Trick or treat

Monday, October 31, 2011

CHILDREN clad in frightful costumes and fairy tale attires joined Monday’s “trick or treat” at SM City Cagayan de Oro as part of the mall’s Halloween celebration.

The children, with their parents, some of whom also wore Halloween costumes, went around the mall and asked for candies from participating stalls as they showed off their spooky attires.

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SM employees also joined the celebration by wearing their best Halloween and fairy tale costumes.

Halloween has now been a part of our yearly celebration that not only children get to enjoy the “eeriness” and “spookiness” of the season but adults also who get to enjoy going around in frightful costumes.

But have you ever wonder where and when Halloween originated?

According to the Encyclopedia, the Halloween customs that we observe on October 31 had their beginnings long, long ago. Some say the Celtic festival of Samhain is probably the origin of the present day Halloween celebration.

The Celts lived more than 2,000 years ago in what are now named the United Kingdom, Ireland and Northern France. Their New Year began on November 1 and celebrated with a festival that began in the previous evening, in honor of Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness and decay.

On the evening of the festival, the druids – the teachers and priests of the Celts – believed that witches, demons and spirits of the dead roamed the earth on the eve of November 1 so they lit bonfires and burned animals, crops and even human beings as sacrifices to drive the bad spirits away. They then told fortunes about the coming year by examining the remains of the animals that had been sacrificed.

To protect themselves further from the mean tricks of the bad spirits, the druids offered them good things to eat. They also disguised themselves so that the spirits would think they belonged to their own evil company. Surely, the spirits would not harm the members of their group!

Following this, we celebrate Halloween by playing “trick or treat,” dress up in scary costumes and wear masks.

In A.D. 43, the Romans conquered the Celts and ruled what are now England and Wales for about 400 years. During this period, two Roman autumn festivals were combined with the Celtic festival of Samhain. One of these, called Feralia, was held in late October to honor the dead. The other festival honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.

Halloween, which is also called All Hallow’s Eve, was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health and death. It was the only day in which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.

Much later, the Roman Catholic Church set aside the first day of November to honor all the saints who had no special days of their own. Saints were known as the hallowed, or holy, ones. Their special day was known as All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day.

The night before November 1 was called All Hallows’ even, which was shortened to Halloween.

Halloween became a secular observance and many customs and traditions developed.

In Scotland, young people assembled for games to know which of them would marry during the year and in what order the marriages would occur. Many Halloween customs in this country have become games played by children.

In Ireland, people would beg for food in a parade to honor Muck Olla, a god.

In Wales, every person would mark a stone and put it into a bonfire. The people believed that if a person’s stone is missing the next morning, he or she would die within a year.

In England, Halloween was sometimes called Nutcrack Night, Crab Apple Night, or Apple and Candle Night. Families sat by the fire and tell stories while they eat apples and nuts.

In the Philippines, people attend parties wearing costumes and masks portraying scary characters or spend the whole night partying inside cemeteries.

But whatever way the people celebrate Halloween, what’s important is the essence of the event.