Greeting, Dahlings. Only one more day until Halloween and I am pleased to say that I will be spending my All Hallows Eve-Eve playing hostess at Jesse James Comics. They will be having a costume contest with moi as the judge starting at 3:30 with mystery prizes awarded to the winners. They will also have tons of frightening sales going on. Bring down the kiddies as well, as Jesse always has nice free gift packages for them, so start your trick or treating a bit early this year.
As Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year (surprised?) I wanted to give you a little All Hallow’s Eve history. Most people believe that Halloween is most closely linked to the Celtic Holiday, Samhain, a word meaning “Summer’s end.” They believed that at this time of the year (the darker half of the year) the border between our world and the spirit world became thin enough for spirits to pass through. Dearly departed loved one’s spirits were honored with festivals, but they would wear costumes to ward of evil spirtits which may have passed through the borders as well. Many people believe that Halloween is a time to celebrate dark creatures of the night, but history proves the opposite. What a lovely holiday it is to celebrate our loved ones who have left this realm. Many of these myths though comes from the wide spread use of fire and blood in Halloween activities, but even those have roots in history. Not only did the Celts not have electricity and needed fire for warmth and to see in the earlier rising darkness of the colder months, but Samhain was a time when the coming cold made it necessary for them to begin harvesting crops and slaughtering livestock to prepare for the winter ahead. Bonfires would be used in celebrations to cook large feasts and merriment would take place.
The day after Halloween is called All Saints Day, Feast of All Saints or Dia De Los Muertos and has it’s roots in Catholicism. I once spent this day with a family friend in a graveyard, cleaning up her mother’s grave and celebrating her life, which is the purpose of this holiday. Many cultures really get into this with large parties in cemeteries with food and drinks aplenty. I think both of these holidays are a perfect balance of tradition, remembrance and fun all rolled up into one. I hope you all have a frightfully good and safe time this Halloween.
MM
