will dress up in Halloween costumes that are different every year, carry jack-o'-lantern baskets and go door-to-door to beg for candy, saying it's "trick or treak." In addition, do you want to know more? Here we briefly introduce the origins and customs of Halloween.
1. 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. This was actually an autumn harvest celebration at the time; it was also said to be the "Ghost Festival". Legend has it that the souls of people who died 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 pagans. 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.
2. The origin of the word Halloween:
Many ethnic groups have celebration parties on Halloween, which are also called "All Hallow E'en" and "The Eve of All Hallows" ”, “Hallow e’en”, or “The eve of All Saints’ Day”. Eventually the convention evolved into "Halloween", which was translated into Chinese as Halloween night.
3. The legend of "Trick or treat":
The custom of children dressing up and going door to door asking for candy is said to have originated in Ireland. Irish pagans 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 dangle the pumpkins on their surface. Carve a mocking face to tease the ghost: Humph! Only a fool would fall for your trick. Legend has it that the first person to use pumpkins was Jack, an Irishman, so people also called Jack-O-Lanterns with grimaces.
4. Today's Halloween
Halloween today 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, A child knocks on the door to ask for candy). 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 as a spare; they also taught adults how to dress up their children as little angels, wearing white clothes and white pants, and how to tie a flashlight to their heads from behind; they also taught adults how to dress up their children as them Favorite cartoon image. Of course, businessmen in the clothing and props industries have more to do.