用心说丨#阅有声#醫声图书馆Vol.004-Halloween

——The origins of Halloween can best be traced through two or three different traditions. The first of these traditions came from a tribe of warriors who lived on the British Isles. They were known as Celts, and they celebrated a holiday known as Samhain (pronounced Saw-win. This is the Gaelic word for "November"). ——Was it at the end of October, just as we celebrate Halloween today? —— Brilliant! Samhain was one of their most important holidays, as it represented the transition from summer to winter. The Celts believed that on this night, those who had died in the previous year could walk on the Earth once more. To appease these spirits, the Celts would parade to the edge of their village with offerings, trying to make the spirits to stay away from their homes. —— I’ve heard about that. They would also leave food and drinks outside as gifts for the dead. ——Yes. This tradition can easily be seen as the early beginnings of what would eventually become trick-or-treating. ——Aside from the Celtic tradition of Samhain, the ancient Romans also provided some of the early roots of Halloween. The Romans celebrated a harvest holiday known as Pomona. Do you know about it? —— Yeah. This holiday was in honor of a Roman goddess (also named Pomona) who was the goddess of gardens and fruit. To thank Pomona for a bountiful harvest, the Romans would lay out apples and nuts in tribute. To this day, apples remain an important symbol of Halloween (in particular, in the form of apple bobbing). ——And when the Romans conquered the British Isles, the traditions of Samhain and Pomona began to merge with each other to become one holiday. —— Quiet interesting. —— Several hundred years after the Romans and Celts, another influence affected the history of Halloween. The Catholic Church began recognizing November 1st as All Saints' Day. —— This was a holiday which honored all Catholic saints who did not already have a holiday of their own. All Saints' Day also became known by the name All Hallows' Day. Thus, the night before All Hallows' Day became known as All Hallows' Evening, or All Hallows' Eve (just as the night before Christmas is known as Christmas Eve). ——Since the old traditions of Samhain and Pomona already existed, the traditions were simply adopted to accommodate the new holiday of All Hallows' Eve. This was an easy adjustment, since most Catholic nations were still using the old customs. ——Over the course of time, as the holiday moved from country to country, the term All Hallows’ Eve was altered and manipulated, and eventually became Hallow'een, or simply Halloween. ——Halloween found its way to America with some of its earliest settlers, those who arrived in Virginia. For many years, Halloween was primarily a southern holiday. However, the American version of Halloween got its biggest boost in popularity in the mid-1800s. Throughout that century, Irish immigrants came to the US and brought many of their Halloween traditions with them. ——Halloween did not truly become the holiday that children know and love until the 1900s, though. Through the first half of the 20th Century, Halloween continued to grow in popularity. By the mid-1950s, costume parties and trick-or-treating were both well on their way to becoming American traditions. ——Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling. ——John Pymm writes that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday. Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence". ——In England, from the medieval period, up until the 1930s, people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soul, both Protestant and Catholic, going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends. ——And there are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices. —— In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain. They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom. Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona. Anchor:李昂+陈又嘉 Writer:陈又嘉 Music:李昂 Audio production:陈彪 万圣节专题鸭，虽然万圣节过去喽，但是，你们确定不要进来听一听？