October 31st. Two more months and the year will
be dead! And so will another cycle of life in the Northern Hemisphere, with the arrival of
winter.
Death. End of a cycle. This is what Halloween is about, originally. But don't
be scared to death! It's just History!
Some people with poor History background and strong religious concepts may
believe that Halloween is a cult of the devil. What these people don't know is that, in truth Halloween
is only a continuation, in a different shape, of an old pagan ritual. It's not religion or anything alike.
It's just History, and culture!
True pagans worship nature instead
of one single god. So they believe that the forces of life (good and bad, in their concepts) rest in the forces
of nature and in all related to that. This explains the concepts of bad and good applied to winter and summer,
respectively. Therefore, their rituals, as we will learn below.
Halloween has its origins in the ancient
Celtic festival (in the Gaelic culture), where pagans celebrated the end of the harvest season (end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere). End of summer is
often related to the end of life, or death. Then comes winter when the whole nature is cold,
still, dorment, dark.
Traditionally, the festival to celebrate the end of summer
happened on October 31st, last day of summer in the old Gaelic culture. The ancient Gaels, who lived about
2,000 years ago in the regions that are today Ireland, United Kingdom and northern France, believed that on
that day (today known as Halloween), the alive and the deceased ones would be together, and the dead would become dangerous
for the living ones by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops (this could be a
representation of the seasons: in their views, death is represented by winter, causing damage,
destroying crops and bringing illness to the living creatures, which are represented by
summer).
The festivals frequently involved bonfires, into which they burned crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. People wore costumes and masks at the festivals to mimic the evil spirits or
calm them. This is the origin of the costume parties we have today on Halloween.
Esta é a origem do Halloween: ritual
pagão de origem céltica, em celebração ao fim do verão e início do inverno, que era também considerado um novo
ano (1° de
novembro).
Mas como isso deu origem ao que hoje é Halloween? E por que esse
nome, Halloween? Ahhh... isso tem a ver com a influência católica sobre os
pagãos. Acompanhe a história na
próxima Nuts!
Also, we will explore more of the
traditions, like the "Trick or Treat" and symbols and imagery related to Halloween (pumpkin, black cats, sweets,
candles, the colors, etc).
Stay tuned! This is not a trick! It's a
real treat!! :-)
Leia Mais sobre "Halloween - A Tradition"
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estrutura, gramática, cultura, termos mais apropriados em inglês?
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