What is Halloween?

Regarding the origin of Halloween, the most legendary version holds that it originated in ancient western European countries before the birth of Christ, mainly including Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ancient Western Europeans in these places were called Drouth people. The New Year in Drouth is 1 1 month 1 day, New Year's Eve. People in Drouth let young people wander among villages in groups, wearing all kinds of weird masks and carrying carved radish lanterns (pumpkin lanterns are a late custom, and there were no pumpkins in ancient Western Europe). It was actually celebrating the autumn harvest; Some people say it is "Ghost Festival". It is said that the souls of those who died that year will visit the world on Halloween. It is said that people should let visiting ghosts see the harvest and show rich enthusiasm to them. All the bonfires and lights, in order to scare away ghosts, also illuminate the route for ghosts and guide them back.

In medieval Central Europe, there was a history of Christianity destroying pagans. However, the sacrificial ceremony before New Year's Eve never really disappeared, but appeared in the form of witchcraft. That's why we have traces of witches' brooms, black cats, spells and so on on Halloween.

Halloween sign

The theme of Jack-o-lantern Halloween is ghosts, scary people, and things related to death, magic and monsters. Things usually associated with Halloween include ghosts, ghouls, witches, bats, black cats, owls, elves, zombies, skeletons and demons, as well as fictional characters such as vampires and Frankenstein.

Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. Modern Halloween products also use a lot of purple, green and red. Autumn elements such as pumpkins and scarecrows have also become symbols of Halloween.

Jack lamp is the most famous symbol of Halloween. In Britain and Ireland, locals used to light candles in hollowed-out turnips to make jack-o'-lanterns, but American immigrants soon replaced them with pumpkins, because pumpkins are bigger and easier to carve patterns on. Many families carve scary faces on pumpkins and put them in class at the gate. Traditionally, this is to scare away demons or monsters.

Pumpkins are orange, so orange has become a traditional Halloween color. Carving pumpkin lanterns with pumpkins is also a Halloween tradition, and its history can be traced back to Ireland. Legend has it that a man named Jack was so stingy that he couldn't go to heaven after his death, and he couldn't go to hell because he made fun of the devil, so he had to wander around with lanterns until the judgment day. Therefore, Jack and Jack-o-lantern became the symbols of cursed wandering souls. In order to scare away these wandering souls on Halloween, people carve terrible faces out of turnips, beets or potatoes to represent Jack holding lanterns. This is the origin of the ghost fire. After the Irish moved to the United States, they began to carve pumpkins, because pumpkins are more abundant than turnips in autumn in the United States. Now, if people hang jack-o-lanterns on the windows on Halloween night, it means that those who wear Halloween costumes can knock on the door and ask for candy.