The Day of Halloween

The Day of Halloween

Halloween, that is sometimes mingled with the Mexican celebration "The Day of the Dead", is a festivity quite famous today in USA, and less in the European countries. In fact, the word Hallowen is basically a deformation of the old celebration "All Hallows Evening", which means in fact All saints evening.

The modern Halloween appeared in Ireland in the form of a night on which adults were making pranks and mischief to each other, removing doors, throwing vegetables on houses, blocking gates, all this carrying turnips with candles, a way more funny celebration than today, don't you think? On those first times of this rejoicings, nobody was "trick or treating", they were just having fun in playing those bad tricks, in being little devils on this evening. In fact, there was also a belief that ghosts and witches were very active on that night, which explains the consideration of Halloween as a day of the dead, as a dark and creepy night.

Later, when this spree was brought to the USA, after a bit of time, the usual turnips were turned into the well known pumpkin, and the pranks were turned into today's "trick or treat", and it is under this form that Halloween became famous, first in Britain, and then in the rest of the world.

Nowadays, Halloween is considered by a lot of people as a commercial celebration, a useless Holiday. Personally, I think that even if it is the truth, because of the happiness that it is bringing to everyone, this spree has to go on in its scary and funny way. Halloween is adding great memories to those who chose to be part of it, and should be applaused because of this.

After all, 

Life's no fun without a good scare, so tend lumplings everywhere!

The Mad Hatter