Joshua Dowidat

All Saint’s Day: A Wrap up for Halloween

 

Hello Everyone,

Thought I would use another place this week to kind of wrap up the Halloween blogs with a holiday that coincides. That would be All Saint’s Day. As some of you already know, whether you learned it form my blogs or from previous sources, All Saint’s Day is a part of the original three day celebration.

All Saint’s Day:

The holiday is usually celebrated on the 1st of November yet this date can change from the different Christian traditions. It is basically a day reserved for praying for the souls in heaven and acts as a date to commemorate the deceased and their lives. Saints of the Christian faiths are particularly observed on this day, hence the name all Saint’s day.

Traditions of Celebration:

Many traditions change in their ways of celebrating the holiday and observing the deceased. Most customs that share similarities are the nagging Continue reading →

Halloween: Trick or Treating

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to another little segment of mine I am introducing for the month of October focusing on aspects of Halloween. This time its Trick or Treating.

What is Trick or Treating?

Well most of us can think of only one thing when it comes to Trick or Treating. That would be going house to house on Halloween night and collecting candy or treats dressed in costumes of various natures. Great fun and games, right? Well not always.

In America at one point it was literally what the phrase means. If you don’t give me a treat I will give you a trick. Hence the term Trick or Treating. Now while the going from house to house on different nights of the year in the past was something created before the times of calling it Trick or Treating the phrase did somewhat originate in the America. Houses, factories were Continue reading →

Halloween: A little history and the name

Hello Everyone,

Well it is that time of year. Of course I know everyone will probably be too busy today and tonight to really get a chance to read this segment about Halloween but here it is anyways.

The Name-Halloween:

Halloween, or as some call it Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve. Why, you might ask. Well although the origins of the celebration go back very far and along different paths the name Halloween pretty much is the celebration of the dead. In the name Halloween it refers to saints. This is because the saint’s or “hallows” that they are also referred to as are celebrated on this day and their passing. Hence Halloween. It is also the start of the Allhallowtide which is a three day celebration in the Western Christian’s heritage of three days observing saints.

Origins:

Well just because the name has a different origin Continue reading →

Halloween: Jack-o’-lanterns

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to address the Halloween subject of carving pumpkins or also known as Jack-o’-lanterns. It is not often we hear the term, Jack-o’-lanterns, anymore but I guess times change.

Origin of Jack-o’-lanterns :

Well before they were Jack-o’-lanterns they were called will-o’-the-wisp. At least in the old folklore’s of England and other parts of Western Europe. This started around the mid to late 1600s. The term “Jack” just replaced “Will” but they meant virtually the same thing. One was of the torch. Will of the torch, and the other of the lantern, Jack. It was based off the lighting phenomenon that occurs but the will-o’-the ‘wisp was most commonly just a torch. I know it’s confusing but it slowly grew from a standard torch, a bundle of sticks and what not, to the surrounding vessel that contained the flame.

The carvings from the pumpkins was not original Continue reading →

Samhain: A Festival, a Tradition

Hello Everyone,

Since I have been mentioning it in several of the last blogs I thought I would share a little information about Samhain. As many people know, because they have heard it before or read some of my previous posts, Samhain has a lot of relevance to Halloween. A topic I have been focusing on this month.

What is Samhain?

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and celebrating the beginning of the darker half of the year. It is traditionally celebrated from sunset of October 31st to the sunset of November 1st. This marks a Gaelic day in full cycle.

It is one of the four seasonal Gaelic festivals that also include Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. All of which celebrate or mark the beginning or ends of seasons in the Gaelic cycles. Samhain just happens to fall on Halloween or Continue reading →