✡ Okay Dad, it appears as if there is yet another lapse in my popular culture education. All of a sudden there is a pumpkin in the house with colored leaves and everything is orange! I also noticed, when walking with G-Mom, the orange lights and orange decorations. I knew it is too early for Christmas, so I asked her what it is all about. She explained that it was Halloween and of course I told her that because it was not a Jewish holiday I was not allowed to celebrate Halloween. That might have not been the right thing to say! First, I understand that about 30 years ago, when you were attending a Jewish Day school, that you too asked about the history of Halloween and got into a lot of trouble until G_Dad arrived and apparently exploded at the teachers. I hear that you were taken out of school and put into another school. G_Mom says it was not because you were bad but because you are very smart and curious. She also explained that discrimination and ignorance are not acceptable!
G_Mom says that Halloween is actually a pagan holiday—not sure what pagans are, but I knew this was not the time to ask.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas.
Anyway G-Mom went on that dogs do not celebrate Halloween because costumes and candy are not for dogs. I noticed that nowhere in the history lesson were dogs mentioned. Cart says she gets very upset and scared by costumes and Slobbie says she loves the chocolate but it could kill her so G_Mom does not allow dogs to participate in the holiday! Anyway Katie will be here next weekend and that will be our celebration. However Dad, I cannot believe that you missed having a Halloween discussion with me! Thank fully G_MOM fills in my educational gaps, but then she never, ever stops talking, so I am always learning something!
I do miss you Dad and love you.
Ellie
Mom and Ellie. This is a complicated topic, but in general I do not like the commercialization of holidays in our country at this time. My dislike of Halloween is not purely religious, it is also about keeping things in perspective. I have a few festive decorations in the apartment – mostly fall fun things like pumpkins. I really like pumpkins, always have. I tend to not see the value that spending money on something you will trow away after a few days and the distraction from a path of consideration this type of behavior engenders. There are parts to the holiday I enjoy, like having parties with my friends, and having nice walks in the cool fall air. Pumpkin pie is also a must. Elie, I know you are aware of pumpkin pie because you have eaten a few off my counter. Your grandmother is forgetting that CRAZINESS she put Adam, Katie and I thought (along with Kent) to keep us from eating chocolate, milk sugar, and all the old co-op days of her youth. She is also forgetting to tell you about how we were not allowed many things that would be called normative. Do I mind? Not even a little, because it helped me realize the world is complex and a man or dog doesn’t have to particulate in it they way society deems.