About Halloween, people have more or less a certain perceptual knowledge: I know that during Halloween, many public places and even home courtyards will be decorated with many decorations, such as all kinds of ghosts, pumpkin lanterns, black cats and witches' brooms; Children will put on different Halloween costumes every year and go door-to-door begging for candy with baskets of pumpkin lanterns, saying it is "trick or treak". Besides, do you want to know more? Here we briefly introduce the origin and customs of Halloween.
First, the origin of Halloween:
About the origin of Halloween, the most legendary version thinks that it originated from ancient western European countries before the birth of Christ, mainly including Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places are called druitt people. Druitt's New Year is on November 1st, New Year's Eve. People in druitt make young people gather in groups, wear all kinds of weird masks and carry carved radish lanterns (pumpkin lanterns are a late custom, and there were no pumpkins in ancient western Europe), and they wander among villages. At that time, it was actually a celebration of autumn harvest; It is also said to be "Ghost Festival". It is said that the souls of those who died in that year will visit the world on the eve of Halloween. It is said that people should let the visiting ghosts see a good harvest and show rich hospitality to them. All bonfires and lights, in order to scare away ghosts, also illuminate the route for ghosts and guide them to return.
In medieval Central Europe, there was a history of Christianity destroying pagans. However, the sacrificial ceremony before New Year's Eve has never really been eliminated, but it has appeared in the form of witchcraft. This is why we still have traces of witches' brooms, black cats, spells and so on in Halloween.
Second, the generation of the word Halloween:
Many ethnic groups have celebration parties on Halloween, which are also called "All Hallow E'en", "The Eve of All Hallows", "Hallows e 'en" or "The eve of All Saintas'Day". In the end, the convention evolved into "Halloween", and the Chinese translation became Halloween night.
Third, the legend of "Trick or treat":
The custom that children dress up and ask for candy from house to house today is said to have originated in Ireland. Irish pagans in ancient Western Europe believed that on Halloween, ghosts would gather near their homes and receive banquets. Therefore, after the "banquet", the villagers dressed up as ghosts and spirits and wandered outside the village to guide the ghosts away to avoid evil spirits and disasters. At the same time, the villagers also pay attention to some fruits and other foods in the front yard and back yard, and feed the ghosts enough so as not to let them hurt people and animals or plunder other crops. Later, this custom continued, and it became a joke for children to make fun of the ungrateful family.
As for the pumpkin lantern, there are at least two versions. One is that people hollowed out pumpkins and carved faces and lit candles to disperse ghosts; The other is that the ghost lit a candle, trying to trick people into following the ghost, so people carved a mocking face on the surface of the pumpkin to tease the ghost: Hum! Only a fool will be fooled by you. Legend has it that because Jack, an Irishman, was the first to use pumpkins, people also called Jack-O-Lantern as a grimace pumpkin lantern.
Fourth, Halloween now
Today, Halloween has completely lost its religious superstition. It has become a program for children and a program for young people's masquerade.
The society has always given 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 with them (generally, adults park their cars on the side of the road and children knock on the door for candy). Adults should ask children to go only to houses with festive decorations and lights at the door, otherwise they will not be disturbed. In addition, in the process of begging for sugar, you must always stand at the gate and wait, and you are not allowed to enter the house. The sugar you get back must be inspected by Jiaotong University before you can eat it. Families who receive children are also required not to give home-made food or unpackaged food.
Holiday arrangements on public occasions and around the home are voluntary. The grimace pumpkin lantern, white net black spider, etc. are all holiday decorations, and there is no frightening ghost color at all. Some female students will buy a pair of pumpkin or ghost skull earrings to wear at this time. If the layout of any house is too horrible, it will be stopped by the relevant parties, and the media will expose it and let the public blame it.
Halloween costumes are also full of people, not monotonous GREAT GHOST kids. There are many channels to teach people how to make Halloween costumes. For example, to make the simplest ghost suit, put a white sheet on your head. Don't forget to buckle two holes to leave your eyes. If you want to play a magician, put on black trousers and a black hat, and hide a fluffy rabbit between the hat and the top of your head. Also teach adults how to dress up their children as angels, white clothes and trousers, and then how to tie a flashlight on their heads from behind; They also teach how to dress children up as their favorite cartoon characters. Of course, businessmen in the clothing and props industries have more articles to do.
There is no holiday at school on Halloween. Sometimes schools come forward to organize parties, and sometimes students who are unwilling to be lonely will host small parties themselves; It is a popular custom for friends and family to send cards to wish each other a happy Halloween every October. Nowadays, the development of Internet makes it more convenient and economical to send Halloween cards, and some websites have designed all kinds of Halloween cards with sound animation effects, such as www.cardmaster.com, for everyone to use for free.
In a word, Halloween has become a very common seasonal festival for westerners. Many people regard this as the end of autumn and the arrival of winter. After Halloween, people began to look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and even the New Year.