Terms of Use
TagTag.com
tagtag.com/jiewen
Samhain was an ancient Celtic New Year's festival during which human and animal sacrifices were made to the Lord of the Dead (called Samn) and the sun. Celebrated on november 1,Samhain is the original of our Halloween , although the modern holiday also reflects the influence of medieval churdhmen, particularly Pope Gregory III , who in the eighth century designated November 1 as the feast of departed Christian saints. It is as the eve of All Hallows Day, or " Hallowe'en, " that we now observe on October 31.
The fascination with witches and the dead exhibited on that day may be traced to both the pagan and the Christian holiday , and so, possibly, may the secular tradition of trich-or-treating. Robert Myers traces the practice to Samhain, when after offering a feast to the dead , " masked and costumed villagers representing the souls of the dead paraded to the outskirts of town leading the ghosts away."A later Christian contribution can be found in medieval All Hallows processions, in which relics of saints were displayed and parishoners dressed up as the executed conspirator to beg " a penny for the Guy " from passing strangers.
Given the Celtic origin of the holiday however, the most appealing of explanations may be one given by Ralph and Adelin Linton. A traditional Irish custom on Samhain eve they say, was the soliciting of contributions in the name of Muck Olla, a shadowy and probably Druidic figure who, so the solicitors promised potential donors, would be sure to wreak vengeance on the ungenerous . Muck Olla 's vegeance gradually became transformed into that of slighted fairies and goblins , and ultimately into the tricks of disappointed human revelers.
Home Site Map my.TagTag
Terms of Use
TagTag.com