Halloween has its origin in the Celtic festival of Samhain. Celtic feast of Samhain is celebrated as “Celtic New Year”. It is celebrated at the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. On this festival, the ancient Celtic pagans, stock their supplies, and kept them as massacred livestock for winter stores. The ancient Celts had a belief that on this day, the demarcation between this world and the other world disappeared, and the dead became precarious to the livings, by causing sickness to the living, and destroying their crops. On the festival of Halloween, bonfires were frequently implicated, and the bones of the massacred livestock were thrown in the fire. Many costumes and mask were worn on the festival of Halloween, on the account of imitating the evil, and conciliate them. In Scotland, young men’s wearing masks, with blackened faces and wearing white clothes try to caricature the evil spirit.

The word Halloween is the short form of, All Hallows’ Eve, which arose from the English word, eallra h?lgena ?fen, which has a meaning, “All Hallow’ Evening”. As Hallowe’en is the Eve of “All Hallows’ Day”, so, it is also as All Saints’ Day. Halloween is celebrated as a sacred festive day in various northern European pagan traditions, up to the time of Popes Gregory IV and Gregory III. They shifted “The All Saints’ Day” from May 13 (which itself had been the bate of pagan holiday i.e. the Feast of The Lemures) to the date, November 1. The ancient church of 9th century, measured the day as commencing at dusk. In the present time, The Saints’ Day is celebrated on the next day of the Halloween. However, the ancient time, both of them were celebrated on the same day.

On the day of Halloween, Trick-or-treating is accustomed celebration for the children. Children wear different dresses, move outside from their home, and ask for a treat, like candy, by saying these words, “Tricks or treat.” By the word “trick”, the children refer to some wreckage of property, to the homeowners. On the festival of Halloween, children love to dance and sing songs.

Halloween is celebrated as a tradition to startle the devils and evil spirit. So, the theme of dresses will be based on “horror”. So the dresses will be those of monsters, ghosts, skeletons and affiliated character.

Halloween parties are famous for their games. There are large numbers of the game played on this day. One of the common games is apple bobbing or dousing, in which participants try to remove the apple from the basin with their teeth. Another variant apple bobbing or dunking is also very famous. In this variant, the participant sitting on the chair, and holding fork in their mouth, tries to put that fork into the apple. Another communal game involves, hanging up donuts or treacle by strings, and then ingesting them without using, your hands. There are large numbers of game played as prophecy. A common game named Puicíní, is played in Ireland. In this game, the player is blindfolded, by tying a same cloth around his eyes, and then several saucers are placed on the table, in front of him. Then the saucers are shuffled, and he has to choose one saucer. The content in the saucer will conclude the future course of his life.

A festival is incomplete without food. Halloween is famous for taffy apples or caramel. This sweet is prepared by rolling the whole apple, in the adhesive sugar syrup. Baking of Barnbrack, is the custom that even prevailed in the modern Ireland. It is a light fruit cake, which is placed along with coins and rings, before baking.

With its origin in Celtic refinements, the festival of Halloween is not celebrated around the globe. It is celebrated in the countries following Celtic cultures, or by the countries, which have some convention or religious belief, attached to this festival. Nevertheless, Halloween is a great festival with its entire source in the religious and traditional beliefs.

Related posts:

