Surely by now everyone knows the basic facts about Halloween. Once a pagan festival of the dead, it later evolved into the Christian celebration of All Saints
Day. Cultures throughout the world celebrate this holiday in wildly varying ways, but most of them stick pretty closely to the original, ancient concepts -- celebration of the dead, and behaving badly.
In ancient times, the
Celts of Ireland and Scotland slaughtered live animals and danced wildly around bonfires. Some think the modern practice of "trick or treat" came from an Irish custom of collecting money and food door-to-door. Those who
paid up were offered "protection from bad luck." Those who didn't probably suffered some "bad luck" pretty promptly.
In more modern times, the English gave up on Halloween when it became a largely Catholic
holiday. They moved it back a few days (Nov. 5) and now call it Guy Fawkes Day, burning effigies of the man who tried to blow up the Parliament in 1606. The night before Guy Fawkes Day is known as "Mischief Night," when
children are encouraged to play pranks on adults.
Latin-American countries are more candid about the holiday's macabre heritage. The "Day of Dead Children" (Oct. 31) is followed by the "Day of Dead Adults"
(Nov. 1).
They have a great time with this, particularly in Mexico, wearing garish costumes and partying late into the night, which is presumably what the honored dead would LIKE to be doing. Sounds a lot more fun than the
American tradition of vandalizing mailboxes, doesn't it?
