What is the origin of Halloween?

The first theory

There are many versions of the legend about the origin of Halloween. The most common belief is that it originated from the ancient Western European countries before the birth of Christ. Halloween Ghost Dog Dogs

[1] Mainly include Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places were called Celts. The Celtic New Year is on November 1st. On New Year's Eve, the Celts asked young people to gather in groups, wearing various weird masks and carrying carved carrot lanterns (pumpkin lanterns were a later custom, and were not the earliest in ancient Western Europe). Pumpkin), they wandered among the villages. This was actually an autumn harvest celebration at that time; it is also said to be the "Ghost Festival". Legend has it that the souls of the 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 illuminate the route for ghosts to guide them back. In medieval Central Europe, 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. It is said that meeting a black cat on that day is equivalent to meeting a witch, which will bring bad luck throughout the year. Therefore, on that day, everyone must dress up in disguise to drive away those unlucky symbols.

The second theory

More than two thousand years ago, the European Catholic Church designated November 1 as “ALL HALLOWS DAY”. "HALLOW" means saint. Legend has it that since 500 BC, the Celts (CELTS) living in Ireland, Scotland and other places moved this festival forward by one day, namely October 31st. They believe that this day is the official end of summer, the beginning of the new year and the beginning of the harsh winter. At that time, people believed that the souls of their deceased friends would return to their former homes on this day to look for souls in the living, so that they could be reborn. This was the only hope for rebirth after death. The living people are afraid that the dead souls will come to seize their lives, so people put out the furnace fires and candlelights on this day so that the dead souls cannot find the living people. They also dress up as monsters and monsters to scare away the souls of the dead. After that, they will light the fire candle again and start their life in the new year. Legend has it that the Celtic tribes at that time still had the custom of killing living people to pay homage to the dead on October 31st. By the 1st century AD, the Romans who occupied the Celtic tribes' territories gradually accepted the custom of Halloween, but since then abolished the barbaric practice of burning human beings as sacrifices to the dead. The Romans combined harvest festivals with Celtic rituals, wearing scary masks and dressing up as animals or ghosts in order to drive away the demons wandering around them. This is why most people around the world celebrate Halloween today by dressing up in weird and weird ways. As time goes by, the meaning of Halloween gradually changes, becoming positive and happy, and the festive meaning becomes mainstream. The idea that dead souls find substitutes to return to the world has gradually been abandoned and forgotten. Today, images and pictures that symbolize Halloween, such as witches and black cats, mostly have friendly, cute and funny faces.

The third theory

The Celts believed that the sun god helped them grow crops. However, every year the Sun God is attacked by an evil force named Samhain and imprisoned for six months. Samhain also has two titles, namely "Lord of Dead" and "Prince of Darkness". He came to the Celtic land with the cold and dark winter. The Celts were very afraid of the night of October 31st because they felt that there were a bunch of evil spirits lurking everywhere on this night. They light fires at home to make those evil spirits leave their homes (there is a sentence in the previous untranslated paragraph that says the flames can scare away the ghosts.) They believe that Samhain calls the dead out, and they also believe that Samhain will bring the dead out. Become something else, like a cat. The Celts would put on terrible disguises to drive away the evil spirits. (This is the prototype of Halloween) Later, Rome occupied the Celtic land and combined the Roman festival with the Celtic Samhain festival on October 31 to form the current Halloween.

The fourth theory

It turns out that Halloween originated from the Yin Festival (Samhain, pronounced Sow-in) of the ancient Celts (the ancestors of the Irish). After the introduction of Christianity, the ancient Crete people changed the original Halloween (All Saints' Day or AllHallows) to the same day, which is November 1st, in order to assimilate paganism. The 31st becomes Halloween. The Cretans were originally a nomadic people. The Yin Festival, on the one hand, is a festival for them to prepare for the coming of winter and welcome the New Year; on the other hand, it is also a religious festival. Samhain is one of the gods they believe in, and its priest is called Druid. Although there is no official historical record, researchers generally believe that they believe that during the Yin Festival, people can see things in the spiritual world, including the returning souls of the dead and evil spirits in the spiritual world. These spiritual entities are all evil and want to harm people on the Yin Festival, so the Crete people must please (Treat) these ghosts to prevent them from committing evil and taking revenge (Trick). For example, someone places food in front of their home for ghosts to enjoy. This is the origin of "TrickorTreat". At the same time, the priest Zhaoyi also held a religious ceremony that night. Almost all studies indicate that animals were sacrificed during the ritual. As for whether there was murder and sacrifice, although there are different opinions, no one denies it. Besides, there must be something like divination and witchcraft. Other Halloween customs also have occult and superstitious origins, such as the Jack-O-Lantern. It is said that it was a man named Jack. Because of his extremely bad behavior, he was not even accepted in heaven or hell after death. He had to wander around, found a turnip, hollowed out the middle, and put some hot red of coal to find the way in the dark. In addition, Halloween costumes originated from the Yin Festival rituals, in which participants slaughtered livestock and covered themselves with their skins. In addition, the various masks worn by participants were originally used to evade evil spirits and have also been passed down.