The celebration of Halloween in Ireland
Here at last funny pumpkin-lanterns and skulls are lighted in houses. On doors there are witches and ghosts, who fearfully roar and flash with their red eyes. In front of some houses there are gravestones. But don’t be afraid, now it is time of the funny holiday – Halloween.
In the shops you can find not only abundance of accessories but also costumes for the holiday. There are costumes of mummies, ghosts, a Spiderman and a funny clown, as well as many other costumes of different characters. All these costumes are not only for children, but also for adults.
The merry holiday, Halloween , is celebrated in many countries worldwide, but in Ireland, it is a special feast, as this is the ancient celebration of Irish New Year. Ancient Celts believed that in this world there are places for dead and alive beings. And at New Years Eve borders between these places got almost opened and spirits of dead people go at large. At that, spirits of dead ancestors bring goodness and luck, and evil spirits and ghosts bring trouble and misfortune.
In order to scare away the evil spirits, Celts put on frightening masks and decorated their houses with skulls. And they offered different tasty meal to good spirits, they served tables for them or brought food in the street. That was the origin of the tradition of trick-or-treating.
Ancient Celts considered that the year consisted of two parts, the summer and the winter. The summer started on the 1st of May and lasted up to the 21st of October. By the way, in the modern Irish calendar the summer starts on the 1st of may and finished on the 21st of July, and the winter starts on the 1st of November and lasts, as usual, three months.
In the Celtic New Year’s Eve, they outed lights not only in houses of simple people, but also in the King’s Castle on the mountain of Tara. On the neighbouring hill, Trohta, they kindled the sacred fire and brought it to the King, who accepted the fire and kindled his own one. It was considered to be a sign of favour of Gods toward people before the coming winter and defence against evil spirits.
Continuation about history of Halloween...