Just when you think you've got a grip on the origins and history of Halloween, you find out that it ain't necessarily so. Was it a pagan holiday appropriated by the Christian Church? Or was it a Christian holiday that the Protestants blamed on the pagans to get away from Catholic traditions? When you go back far enough to see how the history was written in the first place, the origin stories get even more muddied. A lot of history is written by people who have an agenda. Over the centuries, Halloween has changed so much that it's hard to see any of the early celebrations in it at all. Faye Fillingham of A History Of Your Thoughts looks at Halloween from a different direction to see how it became the holiday it is today. The video never mentions Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which was developed in Mexico but very much follows Catholic tradition. That may be another clue as to how Halloween developed as the centuries passed and people traveled all over the world.
Yowza. She's all over the place here and kind of lost me (she left out limbo too). Anyway, I remain content in believing Halloween is pagan in origin and All Saints Day is a made up holiday by the Church in order to get people to forget about Halloween. I also think we should complete the Americanization of Halloween by changing its date to the last Saturday in October.
ReplyDeleteThat's clear as mud but it covers the ground.
ReplyDeleteI look at Halloween like every holiday...
Did I like it last time I participated?
Yes = do it again.
No = can I figure out why and change that?
Yes = go for it.
No = stay away unless circumstances change.
I fell for too many, "Oh, it will be different this year", lines.
Makes no sense to go to something you're convinced you won't like.