1. MOTHER’S DAY
2. Valentines Day

VALENTINE’S DAY
Valentine’s Day!  In ancient Rome February 14th was the day for worshipping the Goddess Juno the consort of Jupiter and Queen of the Roman pantheon and associated with the Greek Goddess Hera, wife of Zeus. The sacred marriage was held in the month of Gamelion – mid January to mid February.  February 15th is the beginning of the Roman festival of Lupercalia. Two youths used to run a course round the Palatine with strips of goat-hide in their hands. A blow from one of these thongs was believed to produce fertility in women.
Valentine’s Day also is the same day marked for lottery lovers. It dates back to Roman times when young boys and girls had to lead strict separate lives. But on this day on the eve of the festival of Lupercal the names of young girls were written and placed in jars. Each young man would draw a girls name and she would then be his partner during the duration of the festival. Sometimes the pairing lasted for a year or maybe a lifetime.
Emperor Claudius was a cruel bloody ruler. When he could not recruit enough soldiers for his endless campaigns he blamed it on the men not wanting to leave their lovers and families. Consequently he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine was a Christian priest who secretly got couples married. He was apprehended and jailed. But many visited him and showered him with notes of good wishes and flowers. One of these people was the daughter of the prison guard. Before being hauled off to his fate this holy priest left her a note thanking her for her support and signing it of as ‘Your Valentine’. Finally on the fatal day in February they dragged into the presence of the Prefect of Rome before being clubbed and beheaded. The day of his martyrdom is celebrated as Valentine’s Day.
Valentine is the name of several saints of whom two were celebrated martyrs during the reign of Emperor Claudius. One was a Roman who was killed for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on 14th February 269 AD.  Their festivals fall on 14th February. It is a popular belief that on this day birds mate and sweethearts are chosen.. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th to be St. Valentine’s Day in honour of the martyr. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church formally recognized eleven martyrs to be honoured by that name on Valentine’s Day.
In course of time February 14th or Valentine’s Day became the date for exchanging messages of love. St. Valentine became the patron saint of love. Poems and simple gifts of flowers were exchanged and there was often a social gathering like a ball.
There is a tradition behind the observance of Valentine’s Day. Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults went singing from house to house. In Wales carved wooden love spoons were gifted. Hearts, keys and keyholes were the favored decorations on the spoons. It referred to the unlocking of hearts. In the Middle Ages the young would draw names from a bowl and wear these on their sleeves for a week, for all to see. During the time of Chaucer traditional courtly love began to flourish. Chaucer used to spell it as ‘Volantynysday’. He wrote a poem about birds coming to choose their mate on this day in honour of the engagement between Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia.  In some other countries if young girls retained the gift that she had received it would mean that she agreed to marry him. A popular belief was that if a woman saw a Robin flying on Valentine’s Day it would signify her marriage with a sailor. Seeing a sparrow meant a happy union with a poor man. Sighting a goldfish meant marriage with a millionaire. In Paris a High Court of Love was established on Valentine’s Day 1400 dealing with love contracts, betrayals and violence. Women on the basis of poetry reading selected the judges.
Valentine’s Day does not seem to be confined only to western culture. In China The Night of the Sevens is dedicated to Love. In Japan and Korea a day known as White Day is celebrated a day after Valentine’s Day in honor of the young and love.
In USA Miss Esther Howland was the first one to send a Valentine’s card. Her father owned a stationery store and sales boomed. During the 19th century commercial valentines came to be introduced. Today the day and date means big business. Even children are exchanging cards at school. Since 2001 Greeting Card Association has started giving an annual prize –Esther Howland Award – for the most innovative card.
There are gifts galore to tempt the giddy young and it is a season for cards. After Christmas this is the time for card manufacturers to make hay. They have very cleverly manipulated a taste for the Valentine Day’s culture into a global market. Gifts are no longer simple. The diamond industry has started selling itself and others are not left behind. All this set off ripples of anti-Valentine’s Day protests in traditional pockets of the world.   A recent trend is to mark February 14th as Single Awareness Day.

Say I love you in 100 different languages:

