When the
nights grow longer, the weather gets darker and colder and the leaves begin to
fall from the trees it becomes clear that summer is finally over and fall has
arrived. With it comes the anticipation for the great holidays the cold half of
the year has to offer. But before we all go crazy because of Christmas or New
Year’s Eve, there is another holiday that has gained a lot of popularity in
Austria over the last few years: Halloween. Being especially popular in the US
and therefore very present in American movies and TV programs, Halloween is
widely believed to be an American tradition. And to be quite honest I thought
so, too, for a very long time.
But doing some research on the topic showed me how very wrong I had been.
Halloween actually has its origins in Europe! To be precise it derived from the
Celtic festival Samhain which was celebrated on November 1st. In the
night before Samhain it was believed that the dead returned as ghosts and to
protect themselves the people left food and wine on their doorsteps for the
spirits and wore masks to look like ghosts. In the 8th century pope
Gregory converted the pagan custom into a Christian one and called it All
Hallow’s Day. October 31st became All Hallow’s Eve, which turned into
Halloween over the time. However, the people carried on with their old rituals
and when the Irish fled from the great famine in the 19th century,
they brought their tradition to America, where it was picked up.
Today Halloween is popular all over the world, although it’s not always called
or celebrated the same: Spanish speaking countries for example have a three-day
celebration called Dia de los Muertos to honor the dead who are believed to
return to their earthly homes on Halloween. As already mentioned Austria has started to celebrate the custom, too. And even though I
never went trick-or-treating when I was younger, I’ve been to some Halloween
parties in the past and I certainly won’t miss the holiday this year!
