La storia e la tradizione di Halloween raccontata da Shenker!

History

Halloween, Hallowe'en, or Holloween is celebrated on the night of October 31.
Halloween dates back two thousand years to Britain and Ireland and a Celtic festival called Samhain which markedsegnava the end of the “season of the sun” and the beginning of the  “season of darkness and cold.”

The first of November was considered the end of the summer period, when herdsgreggi were returned from pasturepascolo and land tenurespossedimenti fondiari were renewed.

It was also a time when the soulsanime of the dead were believed to return to visit their homes. People set bonfiresfalò on hilltops for relighting their hearthcaminetti fires for the winter and to frighten away
evil spiritsspiriti malefici. They sometimes wore masks and other disguisestravestimenti to avoid being recognized by the ghostsfantasmi they believed were present. That’s how witchesstreghe, hobgoblinsfolletti, fairiesfate and demons came to be associated with the day.

The period was also thought to be favourable for divination on matters such as marriage, health, and death. When the Romans conquered the Celts in the 1st century ADanno domini - d.c., they added their own festivals of Feralia, commemorating the passing of the dead, and of Pomona, the goddess of the harvestraccolto.

In the 7th century AD, Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day, originally on May 13, and in the following century, it was moved to November 1.
The evening before All Saints’ Day became a holy, or hallowedsacra, evevigilia and thus Halloween.
By the end of the Middle Ages, the secular and the sacred days had mergedsi erano fusi.

In North America, the celebration of Halloween was forbiddenproibita among most of the early colonists, but in the 1800s some festivals celebrating the harvest developed and incorporated elements of Halloween. Irish immigrants brought versions of the tradition with them to America in the nineteenth century.

Other western countries adoptedhanno adottato the holiday in the late twentieth century.

 

Traditions

Traditional Halloween activities include trick-or-treatingdolcetto o scherzetto, ghost tours, bonfires, carvingscolpire jack-o’-lanterns, and costume parties.

Trick-or-treating is the main Halloween event for children. They disguise themselves in costumes and ring the doorbellscampanelli of their neighbours yellinggridando "trick or treat!" They receive candydolcetti, caramelle or similar items such as chocolate barstavolette di cioccolata, loose changespiccioli, or even crayons and pencils.
The jack-o’-lantern, a carved pumpkinzucca scolpita, litilluminata from within by a candle, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. It can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedyavido, tirchio, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer.

He trickedingannò the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a crossscolpendo una croce into the tree trunktronco. In revenge, the devil placed a cursemaledizione on Jack, condemning him to forever wandervagare the earth at night.
Halloween costumes usually relate to death, magic, or mythical monsters.
Traditional characters include ghosts, ghoulsdemoni, witches, vampires, batspipistrelli, owlsgufi, crowscorvi, vulturesavvoltoi, black cats, spidersragni, goblins, zombies, mummies, skeletons and demons.
Black and orange are the colours of Halloween. Black represents death, night and scary creatures; orange represents autumn, the harvest and fire.
The most common game played at Hal loween par t ies is bobbingpescare for apples. Apples floatgalleggiano in a large basinrecipiente of water and people have to use their teeth to get the apples out.