Ever wonder how Halloween began? Well you're certainly not alone. After all,
who wouldn't be curious about where the idea to dress up in costumes and go
door to door asking strangers for candy came from? By the time we're adults,
many of us have learned that the holiday has roots in pagan practices. But
the truth is much more interesting than that.
It can be said in fact, that
Halloween was the original New Year's Eve, complete with psychic predictions
for the year to come! Here's the skinny: 2,000 years ago in the area that is
now Ireland, the UK and northern France, the Celtic people celebrated their
new year on November 1st. This day marked the end of the summer, completion
of the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter (a time of year that
was often associated with death).
Celts believed that on the night before the
New Year, the line separating the worlds of the living and the dead became
blurred. And on the night of October 31, when they celebrated Samhain, it was
believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth, causing trouble and
damaging crops. In addition to mischief however, the presence of the otherworldly
spirits was believed to make it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to
make predictions about the future. These prophecies, like the most relied upon
psychic predictions today, were an important source of comfort and direction
during the long, brutal winter.
<
p>To draw inspiration, Druids built huge sacred
bonfires, where the people gathered, dressed in costumes and tried to tell
each other's futures. Prior to attending the bonfire, Celts would have extinguished
their home hearth fires so that at the end of the night, they could relight
them from the sacred fire. This was believed to help protect them during the
dreary months ahead. The Halloween we know today is a combination of Samhain,
the Roman festivals Feralia (the day the Roman's honored the dead) and Pomona
(the celebration of the Roman Goddess of Fruit and trees who was symbolized
by an apple - hence, why we bob for apples!), and the Christian Holidays All
Saints Day and All Souls Day, which along with Halloween itself (then celebrated
as The Eve of All Saints) were once known as Hallowmas.
| This year, make it your business to reconnect with the roots of this haunted holiday! Call 1.800.573.4784 or click here and let one of our gifted psychics tell you what the winter holds in store for you! | |