Halloween is celebrated every year on the last day of October, starting in the evening until 12 midnight. People participating in the festival will decorate their houses to make them look scary. On this occasion, children or adults when going out also dress up as scary characters or any character they like, then go to each house to knock on the door to receive candy and wishes.
The origin of Halloween
The word “Halloween” itself is of Christian origin, being an abbreviation for “All Hallows' Evening” which takes place on the first day of November, the month of praying for the souls of the departed.
Halloween originated from the Celts, a people who lived more than 2,000 years ago in the lands that are now Great Britain, Ireland, and Northern France. The Celts began their New Year on November 1st. On this November 1st, the Celts celebrated Samhain to mark the end of summer and the transition to winter, which was also the start of a new year. The Celts believed that when summer ended and the cold, dark winter began, on New Year's Eve (October 31st), the line between life and death became blurred. This allowed the souls of the dead to find their way back to the world of the living.
The spirits will return to the world to find a body to revive. Therefore, on this day, people often extinguish the fires in their houses, make themselves cold and hope the spirits will ignore. At the same time, they also have the custom of dressing up as ghosts, parading noisily around the neighborhood to calm the fear of the spirits.
Over time, Halloween has spread to many different countries, but each country has changed it to have its own Halloween. And until today, this festival has become popular in many countries around the world and in Vietnam.
The meaning of Halloween
According to Irish legend, the word “Jack-o-lanterns” comes from a man named Jack. Jack was a young man who died but his soul was not allowed to enter heaven because when he was alive, he was a greedy, stingy person, often hiding money, stingy and never giving alms to anyone. However, he also could not enter hell because when he was alive, he had played with the devil, so the devil did not take him.
The story goes that one day a demon came to haunt a residential area. Unfortunately, the alarm was raised, and people came to ask the monks to bring holy objects to “curse” and “lock the doors”. So the demon was caught… Jack realized that it was the demon that often played with him and Jack found a way to remove the “curse” object to open the way for the demon to escape.
To repay Jack for saving his life, the devil promised Jack that he would not take his soul to hell. Therefore, when Jack died in an accident, his soul was rejected by heaven. Jack immediately went to hell, but the devil did not let him in... because of his previous promise. Seeing Jack cold and miserable, the devil took some hot coals from hell and put them inside a pumpkin and gave them to Jack to warm up on his way back to earth. To let air in to feed the fire, Jack had to pierce a hole in the pumpkin... and the fire from inside shone out, illuminating Jack's wandering path. Perhaps Jack had to carry a lamp and wander the earth until the final judgment day of humanity.
Halloween customs
“Trick Or Treat” - this is the main game of most children and teenagers in the United States on Halloween night.
“Trick” originally means to deceive, a mischievous game; “Treat” means to welcome, to treat kindly, to entertain. Children, teenagers, and young adults dress up in devilish clothes and masks, then carry lanterns and go from house to house in the neighborhood, knocking on doors and saying “trick or treat”. This means: “If you don’t want us to play tricks, treat us with something”. Usually, neighbors always want to avoid “tricking” so they often welcome (treat) them with candy and fruit (according to custom, with coins stuffed inside).
In particular, on Halloween you will see images of Jack-O'-Lanterns, bats, spiders, witches, devil masks, black cats... considered symbols of this festival.