English – I love you
Afrikaans – Ek het jou lief
Albanian – Te dua
Arabic – Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic – Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian – Yes kez sirumen
Bambara – M’bi fe
Bangla – Aamee tuma ke bhalo aashi
Belarusian – Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya – Nahigugma ako kanimo
Bulgarian – Obicham te
Cambodian – Soro lahn nhee ah
Cantonese Chinese – Ngo oiy ney a
Catalan – T’estimo
Cheyenne – Ne mohotatse
Chichewa – Ndimakukonda
Corsican – Ti tengu caru (to male)
Creol – Mi aime jou
Croatian – Volim te
Czech – Miluji te
Danish – Jeg Elsker Dig
Dutch – Ik hou van jou
Esperanto – Mi amas vin
Estonian – Ma armastan sind
Ethiopian – Afgreki’
Faroese – Eg elski teg
Farsi – Doset daram
Filipino – Mahal kita
Finnish – Mina rakastan sinua
French – Je t’aime, Je t’adore
Frisian – Ik hâld fan dy
Gaelic – Ta gra agam ort
Georgian – Mikvarhar
German – Ich liebe dich
Greek – S’agapo
Gujarati – Hoo thunay prem karoo choo
Hiligaynon – Palangga ko ikaw
Hawaiian – Aloha Au Ia`oe (Thanks Craig)
Hebrew – Ani ohev otah (to female)
Hebrew – Ani ohev et otha (to male)
Hiligaynon – Guina higugma ko ikaw
Hindi – Hum Tumhe Pyar Karte hae
Hmong – Kuv hlub koj
Hopi – Nu’ umi unangwa’ta
Hungarian – Szeretlek
Icelandic – Eg elska tig
Ilonggo – Palangga ko ikaw
Indonesian – Saya cinta padamu
Inuit – Negligevapse
Irish – Taim i’ ngra leat
Italian – Ti amo
Japanese – Aishiteru
Kannada – Naanu ninna preetisuttene
Kapampangan – Kaluguran daka
Kiswahili – Nakupenda
Konkani – Tu magel moga cho
Korean – Sarang Heyo
Latin – Te amo
Latvian – Es tevi miilu
Lebanese – Bahibak
Lithuanian – Tave myliu
Malay – Saya cintakan mu / Aku cinta padamu
Malayalam – Njan Ninne Premikunnu
Mandarin Chinese – Wo ai ni
Marathi – Me tula prem karto
Mohawk – Kanbhik
Moroccan – Ana moajaba bik
Nahuatl – Ni mits neki
Navaho – Ayor anosh’ni
Norwegian – Jeg Elsker Deg
Pandacan – Syota na kita!!
Pangasinan – Inaru Taka
Papiamento – Mi ta stimabo
Persian – Doo-set daaram
Pig Latin – Iay ovlay ouyay
Polish – Kocham Ciebie
Portuguese – Eu te amo
Romanian – Te iubesc
Russian – Ya tebya liubliu
Scot Gaelic – Tha gra\dh agam ort
Serbian – Volim te
Setswana – Ke a go rata
Sign Language – ,\,,/ (represents position of fingers when signing’I Love You’)
Sindhi – Maa tokhe pyar kendo ahyan
Sioux – Techihhila
Slovak – Lu`bim ta
Slovenian – Ljubim te
Spanish – Te quiero / Te amo
Swahili – Ninapenda wewe
Swedish – Jag alskar dig
Swiss-German – Ich lieb Di
Tagalog – Mahal kita
Taiwanese – Wa ga ei li
Tahitian – Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
Tamil – Nan unnai kathalikaraen
Telugu – Nenu ninnu premistunnanu
Thai – Chan rak khun (to male)
Thai – Phom rak khun (to female)
Turkish – Seni Seviyorum
Ukrainian – Ya tebe kahayu
Urdu – mai aap say pyaar karta hoo
Vietnamese – Anh ye^u em (to female)
Vietnamese – Em ye^u anh (to male)
Welsh – ‘Rwy’n dy garu di
Yiddish – Ikh hob dikh
Yoruba – Mo ni fe

Related posts:

1. MOTHER’S DAY
2. Halloween

Motherhood is an honored and exalted state in life, and most countries all over the world have their own customs in celebrating motherhood and showing how much the work of mothers as the bringers and nurturers of life are appreciated. This day for commemorating the work of mothers is generally known as Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day has been observed in one form or another since ancient times. The Greeks of the classical era held festivals to the goddess Cybele, the mother of the Greek pantheon and the wife of Cronus, the god of time, on the day of the vernal equinox. The Romans, on the other hand, had the Matronalia, which is a festival dedicated to Juno, the goddess of the hearth and home and wife of Jupiter. The Matronalia was celebrated on the first day of March.

The modern Mother’s Day, as most of the western world knows it, started out as a call for peace and disarmament in the United States in 1870. The proclamation for this Mother’s Day was first made by Julia Ward Howe, who urged for the annual observance in the United States of what was called then as the Mother’s Day for Peace. During that time, the American Civil War has just ended. Julia Howe’s proclamation was a reaction to the hardships the war has brought to the mothers who were left behind.

In making her proclamation, Julia Howe was said to have been inspired by Ann Jarvis, a woman from the state now known as West Virginia, who organized women to attempt to improve worker sanitation and safety concerns, as well as to tend to the needs of wounded soldiers, both Confederate and Union, during the Civil War. Ann Jarvis, herself an active figure in support of the call for an annual and national observance of Mother’s Day, was also active in trying to promote peace and reconciliation among her neighbors who sided with differing factions during the war.

Julia Howe, however, failed in her attempt to get Mother’s Day recognized; on May 9, 1905, Ann Jarvis died. Two years later, Ann Jarvis’ daughter Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother and took on the quest to get Mother’s Day proclaimed and officially recognized. The memorial that Anna Jarvis held for her mother drew in 407 people with their mothers, and it was held at the Andrews Methodist Episcopalian Church in Grafton. This site is now recognized as the International Mother’s Day Shrine. The vision that was Mother’s Day came to fruition when then United States President Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day in 1910.

As the custom of celebrating Mother’s Day spread throughout the country, what was first envisioned to be a day of pacifism became a general day for appreciating mothers. Ironically, Anna Jarvis herself became disillusioned by the commercialized way Mother’s Day came to be celebrated by the 1920s that she actively protested against it.

Today, Mother’s Day has become an international celebration in honor of mothers. Not all countries in the world, however, observe Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, for instance, they have Mothering Sunday, held on the fourth Sunday of the Lenten season. In Thailand, Mother’s Day is celebrated on August 12, the birthday of Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara.

Related posts:

1. Valentines Day
2. Halloween