| An Origin of Trick-or-Treat |
The feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times among the Celtic peoples of Britain, Ireland and Northern France. These good ol' pagan folks believed that life was born from death so their New Year was celebrated in the fall, on the eve of October 31st and into the day of November 1st when, as they believed, the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began. Instructed by their priests, the Druids, the people extinguished all hearth fires and lights and let the darkness prevail. According to pagan Celtic tradition, the souls of the dead had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death and made total communion with Samhain, the Lord of death, who could be appeased, cajoled and plain ol' bribed by burnt offerings to allow the souls of the dead to return home for a festal visit on this day. This belief led to the ritual practice of wandering about in the dark dressed in costumes impersonating witches, hobgoblins, fairies, demons and other supernatural creatures. The living entered into fellowship and communion with the dead by this ritual act of imitation, through costume and the wandering about in the darkness. They also believed that being dead the bodily challenged worked up a fierce appetite. They believed that the spirits wandered the land looking for an afterlife buffet so to speak. This belief brought about the practice of begging as another ritual imitation of the activities of the souls of the dead on their yearly visit. The idea was that any souls of the dead and their imitators who weren't given "treats" or offerings would provoke the wrath of Samhain, whose unholy hit men and cronies would descend upon these people and take revenge, retaliating through a system of "tricks", or curses. |
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