Hello everybody! In this very long month of October (I was just calculating the days and I've realized that this year October has got 5 weeks!), raise their hand those who have thought a bit about Halloween... Or, rather, those who have had a look on the brand new products the designers, not only American, have created for the 2009
Halloween, the sppokiest feast of the year :-)
Here are the latest products:
But I would like to get beyond the embroidery and just "claim" the origins of this feast which, certainly, even if it is pagan, today fully belongs to our traditions, too. Besides I wonder: is it bad to allow our children and us to have a party, among all the problems of our world?
Moreover, Halloween ows more than what we expect to our culture: the Christian one.
Almost everybody actually knows that the night of the "trick or treat" has got Celtic origins.
But a few people focus on the name which characterizes it and which derives, here is the funny thing!, to the expression “All Hallows Eve”, (Halloween is celebrated on the night between the 31st October and the 1st of November): and here is the deep connection with a Christian feast, that of the All Saints! But the links to the Christianity are more and more :-)
I also think about the respect towards our dear defuncts and about the invitation to pray for those who pervade the Christian culture, embued with the deep meaning of Halloween. This feast, for the Celtics, coincided with the end of the summer, called “Samhain”. Samhain was located in a place out of the characteristic circular dimension of the Celtic time: in a dimension which belonged neither to the last year nor to the new one. A sort of "free zone", where the veil which was supposed to divide the death land from the live land became lighter thus allowing the two worlds to meet. And as the Celtic people did not fear their defuncts, during that night they left some food on their tables, just to welcome their guests (here is the explanation for the "treat"). And here is another strong link with the Christianity and its continuous memory of the defuncts, which, in our country, is an evident aspect: I think -and maybe our Sicilian friends could help us- in Sicily the deads bring the presents to children at Christmas time!
So, let's stop with the controversy “this is not our feast... this is an American showing-off... etc.”: once in a year, let's feel closer to the people we have loved when they were alive and celebrate for them and... Even the Saints, both for those who believe in them and for those who do not believe in them, will be happy of it :-)
And do not forget the treats!!!
Enjoy Your Halloween and... have a nice embroidery!
