Tigger Investigates Halloween
As an almost nearly famous repawter of Tigger Club News, I have sniffed out some history about Halloween. Here are my observations that includes snacks, weird outfits and people walking around in the dark.
The Ancient Origins:
Thousands of years ago, a group of humans called the Celts lived in Europe. They didn't have television, so they invented festivals. Their biggest one was called Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). They celebrated it on October 31st. It marked the end of summer and the start of the dark cold winter. The Celts believed that on this night, the boundary between the living world and the spirit world became blurred and ghosts could walk the earth!
To keep the ghosts happy, humans left bowls of food outside.
Costume Drama:
The Celts didn't just leave snacks out, they also dressed up in costumes made of animal skins and heads. They did this to trick the bad ghosts into thinking they were fellow ghosts, ghouls and monsters.
Centuries later, the Christian church moved some holidays around and called November the 1st, All Saints' Day (or All Hallows' Day). The night before became All Hallows' Eve, which eventually got renamed over the years to Halloween.
The Pumpkin Upgrade:
You can’t have Halloween without a Jack o' Lantern, but did you know humans originally used to carve turnips? In Ireland and Scotland, humans carved scary faces into turnips and large potatoes to scare away a mythical trickster with several names such as, Stingy Jack (Ireland/Scotland origins) Will-o’-the-wisp (England origins), Jac y Lantern (Welsh origins).
Turnips are small, hard, and smell terrible when you leave them on the porch for a week. So when some humans moved to America, they discovered the pumpkin. Pumpkins were bigger, softer, and much easier to hollow out.
Trick or Treating:
Now we come to the best part of modern Halloween, Trick or Treating. Years ago poor humans would visit houses of the wealthy and promise to pray for their dead relatives in exchange for a small round cake called a "Soul Cake."
Today small humans dress up as superheroes, witches and all varieties of costumes to knock on doors for treats.
A Final Word from the Sofa:
So there you have it. Halloween started as an ancient autumn festival, went through a weird turnip phase, and turned into a global celebration of costumes and candy.
If you see me out walking on Halloween, please do not be alarmed by my skeletal frame. I am not a ghost hound sent from the underworld, I am just a lurcher that hasn't had a snack in twenty minutes. BOL!
Happy Halloween!
May your couches be soft and your treats be plentiful.