This is Halloween

The time has come again for people of all ages to dress up in clever costumes and go door to door receiving candy from strangers. To celebrate the month of October, I've decided to write nothing but paranormal blogs through out the entire month. That means blogs about ghosts, demons, aliens, hell, and so on. I myself do not celebrate Halloween, but I do love the idea of being scared.
Well, Halloween is just around the corner and what other way to start out a blog than to tell you what Halloween exactly is.

So what exactly is Halloween? And what is it all about? No, Halloween is not a Michael Myers slasher film. Halloween actually started in Scotland. It was a Celtic pagan holiday. It was basically a day to gather up cattle and store them for the up coming winter season. People believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the dead and the alive were broken and the evil spirits would cause havoc around the crops. However, the Celtics would sit around bond fires and wear masks to mimic the evil spirits so that the demons would get confused. That is why we wear costumes today, but no one knows why.

The word "Halloween" actually means "All Hallows Eve" or "All Saints Day". In Mexico, All Saints Day, runs around the first week of November. But Halloween in Mexico is way different than the Halloween here in America. Instead of trick-or-treating, the Hispanics will celebrate and honor the dead by having parades and music.

So where did trick-or-treating come from? Well, trick-or-treating originated in the Middle Ages. Peasants would go door to door begging for food in exchange for a crop prayer. Trick-or-treating was basically the first caroling event. Like Christmas, people go door to door sing carols to people. The word "trick" means to give a person what they want or they will play a trick on the homeowner.

Now, what about the scary old Jack-o-Lantern? We all know in order to make a Jack-o-Lantern, we must take out the inside of a pumpkin, carve a face, and place a candle inside the pumpkin. But what does that all mean? The Celtics believed that the head was the most powerful part of the human body. It held the spirit and the knowledge of a person. The Celtics would use the head of a squash or other vegetables to scare off any superstitions. But Who's Jack? Jack is an old Irish legend. Stingy Jack is what they called him and he was a greedy, drunken farmer who tricked the devil into climbing a tree. Jack carved a cross into the bark of the tree trunk trapping him in the tree forever. As a taste of revenge for the devil, he placed a curse on old Jack. He was cursed to wander the night with only the candle he had with him.

But what makes Halloween seem so bad? First of all, the history of Halloween isn't in fact a holy holiday. Plus, Halloween's imagery tends to involve death, magic, monsters, and so on.

Halloween today? Today, Halloween has been slightly altered due to the lack of Halloween knowledge. Many people still celebrate the history of Halloween, but while trick-or-treating is mainly for little kids, older teens have college/high school costume parties and attend spooky haunted house carnivals. Obviously, Halloween has changed dramatically through out the years, especially the costumes. Little kids dress up as their favorite superhero or princess, while teenage girls dress up in slutty outfits and guys dress up as the most brutal character out there.

So there you have it. I hope everyone has a better view of what Halloween really is. Many people enjoy it, like myself, while others lock themselves in their home hoping that no trick-or-treaters will come knocking at their door. Since I don't celebrate Halloween, I either sit at home and watch horror movies or attend a safe Halloween event for teens at my church. After all, fear is the biggest emotion.