Halloween
Halloween
Halloween is one of the oldest of the holidays, probably originating among the druids (Celtic priests) more than 2,000 years ago. The ancient festival recognized the end of the year which at that time was at the end of the summer months, or light half of the year, and at the beginning of the winter months, or dark half of the year. The druids believed that on that night Saman, the lord of the dead, called the spirits of the dead back into the world of the living. The ancient festival was called Samhain.
According to History.com Pope Gregory III (731–741) moved the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day to November 1st in an apparent attempt to replace the ancient Celtic festival with a church-approved holiday. Several hundred years later the church named November 2nd All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead, and November 1st became All Saints Day. The festival was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The fires and costumes, especially face masks, helped to protect against the dead spirits, or ghosts. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it became All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
The animal images and other symbols now associated with Halloween evolved over time from these early festivals. In early times before lighting people didn't go far at night and rarely saw nocturnal animals. The sounds of these animals could be frightening - the screeching call of the barn owl would send shivers running up and down the spine. Cobwebs covering winter provisions would add some tactile creepiness to a dark cellar. As Wikipedia points out, these images also evolved from national customs, horror and Gothic literature, and even films like Dracula and Frankenstein. Nowadays, decorating for Halloween means that people can bring together all sorts of things that creep, flit, or sweep through their imaginations.
Our Crystal Spider earrings certainly would creep around in such images and our Spider Web earrings even bring along their own webs! And if you want something that flaps in the night, how about our Bat earrings? And witches? The witch, of course, was popular in many national customs. In the Middle Ages, according to History.com, many people believed that witches turned themselves into black cats to avoid detection, and our Witch Cat pin combines these concepts. And, for that splash in the dark, look to our Halloween Toad earrings.
But where did the jack-o'-lantern come from? Again from History.com, the jack-o'-lantern originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Not wanting to pay for his drink, Stingy Jack convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack played a similar trick on the Devil.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern."
In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o'lantern tradition with them when they came to America and found the pumpkin, an American fruit perfect for jack-o'-lanterns. Our Crystal Jack-o'-Lantern earrings show the result and our Halloween earrings top it off with a black cat sitting on a jack-o’-lantern.
Click on the Dazzling Animals jewelry piece to go to its website. To go to the holiday website, click here.
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