万圣节的由来英文详情
万圣节的由来英文详情
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840 s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country s potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul s passage to heaven.
The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree s trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack s lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
万圣节扮鬼要注意什么
1、吃蒜戴古玉
如果你想凑热闹，万圣节扮鬼派对，建议去玩之前生食蒜头，或将生蒜头、古玉(陪过葬的古玉最好)戴在身上，这样会有辟邪的作用。
2、避开阴暗场所
有不少人为了凑鬼气，加上觉得万圣节这西方节日百无禁忌，而到阴暗的地方应节，但切记如坟场、海滩、水塘、焦树林等地方不宜接近，因为这些场所特别容易招惹灵体，再加上你一身的鬼里鬼气的打扮，随时会惹鬼近身。
3、忌扮“咸湿鬼”
原来扮什么类型的鬼怪亦有禁忌，千万不要扮“咸湿鬼”，除了会招惹到真的“咸湿鬼”外，假若被“咸湿鬼”上身，还要承担很多严重的后果。
4、勿放鬼面具、骷髅骨
有些人将鬼面具、骷髅骨公仔等当潮流饰物摆放在家里，其实这些饰物等于竖起招揽阴灵的天线，召集阴灵赴会。如果家里聚集了阴灵，家里的好运磁场更会遭受破坏，轻则令人的健康变差，经常生病，而且病了看医生吃药都没用，重则更会被鬼近身，后果难测。
5、忌饮酒太多
万圣节当日，若果想出去狂欢的话，就要切记不宜饮太多酒，因为饮醉后，除了缺乏自制能力外，更会容易被灵体侵占，而且即使发现不妥，都未能立即求救。
美国人如何过万圣节
每年十月三十一日是西方传统的万圣节，有人称之为南瓜节，也有人称之为鬼节。它和任何宗教没有关系，完全是民间娱乐性的。而且，老少皆宜，轻松搞笑。万圣节是一个很神奇的节日，大概起源于与邪恶相关的庆祝活动，所以骑着扫帚的女巫、小妖精和骷髅都是万圣节的标志物。猫头鹰和其他夜间活动的动物也是万圣节的普遍标志。起初，这些动物让人觉得非常可怕，因为人们认为这些动物能和进行交流。
南瓜灯是最有特色的代表。可南瓜灯又是怎么来的呢?据说有一个叫杰克的爱尔兰人，因为他对钱特别吝啬，就不允许他进入天堂，而被打入地狱。但是在那里他来是很调皮，老是爱捉弄魔鬼撒旦，所以又被踢出地狱，罚他提着灯笼永远在人世里行走。
一般来说，从十月初开始，各家各户就开始作迎接万圣节的准备。装扮住房，南瓜是少不了的。一到这季节，各大超市的南瓜都廉价出售，有的只卖几美分一磅(差不多等于中国的一市斤)。南瓜有大有小，大的有上百磅，甚至于上千磅，小的只有几盎司(几两)。
南瓜的颜色也不一，有橙黄色，淡黄色，白色，还有绿色，无花八门。形状也有很大差异，有圆的，椭圆的，扁的，还有葫芦状的。每家每户都要买它好几个放在家门口或窗台上。到了万圣节那天，再将它们用刀刻出各种鬼怪面孔，到了晚上在南瓜里面点上腊烛，南瓜鬼脸在黑暗里一闪一闪的，很有一番乐趣。各种各样桔黄色的南瓜灯就在孩子们智慧的小手中制造了出来。
万圣节的起源
万圣节的起源：宗教祭祀。关于万圣节的起源，版本很多，流传很广:2023多年前，欧洲_将把11月1日定为“天下圣徒之日”。“HALLOW也就是圣徒的意思。据说自公元前500年以来，凯尔特人居住在爱尔兰、苏格兰等地(CELTS)将这个节日向前移动一天，即10月31日。他们认为这一天是夏天正式结束的日子，也就是新年伊始，严酷的冬天开始的日子。当时，人们相信老朋友的死亡灵魂会在这一天回到故居，在活着的人身上寻找生物，从而再生，这是死后人们再生的唯一希望。活着的人害怕死者的灵魂来杀死他们的生命，所以人们在这一天熄灭了炉火和烛光，这样死者的灵魂就找不到活人，把自己打扮成怪物来吓跑死者的灵魂。之后，他们会重新点燃火种和烛光，开始新年的生活。
万圣节其实是一个赞美秋天的节日，就像五月节是赞美春天一样。德鲁伊德，古代高卢、不列颠和爱尔兰的祭司，有一个盛大的秋季节日，从10月31日的午夜到次日的11月1日。他们认为，在那天晚上，他们伟大的死神萨曼召唤了所有死去的鬼魂，这些鬼魂将被托生为牲畜。当然，只要想到这种鬼魂聚会，就足以让那些头脑简单的愚民胆战心惊。于是他们点起篝火，严密监视这些恶鬼。这就是万圣节前夜到处都有女巫和鬼魂的说法。到目前为止，在欧洲一些与世隔绝的地区，有些人认为这是真的。
古罗马人在11月1日也有一个节日，用来向他们的波莫娜女神致敬。他们在篝火前烤坚果和苹果。我们的万圣节似乎是由古罗马人的节日和德鲁伊德的节日组成的。
万圣节的活动过去很简单，而且大部分都是在教堂里进行的。但在整个欧洲，人们认为万圣节的前夕是玩耍和鬼魂故事互相吓唬的好机会。所以人们不再用这个节日来赞美秋天，而是把它变成了怪物、巫婆和鬼魂的节日。
万圣节南瓜灯怎么来的
南瓜灯源于古代爱尔兰。传说一个名叫Jack的人，是个醉汉且爱恶作剧。在万圣节当日，他设圈套将魔鬼困在一棵树上，他不许魔鬼下来，直至恶魔答应永远不让他住在地狱。Jack死后，因他不相信神，他不能进天堂，而魔鬼也不让他入地狱，为了协助Jack找到回人间的路径，魔鬼给了他一块燃烧的炭，Jack将这燃烧的炭放在他以大红萝卜雕刻成的一个灯笼内，这第一个“Jack的灯笼”，帮助找寻他的路径回爱尔兰，但他从没找着，于是他永远带著灯笼流浪人间。
在古老的爱尔兰传说里，这根小蜡烛是在一根挖空的萝卜里放着，称作“Jack Lanterns”，而古老的萝卜灯演变到今天，则是南瓜做的Jack-O-Lantern了。据说爱尔兰人到了美国不久，即发现南瓜不论从来源和雕刻来说都比萝卜更胜一筹，于是南瓜就成了万圣节的宠儿。