Growing up in Canada meant that Halloween is an integral part of your childhood. The Halloween celebration is growing in Australia, becoming more popular every year, but it still doesn't feel like those Canadian Halloweens. Maybe its the lack of frigid air and threat of a blizzard that is missing.
Although firmly established in modern culture, the history of Halloween is often overlooked. Below is a very, very brief history.
Who wouldn't want that cute present? |
As time progressed, the holiday evolved with the Roman and Christian influences. Pope Gregory IV changed the date of a festival honouring all Christian saints to the 1st November and renamed it the Feast of All Saints. In England this celebration was called All Hallow Mass or Hallomas and the 31st October became All Hallows Eve.
Even though the name and the celebration had changed over time, the belief that the spirits were restless and more open to communication still survived. To ensure that the spirits were kept at bay, church masses were conducted and as the sun set, the church bells rung for the souls left in purgatory. During this time, the rich in England would hand out food to the poor in return for prayers.
Drunk on the left...foreshadowing. |
North American embraced Halloween in the 1840's as immigrants from rural Ireland flooded into Canada and America. Eventually the religious overtones fell by the wayside and it became a community-oriented celebration for families. The phrase 'trick or treat' came into fashion in the 1930's.
Today Halloween, like other holiday celebrations, has become highly commercial, and once over, signals the start of the Christmas season in the stores - although the Christmas-creep seems to be coming earlier and earlier each year.
I know I'm the princess, but the kid on the right is creeping me out! |
Mum got busy with the crepe paper this year. |
My brother and I were typical of other families - one was an indulger of candy and the other was the hoarder of candy. I was the hoarder. I would parcel out the candy to myself, eating only small bits at a time, making it last as long as possible. My brother ate his as quickly as possible, and then spent the next month or two trying to get mine as well. I got good at hiding my Halloween candy from both sibling and father, and would often be finishing it just before Christmas.
There have been some great costumes over time - some traditional and some creative. One of my favourite costume ideas was used a couple of times by Mum and Dad. Mum was a brick and Dad was the brick layer...get it? I also had fun being caviar one year (black balloons attached to an old shirt) and really enjoyed the year that I was a cereal-killer (small boxes of cereal glued to an old shirt with plastic knives stabbed through them. Cereal dribbled out of the boxes like blood oozing from wounds.).
Brick and Brick |Layer |
Deja vu...more Christmas at Halloween |
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