What Is The Meaning Of Halloween?
Around 2, 000 years before, a holiday was celebrated by “the Celts” which was called as Samhain. Samhain was pronounced as “Sa-wan”. Samhain is actually the name of God of Death. For all living people God of Death is not less then an evil spirit. But this is not true for the dead. According to the common believe of the Celts, in the end of October (last day of October), God of Death (Samhain) allows the dead souls to visit their loving ones. This night was popular as the “night of Samhain”.
Concept of Halloween
Now, for the Celts, the “night of Samhain” was a scary night. According to the traditions of the Celts, on the “night of Samhain” the Celts would leave their places and they were supposed to be gathered in a ground outside the town. And then in that ground they would build a large bonfire in order to scare the ghosts/spirits that were supposed to be roaming in the town.
Rise of modern Halloween
Today’s Halloween is a modified format of the holiday of Samhain. But it was not actually named as Halloween at first. When Romans attacked on the Celts (around 1st century), they modified the event of Samhain. They added two more features in this festival- Poloma (name of the Roman Goddess of trees and fruit) and Feralia (to pay respect and honor to the dead). And then finally the Celts methodology was replaced by the Christianity. Then in 800 A.D November 1st was declared as the “All Saints’ Day”, by the Christian church. This festival was introduced in the society to honor the Saints of the world. Then, the Catholic Church declared the November 2nd as “All Souls’ Day”, in order to pay the respect and honor for the dead. But with passage of time costumes of festival “Samhain” penetrated into the celebrations of All Saints’ Day”. As a result, “All Saints’ Day” got popularity as Allhallowmas. Over the time this name Allhallowmas has been shortened as “Halloween”. So, every year Halloween lies on the night of 1st November and the eve of October 31st is popular as “All Hallow Eve’’.
Spiritual meaning of the Halloween
For kids, Halloween is a festival of fun. But Halloween also possesses a spiritual meaning. Almost every religion of the world, have some certain ways of paying respect to their ancestors. Halloween provides the same purpose in Christianity. Halloween means paying honor to your ancestors, on the eve of Halloween every one is supposed to- remember their grandparents, remember their lessons and remember their blessings, their love and their warmth.
Conclusion
Halloween is actually a time for recalling those gifts that your loved ones / ancestors have left for you. On the eve of Halloween, we should make a wish about a society that never forgets their ancestors. So, Halloween can be termed as a celebration of the legacy. On this day, we all celebrate the gifts of our ancestors and hence we celebrate the life.
Category: History, Government & Society, Holidays and Traditions
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