Halloween -
Origin
10/28/08
and updated on Oct.30th,
2009
This is the last week of
October and in about 2 months 2008 will be dead!
Speaking about dead, this is the week to talk about
Halloween, which, in so many ways has its origins in
death. But don't be scared to death! It's just
History! ;-)
After all, what's really
Halloween? Some people with poor History background
and strong religious concepts may believe Halloween is a
cult to the evil. But in truth it's only a continuation, in
a different shape, of an old pagan ritual. It's not
religion or anything alike. It's just History!
Pagans
worship nature instead of one single god. So they
believed the forces of life (good and bad, in their
concepts) rested 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.
Thus, their rituals, as we will learn
below.
Halloween has
its origins in the ancient Celtic festival, which is
a pagan celebration of the end of the harvest season
(i.e. Summer) in Gaelic culture. End of Summer is
often related to the end of life, that's death. Then
comes the Winter when all is still, cold,
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 by causing problems such as sickness or
damaged crops (this could be a representation of the
seasons: in their views, the Winter being the death causing
damage to the alive [Summer], destroying crops and bringing
illness to the people).
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!
It's all very interesting! We'll
get to that on the next LEP-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).
Be tuned
in! This is a real treat for your knowledge!
You don't want to be tricked, do
you?
Have a sweet and
orange week!
Dúvidas de vocabulário?
Aprenda novas palavras, visite dicionários
online!
Dúvidas de estrutura,
gramática, cultura, termos mais apropriados em
inglês?
Drop me a line
at:
|
Older
|
Newer
|
LEP-Nuts é
uma cortesia de Live English
Program.
Se você está apenas visitando
esta página mas ainda não
recebe LEP-Nuts
em seu email,
solicite-os através da caixa azul no canto
superior direito da página!
